A sign of things to come?...

First trading day of the year, it sure was rocky, to say the least.    What began as a all out rosy day turned into a scary moment in the afternoon but only to be saved by an uptick during the last half hour.    Volatility is in the air and we can smell it.   Some of the momentum stocks reversed intraday and got hit hard and some struggled hard to hold their ground.    Boys and girls, welcome to the new year!   One thing that we are sure of, regardless which sector is working today and which sector is not, the action we've seen from the market today is caused by the exact same players that were playing these same sectors a few days ago, or a few weeks ago, or a few months ago.    Blame on the Fed Minute, blame on the oil, or we can simply blame ourselves for creating such big volatility.

When it comes to trading stocks, what we are really doing is not trading the stocks themselves, but rather we are trading against the people behind those stocks.   It's a competition and it's a game and majority ALWAYS have the right saying in a stock.   We have to accept it.    So when the market turns intraday today and even the mighty FXI could not hold its ground,  we have to accept the fact of what's happening and act accordingly.  SELL..   How many times have we seen a +100 Dow day reversed into a -40?   Not many times!   This of course raises our caution level considerably and therefore we have to act accordingly.    There's no pride in this game, it's just about survival.   When you can actively survive in this game for a long time, it means that you have done something right and it also means you probably have won a lot.  Ok enough of this philosophical crap and lets move on to some real actions... lol

China stocks, namely the ones we track, HMIN EDU MR and BIDU (more for the trader) all had a relatively good day.    Even though MR and HMIN did not finish near their high of the day but given how bullish we were on those stocks last week, we all should have had some to lock in for some profit and /or if you played our idea off yesterdays Journal that these might catch a bid, especially with the FXI gapping up 3+ points premarket and these not far off Fridays close.  EDU was still left behind 15 minutes into the trading day and so we tossed out this idea at $34.20's.  We still like HMIN alot and think this one is definitely in play, given the recent surge in volume.    We are very much in the camp of buying aggressively on dips for HMIN while adding lightly on strength.   Why?  Well it seems this is how this thing has been rewarding us so far and there's no reason to change the strategy.    MR, some dude's been putting an iron lid  on this thing at $26.    When so much firepower has been absorbed at $26 and stock wouldn't go any higher, we think it would've dropped even without the index help.    Give it some more room to work, buying dip also works well with this one.   Both EDU and BIDU looked pretty good at the close and both showed that they are busting their respective downtrend.   We are definitely keeping a close  eye on all these four stocks and looking for opportunity to add.     One word of caution though, we are only playing the quality China stocks at this point and there's really no need to spend our time or capital onto other " wannabe runners".    We do make FFHL as an exception since we are familiar with its play and it's also very much in play still.

One thing you might use now is the FXI, today you saw how hand in hand this acted with our quality china stocks..just look at 10min chart comparison.  It reversed...it played with the gap, it turned and DJIM's followed the whole way!

ATNI, this one for some reason had a late push and we alerted all our readers on its break out.    We don't know what caused the surge but we were following the action.    The volume is very good on the breakout and this one has had a pretty strong basing action last little while.   If this one follows up, we are likely to add more.  See the chart up that showed this was not far from breaking out and should have been on radar.

POWL, we alerted this one earlier also and thought it had a chance to breakout.   Unfortunately it suffered a reversal as every other stock did an hour later and did not close anywhere near the high.    We still think this one has potential and the close today only put it right in the middle of that tight trading range.   We'd keep a close eye on this one.

ABM, it's almost hard to believe that a stock can consolidate for so long within a 50 cent range.   Only from NYSE perhaps!   Given the surge in trading volume ever since it released earning, we think that this play is far from over.    Once the institutions establish a trading base and enough shares get exchanged hands, the next step should be higher rather than lower.    We'll see if it creeps back above 9 ema next couple of days to assault for a new high or not.

ROS, well there's really nothing we want to say other than noticing "who's in charge today"!.  Seems just yesterday it was alerted at just under $38 as a play off the other Russian telcos.

The bottom line, earning season is almost upon us and it's ok to have some volatility going into the earning.    Again, we've said this prior to last earning quarter that market rarely crashes before the start of an earning season.     At this point, we are trading smalerl sizes and taking advantage of some hot sectors and a few tradable opportunities while we wait for the earning season to start.   When a really good opportunity comes along during the earning season, we'd pounce on it hard with all we got and put another 25%+ gainer on the plate.

