S&P 500 - Analysis and Trading

[Joules MM1]

Aug. 20, 2012, 4:40 p.m. EDT
Facebook bounces as Apple sets record
Apple becomes most valuable company ever; tech sector slips

excerpt

Apple closed with a market cap of $623.5 billion, up from $607.5 billion on Friday, according to data from FactSet.

The previous record was held by Microsoft Corp., according to Howard Silverblatt of S&P Dow Jones Indices, as cited by The Wall Street Journal. According to FactSet, Microsoft had a market cap of $613.3 billion in late December 1999.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/app..._story_popular

[Gringotts Bank]

Aug. 20, 2012, 4:40 p.m. EDT
Facebook bounces as Apple sets record
Apple becomes most valuable company ever; tech sector slips

excerpt



http://www.marketwatch.com/story/app..._story_popular

Doesn't surprise me at all. Yesterday I was at a shopping centre at lunchtime... on a MONDAY... and the Apple store had maybe 10 or more employees on the floor assisting approx. 60 or 70 people. Most other stores I passed had between 0 and 3 people, with one employee serving.

[Joules MM1]

twitterspherics

Walter Murphy ‏@waltergmurphy

Outside day closing down. Not good. Reversal following bull mkt high. Not good. $SP500 makes new hi, #DJIA doesn't. strange

Jason Goepfert ‏@sentimentrader

# of times $SPY hit a 52-week high then reversed to close below 3 prior closes: 12. # of times it marked a major top: 0

[Trembling Hand]

twitterspherics

If TA works that S&P chart certainly looks crappy this morning.

[baby_swallow]

Long term price formation not looking good....(for long only investors)

[CanOz]

What? The market can't go up forever on light volume

[Joules MM1]

What? The market can't go up forever on light volume

.......distributions signals abound

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Market Pulse Archives

Aug. 28, 2012, 10:01 a.m. EDT
Consumer confidence falls to nine-month low

By Jeffry Bartash

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - Consumer confidence fell to a nine-month low in August as Americans grew more worried about business conditions and the chances of finding a job, according to a survey. The Conference Board on Tuesday said its confidence index dropped to 60.6 from 65.4, marking the lowest level since last November. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had forecast the index to rise slightly to 66.0. Lynn Franco, director of economic indicators, said "consumers were more apprehensive about business and employment prospects." The board's future expectations sub-index sank to 70.7 last month from 78.4, while the present-conditions index was basically unchanged at 45.8. While consumers are less hopeful about the future, however, they said they've seen little deterioration in the economy, either.

[Joules MM1]

interesting comment in here:


Home › Blog › The "Protection Trade”: Will being long volatility and the market work?
Posted in on August 27, 2012 - 4:35pm
By Lawrence G. McMillan

For quite some time now (perhaps since last November), we have been pointing out how the voracious appetite for volatility protection has had the effect of distorting the term structure of the $VIX futures. Recently, though, this activity has branched out in a way that is only rarely seen in the markets: in short, large institutional traders are both buying stocks and buying volatility ETNs (thus, by inference, they are buying $VIX futures). Hedging on a large scale can distort technical indicators and other things – such as the term structure. That is, we can’t really interpret this activity in a contrary manner. Are these traders bullish (because they’re buying stocks) or bearish (because they’re heavily buying protection)? In truth, it’s probably the former, but their need to buy protection also means they’re not overly bullish. This reminds me very much of what was happening in QQQ options at the end of the tech stock craze in 2000....

[boofis]

Ha, gotta love the games played! Institutions took it down to 95 and then supported it there lol. Perhaps a run is in order.
What's the go with this man making a speech or some news or something stoopid tomorrow?

[baby_swallow]

H
What's the go with this man making a speech or some news or something stoopid tomorrow?

I think the man in Jackson A-hole (how appropriate), will pull the trigger to make Obumer look good in the coming election.

[Trembling Hand]

I think the man in Jackson A-hole (how appropriate), will pull the trigger to make Obumer look good in the coming election.

You think? There is noway you'll see him pull he's last rabbit out of the hat untill the

Not with positive GDP, euroland still fluffing around etc

IMO

[Joules MM1]

contrarians cover trigger ?
--------------------------------

Barron's Cover
| SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2012
Tough as Teflon

By VITO J. RACANELLI | MORE ARTICLES BY AUTHOR



http://online.barrons.com/article/SB...mod=BOL_twm_ls

excerpt

Call the stock market's swift 10% rise since the end of May a Teflon rally of sorts, because myriad worries on Wall Street -- from the so-called fiscal cliff in the U.S. to Europe's financial mess to turmoil in the Mideast -- haven't stuck, much less slowed the bull's progress. Instead, stocks have marched gamely higher..........

[baby_swallow]

You think? There is noway you'll see him pull he's last rabbit out of the hat untill the

Spot on TH.....I owe you a beer...

[boofis]

Wth! ES needs to be poked with a broom handle to check if it's still alive.

[Joules MM1]

Wth! ES needs to be poked with a broom handle to check if it's still alive.

holiday......have a kit kat .....futes havent moved coz dax stuck at 7g

although golds been good

[boofis]

holiday......have a kit kat .....futes havent moved coz dax stuck at 7g

although golds been good

ahhhh "labor day", thanks for the heads up. Will trade that kitkat for a cider and have a peep at gold in the mean time. cheers

[Joules MM1]

with the NDX almost at an 11 year high i was trawling to see if it was big news.... anywhere...anyone?.......but no!

instead, i found this little cherub

http://www.businessinsider.com/micha...rgeting-2012-9

Forget Bernanke: A Paper At Jackson Hole May Have Changed The Future Of Economics
Joe Weisenthal | Sep. 2, 2012, 8:56 AM

[Joules MM1]

CME's volume falls 40% in August
By Lynne Marek September 05, 2012

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/artic...s-40-in-august

excerpt

The CME volume declines occurred in most contract types, with a 41 percent drop in interest rate contract trading and a 58 percent decline in equity index contracts. The exception was in agricultural commodity contracts, where there was a 2 percent rise. Open outcry trading fell more than the electronic trading and was less than half the volume last year.

[CanOz]

with the NDX almost at an 11 year high i was trawling to see if it was big news.... anywhere...anyone?.......but no!

instead, i found this little cherub

http://www.businessinsider.com/micha...rgeting-2012-9

Forget Bernanke: A Paper At Jackson Hole May Have Changed The Future Of Economics
Joe Weisenthal | Sep. 2, 2012, 8:56 AM

Thanks mate, interesting POV Woodford has there

[Joules MM1]

Updated September 9, 2012, 7:24 p.m. ET

U.S. to Slash Stake in AIG

excerpts

A dramatic wind-down of the government's investment in AIG could break one of two ways for the Obama administration. Officials could say a near-exit of one of the most controversial bailouts in American history is a big accomplishment and sign of how far financial markets have come in four years.

The U.S. Treasury Department said it will sell $18 billion of American International Group Inc. AIG -0.67% stock, slashing its stake in the New York company by more than half and making the government a minority shareholder for the first time since the financial crisis was roaring in September 2008.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...LEFTTopStories