Seems like this market is endlessly at the mercy of this and that...Oil, FNM/ FRE (GSE's), the Russia-Georgia escalation and if this wasn't enough we had a countdown to something new and old. There was something called the FDIC, no not the FOMC to analyze late in the day and a dude named Gustav heating up in the middle of nowhere and days away. Unfortunately, all of this is not making for much of anything as the street is a ghost town and by Friday, we might not even be here in cyber town!. This is ridiculous, the odds of trying to find a trade and than winning on it is just not favorable. To make matters worse, the idea (history) of this market picking up post Labor day may not even occur with all the possible implications abound this year. Who in their right mind wants to come off the sidelines and stick their toes in this market environment. The excuse of low volume in part may be attributed to the holiday time of the year, but the fact it is something like 30% off last years and you know it is more than that!.
It seems if you're hard up for cash, we have a 'destruction' trade unfolding. It was quite pathetic to see stocks of 2005 surface today waiting on Gustav to destroy peoples lives!. Anybody...remember IPII (manufacturer/ distributor of building products), well this now worthless stock rose 70% today on speculation of destruction. The funny thing is this POS stocks business is primarily away from where the storm is pointing to!. Even tough trading is based on implications of this and that in the world, we just can't put ourselves to speculate if people will be boarding their homes!. One thing is to react to turmoil as a trader, another is to speculate to this potential risk arising and bet on peoples lives.
Anyways, hurricane season's potential implications almost guarantees Oil will stay above $110. The impact on the energy markets will be in focus for days to come as this is the summer's first storm that may play havoc with the energy infrastructure. A glimpse into the past shows Natural gas balloons in comparison to the price of Oil in such circumstances, our cheat/ tear sheet will focus on the E&P stocks on our list to end the week. Unfortunately, with the new high list so pitiful this week, there is no other potential "most wanted" stock/ group in this ghost town as of today.