 

Boring day...

We can't fault this market to behave like this today.   After all, the only thing we can do is to respect what the market is capable of and act accordingly.    Basically, there's not much of anything going on out there and we are writing the day off without writing much at all.   Maybe..on account of weather as we actually saw sunshine and felt warmth for the first time  in '07.    Earning season is almost upon us and we have to gather our energy to prepare for possibly another busy one.

ACAD, this is the only one we fiound of tradable quality today mentioned on DJIM.   It broke out and we added some but not too aggressively.   We are also keeping our eyes on ALXA and to see if it can establish a tradable base or not.  A few past DJIM's could be added back on your potential playlist.  MFW ROS

Dow 13K?

Who really cares?   However, the CNBC show has to go on and "intelligent" topic has to be discussed in order to attract viewership.   In all honesty, those who trade stocks for a living don't really have much of a choice but having this CNBC on in case we miss some important headline.   Ok, enough rant here!      Market has once gain showed its inability to march forward and much of the action came from the smallcap land.  With a 91bln bank deal overseas leading the usual Monday activity, we expected more follow through today.  This is a little bit early to talk about but we are about a few weeks away when the seasonality factor kicks in.    Sell in May and go Away!    Ok, so for those members who have billions of dollars at stake, don't blame us that we didn't warn you.  lol   For the rest of us, life goes on and we will adjust to whatever the market environment when changes happen.  There are a few interesting setups today and we are going to go through each one of them....

KRSL,  this one gave us a very profitable trade a couple of months ago and we never take it off our watchlist.  It merely sits in the back of the class until it decides to stand up one day ann makes itself  noticed.    We noticed it earlier today off the news that the co. received a contract(MOU) from UTX.   This is essentially the first good news we've heard from the co. since it reported its last earning.    We'll take it.  It's good to know they will continue to be busy going forward.  The reasons for a move has been summed up in the alert, so we are not going to repeat here.   One thing we have to point out that this one trades very thinly and it can go up as quickly as it can go down.    We got in the $23s and will act accordingly.    Chasing blindly without a plan is definitely not a good idea with a stock like this one.

TRCR, this one reported earning after the close and essentially this is the best quarter for this co.   It beat year over year, also up nicely sequentially.   This one has had pretty steady action since the last report so there's a good chance that it will continue the same pattern.   Although there's no exact telling how the stock will behave tomorrow but based on the AH action, making a new high is not out of the cards for this one soon.  We might actually keep an ear on the CC late morning, or will just watch the action at that time to possibly make another move. 

SILC,  we are going to monitor this one really closely tomorrow because there's potentially a chance for this one to break out.    We believe this is also due to the pre-earning run and eps date is 25th of this month.  Hey, we got one from DXPE Friday and today from USAP, so why not the SILC'ster!

There have been quite a few names that made some nice moves today..SYNL MTOX CYNO USAP. A few of them are the quiet types which include TNH GLDN SCHN GMRK ROS.  We are glad that there's enough action out there despite the weakness from the major indices.

...lets's see what the chips can bring tomorrow off a couple of good reports AH

..Too close to call..

..25bps or 50bps?...How cares now..!.  Let's just get this over with and move on!.    Last Tuesday, we put a cautionary spin on the DJIM players and therefore the market.  This has turned completely into a lack of set ups and muted action in those players.  Just look at the Russell 2000. Last Tuesday's close was 782, yesterday 775 and nothing more than a 15pts range within this time frame to trade.   You can't do much with that as far as trading opportunities go.   We'd rather have the credit crunch back in the news and trade those small banks on the LSE the past few days than sit through more of this grinding action.    So, that's why we say, let's just get this FOMC over and take it from there.....it might be a case of double or nothing, or doubling up or not  on the bps cut and 50% of the experts who have put money to work..on the line are not going to be happy.   This decision is far reaching as its going to make a significant difference to all the markets from equity to currency.    We've taken a different approach and that is not bet on either and be positioned very thinly as far as dollars invested heading into the afternoon.    Just don't do 25bps today and say ..th-th-th-th- that's all, folks!.    This looney tune from the Fed would send the market tumbling.    It's the accompanying statement that will play a the vital role as we want to hear they will be ready to do more.   So, that is the afternoon, but let's not forget the very crucial morning as the report from LEH kicks off the big banks reporting season.   This might leave this market stained for the FOMC decision if they didn't find a way to fudge the book with BS MS GS that follow this week.  Traders / investors will scrutinise these results from head to toe.  

