DJIM #1 2011

Instead of a recap of 2010 as everywhere you see this weekend, let’s get down to business as if January 3rd is any other day during the trading year.   No sombre violin playing for the Bears/ Shorts for the futile year they had and no Party like it’s 1999 by Prince celebrations for being on the ‘right side’ in 2010.   Yes,  2010 turned out to be the year of the momo/ growth stocks, which at end are cited as the ‘winners’ of 2010.   All in, just go back to DJIM Shadowlist in January/ February to see if the SPX 500 top 20/best performers ( FFIV, NFLX, PCLN, CRM CMI WYNN ARUN AZO CLF ) were amongst the 40/50 or so stocks in the DJIM composite at the beginning of 2010!.  Add later DJIM additions being involved in M&A this past year such as (BUCY, NZ, CML )  and the list dwindles some more for stocks to trade in 2011 as we can't expect repeat performances from the majority above.   That’s the beauty of a fresh trading year, new stocks and new sector groups emerging!

As far as the last week,  the notion to start the week of China hike offsetting any US market window dressing played out as the SPX was never more than 1pt up or down on any days close. (~1257-1259 close range).  Very  slow profit taking continued in the ‘winners’ growth stocks right into the final hours of December.  Sometimes it’s not what you trade from reading the Journal every morning, it’s what you don’t trade that keeps your accounts in check.  The potential lag in these higher beta stocks is something we covered here from the start of December.  Also, the flow instead trickled into Banks (BKX >15%) and other laggards (economic sensitive) as a product of investor confidence right into year end.    All in, as discussed we were no putting much into anything last week due to an illiquid market…incl..(SPX1260 “R”, no conviction after excellent eco’ data.). 

Mid –week,  we put focus back on Ag’ and related stocks/sub groups and an outlook for a China PMI that if ‘cooling’ to potentially wake up the market.  The number came out this weekend and it cooled off 1.3% from November.  A good start with US ISM on deck for Monday.  Other things to watch, the sluggish December for tech sector may finally get some newsflow starting with the Vegas CES (6th-9th) and possible pre-announcements into earnings season.  Casino Macau numbers out Monday/Retail and Auto later in the week.  NFP# out on Friday, add of +135 is the consensus.  Many major markets closed on Monday, incl. UK, CHINA, Canada, Australia leaving only money flow into US through the book door and thus a possible good start to 2011.

Pockets..

The only approach following a wild overnight panic in global markets was to gauge to the Futures(ES) decline vs.our Shadowlist as we often do.  The strategy was to watch for..”Dip buyers have been on strike…will they come out on ES overnight panic and buy the early selling pressure in individual stocks (not directly related to Japan and events?). Is this the point (SPX 1262 -December high/early Jan low) SPX 1270-1279 Pivot point support.”.   It was evident in the first hour investors were not fleeing individual stocks in our list.   The losses simply were not on par to the ES and the fact we fell sharply to the SPX 1262 off the open, exemplified the possibility of dip buyers coming off the picket line.   Having a plan and seeing what ensues in relation to it,  allows you the trader to decide what you should do.  If you had sold out premkt/ open, you regretted it by close today.  If you bought something that was down more than you thought it should be off the morning sell off, you made a nice trade (see below for some nice reversals).  Interestingly the 1279 point became resistance from noon until the inline FOMC (w some economy ‘firmer footing’ words) finally pushed the market through this zone.  Of course, if we had a ‘meltdown’ who knows what would’ve happened.. (or will happen), if the nuke situation worsened.

All in, we’re still on shaky ground (have to deal w violence escalation in Bahrain as well), but there are pockets to trade as below illustrates.

