Here’s today’s swing-trading watch-list:
Long Blackstone Group (BX)
Slope of Hope Blog Posts
Slope initially began as a blog, so this is where most of the website’s content resides. Here we have tens of thousands of posts dating back over a decade. These are listed in reverse chronological order. Click on any category icon below to see posts tagged with that particular subject, or click on a word in the category cloud on the right side of the screen for more specific choices.
Retesting Broken Resistance as Support
I was talking yesterday morning about the likelihood that SPX would retest broken resistance as support and it took a while, but that was tested at the close yesterday. We could see SPX go a bit lower this morning but what we saw yesterday may well be all. My bull/bear line is at 2068/9 this morning, with the SPX daily middle band now at 2073.5, the 50 hour MA now at 2072.5, and the 5 DMA at 2070. SPX 5DMA chart:
Earnings ‘Outside Surprise?’
Here is one way to put a happy spin on things. Wall Street is increasingly aware of the deceleration in corporate profits and a potential for the upcoming earnings season to be a rough one. This CNBC article dutifully notes these things, but the highlight is one sun shiny optimist who apparently thinks it may already be baked in.
Earnings season could bring an ‘outside surprise’
“Obviously there’s a ton of concern… but my view is that expectations have come down rapidly, and there’s a clear understanding that we’re looking at a real weak environment right now from an earnings perspective,” said David Seaburg, head of equity sales trading with Cowen & Co.
“I think there could be an outside surprise that could carry this market higher, especially given that you have every central bank working to inflate asset prices.”
Oil Index Gap
Until March 13, energy stocks were a total kick on the short side. Since then, they’ve been clawing their way back, right alongside crude oil. I have no interest in shorting crude, but as we approach the key gap I’ve pointed out below, I’m more and more interested in getting back into the short side of energy stocks.
I’ve already in a few energy positions right now; namely: BP, CLR, CSIQ, DOV, FSLR, GPOR, HFC, IOC, NBL, OKE, SM, and WPZ.
As for my portfolio in general, I amped things up Tuesday. I went from 52 short positions to 75. Let’s see what effect, if any, the Fed Minutes have on Wednesday. The meat of any move may not take place until we get a critical mass of earnings reports over the next few weeks.
