Morning Update
Overnight risk sentiment in Asia and Europe was buoyed by a strong PMI out of China. Japanese data was weaker than expected, confirming an accelerating recession in the c…
Read full article →Equity Armor Investments
The Ripple Effect
Market commentary, volatility insights, and media appearances.
821 articles
Morning Update
Yesterday’s Fed meeting fell largely in line with market expectations with the announcement that the Fed would make up for the end of Operation Twist with $45B in outrigh…
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Yesterday’s Fed meeting fell largely in line with market expectations with the announcement that the Fed would make up for the end of Operation Twist with $45B in outrigh…
Read full article →Morning Update
Yesterday the market closed near the highs of the day with the VIX futures at the lows. When Senator Reid came on TV to say that he did not expect to see a fiscal cliff d…
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Yesterday was a relatively quiet US trading session that ended with stocks up and the VIX up. However, the December future was unchanged and the Jan. future was down 0.20…
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Overnight Japan reported weaker than expected GDP, which means that the country is officially in recession. The contraction is due to, in part, slowing exports to China, …
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This morning the NFP report for November came in well above expectations at +146K jobs which brought the unemployment rate down to 7.7%. This is the lowest unemployment r…
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This morning jobless claims were reported at 370K, which beat consensus expectations of 380K. This is the third straight week of declines in claims since the spike caused…
Read full article →Unusual Options Activity
Yesterday Netflix shares jumped 14% on news that Disney has struck a deal with the company to stream Disney, Pixar, and Marvel movies beginning in 2016. This is the first…
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Yesterday markets sold off on an exceptionally poor ISM manufacturing number which was reported at 49.5. Readings below 50 indicate contracting business activity. This co…
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On Friday the Brazilian statistics agency, IBGE, reported that their economy expanded just 0.6% in the third quarter, which was well below expectations. This sent Brazili…
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Yesterday US GDP data showed that the economy grew at its fasted pace since late 2011, though it remains uncertain whether this pace will continue to year end as a result…
Read full article →Bullish GMCR Options Activity
After the close on Tuesday Green Mountain Coffee Roasters reported better than expected fourth quarter earnings that sent the stock up 27% yesterday. One trader decided t…
Read full article →Bullish Options Activity in GLD
Today one option trader is taking advantage of gold’s decline by buying upside calls. The biggest trade of the day is the purchase of 7,250 GLD January 2014 calls for $4.…
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Morning Update
Overnight another Greek bailout was agreed to, which has sent the Euro lower against the dollar. In the past these events have been a “buy the rumor, sell the news” event…
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Last week the market rose on optimism that there will be resolutions to the debt crisis in Europe, the fiscal cliff in the US, and conflict in Israel. However, no real so…
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This morning jobless claims were released due to the holiday and were in line with expectations at 410K. Last week’s claims were revised up from 439K to 451K. The Euro wa…
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Last night moments after the US close Moodys downgraded French debt from Aaa to Aa1. The biggest reaction to this was in the EUR/USD rate, which slipped from 18.15 to 1.2…
Read full article →Twilight Finale
LGF is releasing its final movie of the teen mega blockbuster twilight today. The franchise has been widely popular and has been a boon to the relatively small movie prod…
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Since the election the Russell 200 is down 6.3% while RVX, an index that applies the VIX calculation to the Russell 2000 to track implied volatility, is up only 2.7%. Typ…
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Overnight trading saw a risk-off environment as headlines showed Europe has fallen into another recession, their second in four years. This news should not surprise anyon…
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This morning futures are modestly higher head of the open with the Euro up 0.30% and European indices down. Today retail sales were released for October and came in at -0…
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Yesterday one of the worst performing sectors was the homebuilders. The SPDR Homebuilders ETF, XHB, sold off 1.5% to close at its 50-day moving average. The ETF saw heavy…
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This morning US equities are pointing towards a higher open despite lower markets across Europe. European stock indices have been trending lower after the decision on Gre…
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Morning Update
Yesterday the S&P 500 sold off over 1% and the VIX also sold off over 4%. Typically for a 1% down move in the S&P 500 the VIX will move up by 4%, so yesterday’s price act…
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Yesterday the market sold off on news that Obama has been reelected and the announcement by Draghi that Germany’s economy is beginning to suffer from the European debt cr…
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Yesterday as election results rolled in the S&P 500 futures sold off, hitting lows for the night as NBC announced Obama had won the election. After the news the futures r…
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Today is election-day in America and US equity futures are modestly higher ahead of the open despite poor data out of Europe. German Composite PMI for October was reporte…
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This morning US equity futures are unchanged after Asian markets closed in the red and European stock indices are down as well. The key events this week will be US presid…
Read full article →Trading the Election
Moments ago we saw a trader buy 51,504 XLV Nov. 42 calls for $0.07 with XLV at 40.40. This is a bullish bet that XLV, the SPDR Health Care Select Sector ETF, will be abov…
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