Shadowlist

• Commodities-   The solar nuke trade (FSLR,TSL ) introduced here coming into Monday’s trade continued to work and steels links outperformed(although X was sidelined). CMI,FCX  reversed very nicely.  Surprised coal stocks not benefiting yet as coal prices shoot higher last few days.
• Momentum/ earnings/ winners of ’10-   Also entering the week off brutal headlines, we still noted to watch….”some better signs last few days as high growth names bounce NFLX, FFIV.”.  This was the best sign as FFIV  made a big reversal and NFLX  was the star off a GS upgrade note, but this outperformance was evident in many other names such as RVBD, BSFT, IPGP.  APKT continues to find a bid.  JNPR  another networking stock has as well. All in, momo’s acted very well again as bids come in on dips.

Ahead of the open, (01-12)

A global ‘warming’ emergency synchronization… rescue beginning in December 5, but only a piece of the puzzle as banking and sovereign debt crisis is interwoven.

Just as the Shanghai exchange suffered one of its biggest declines in 2011 overnight with PBOC officials still dampening hopes intraday of an imminent easing…Boom!...PBOC cuts reserve requirements after close by 50bp starting Dec.5 (cuts amount of cash banks must set aside to spur lending).

=Futures market reverse about 20 handles into 8am.

In Europe, a dud of an EFSF deal reached by finance ministers, speculation policymakers had made no progress on propping IMF funds with ECB not ready to do anything substantial…. BOOM!...A FED led blitz of Central Banks backed by US gov’t with a US-Funded Liquidity Bailout of worldwide dollar crunch!!. Yes, the same USD funding stresses noted here before the eventual 1275SP- to 1159SP rout just over week ago needed a quick Global bailout!. Simply, central banks rescued what EU officials couldn’t (liquidity shortage) in a bold move taking matters into their own hands.

= SPX rockets and recovers almost all the ground lost in November.

There was not going to be fade job of Monday’s rally as the market ‘squeezed’ higher off fresh cheap cash injections to come. Funny, how you can fix Germany’s 1yr debt going negative this morning (probably kicker for action), China’s horrible market day off renewed hard landing fears and a European ministers inabilities in just a few hours. Note, this intervention isn’t the holy grail guarantee, but it is a piece of the Eurozone puzzle.

Of course, what ails banks is now seemingly fixed for the moment as their lending to each other simply trickles down to economies, but it doesn’t put a blanket over the debt sovereign crisis. Expect more from ECB going forward to make this a true turning point for the crisis. ECB hard-line/standing pat seems to be getting it’s way and sooner than later they will be satisfied to step in. (more political reform etc.). Also, expect IMF co-ordinated program to get off the ground as well.

Unfounded rumors of a bank struggling to fund itself  this morning might have the ‘mishap’ talked about here last week for something to be done.  Still, it’s likely the German 1yr this morning is what spooked the CB’s to let loose their contingency co-ordination. This wasn’t made up overnight, it’s been in the works just in case.  In all, that should give confidence to investors co-ordination is always a possibility.

In all, add ADP# 200k ahead of NFP# Friday ( .. last week here...Employment whispers for Dec 2 starting to come in at 200k~.)..and equities just became sexy again. Last weekend did smell like a prelude to a rally, just as in October rally (noted early this week). Financials rallied ~6% , leading the tape (along with materials (high beta coals (CLF, WLT) steels led (X,NUE ), energy, and industrials). Bascially, you can trade commodity- linked stocks such as above that have been Shadowlisted in the past, as well as the high beta earnings plays related to China ..(ie.WYNN, LVS, CMI.) or just related sector ETF’s.

Although most of the day was over with at 8:40am, the fact SP added some 10+ handles in the last hour suggests some ‘ longs only stepped in’ after the early morning short covering. This suggests we may buy single stocks in anticipation of more upside into year – end. So, did we get our wish from financials to lead rally, just like in October?? They are down nearly 25-30% YTD and big rallies usually see worst sectors bought first.

You may not believe in CB’s actions, EFSF, China ‘s RRR, but this is a day where you can’t ignore the price action. Things are actually being done a step at a time, recall note here investors want action, not more speculation around upcoming (meeting, summits).