..as far as individual plays yesterday of interest....

BIDU was definitely the one and really only that was of interest yesterday for us and traders in the momentum space.  Unfortunately, as always BIDU to us is a day trading stock and really not fitting to most of our subscriber base. The price also dictates that many are not going to dish out the bucks to make this a worthwhile trade on most days, so we tend to leave it off the board here.

EJ, last week we said 'volume' will dictate if its worth a further trade.   Yesterday, the initiations started for this recent Chinese real estate IPO and it got the volume going.  CIBC with a $25 and Lazard with a $23.  There were also some huge trades in this at 20 even, so there might be some protection from the usual volatility, especially to the downside.   A possible spin that we are trading now is that the lead book runners of the IPO will initiate in the next couple days, maybe Tuesday...Merrill Lynch, a tier 1 being one of them.

ROS,  last week we alerted this Russian telco again.   It's slow, which might be the best medicine the past week. Yesterday in the afternoon it got highlighted by Briefingcom....New High Profiles: OAO Rostelecom(ROS) .....is sitting just below its all-time high of 61.55 set last Thursday after edging above the top of its Jul-Sep range.........it is difficult to pinpoint a single event that has acted as the catalyst for the shares. However, we note ....recently reported impressive financial results,  FY06 results on 7/19 in which the co posted a 49% YoY increase in net profit and a 50% increase in revs....Deutsche Bank recently commented (8/30) that Russian operators are continuing to benefit from growing usage and a benign pricing environment, after VIP reported strong Q2 results on 8/30...

CMED, SIMC  are a few names played here before making new highs intraday without faltering by close.

Bulls on 'roids and Pigs can fly..!.

Those seem to be facts now!.   This is what we saw yesterday as the Chinese bulls roared off the Asian markets, even when left at home alone with the SHANG on holiday's.    With every Bull shot there is a pig in it's footsteps.   Meaning speculation on junk ones was wild and you need to be careful at this probable late stage in the game.    Back at the ranch, the market was doing better than expected with not a lot of profit taking.   We added this footnote to a post before noon,  "Considering yesterdays action this hasn't been bad at all or meager for the small caps /RUT been green most of the day. Bunch of those sorts here having good days WX EJ BIDU JRJC LULU MELI ROS GLDN FSLR EXM TBSI..AZZ might still " .    The day turned from good to very good late in the session for these stocks and a few others like GS, VMW, CSCT.    The market continued to trade sideways and finished mixed, yet for consecutive days now, we were in the right place at the right time.     Hopefully, our morning Journal steered you back home if you've strayed!.     This was the true Bull shot of the day, the DJIM index.    There is really not much to say heading into today trading, except that hopefully we all played these shooters smart and took some off the table.    This is especially true with the gains generated by the Chinese stocks covered here.    Even the good ones will get nosebleeds.

A member noted and what is probably a good way to understand the Journal is to see it as us thinking 'out load'.  One thing is to shadow plays, another is to shadow our mindset, which is probably the better way to go.     We can't give buy/ sell advice, all we could do is show what we are buying and thinking.    Hopefully, it rubs off on you and improves your trading ways.    When we noted yesterday.."Now, we just ask WX to get some game and it will have our most recent China plays on even ground. Oh yeah..where was BIDU yesterday?.     Lets no forget this rocket ship when looking for a good intraday trade.".    You need to ask yourself why are we even mentioning these two that under performed the day before.    Simply, we are thinking ahead and with a big overnight Asian market these just might come out and play with the rest of the kids.   Trading is so much a psyche game, you need to think ahead and think what others will or might do.   Your gig is to get there in the early stage or even ahead of the herd.   We gave the below leads yesterday, clues into where we might be leaning and why.  All you needed was one or two to have an excellent day.  The language is simple and we'd all should have been prepared..

TBSI got back in the hunt and is close to highs.

VMW, we don't cover much tech, but VMW has been the one we have traded the most.   Finally..this one is acting with the sector

which is leading the recent parade and not playing on its own terms. $90+ is in reach now

ROS, GLDN our Russian telco plays are not be forgotten as long as they cling to highs and therefore offer more upside potential in the near future.

WX and BIDU( wasn't all JPM initiation), it was a matter if you build it, they will come!.   The build up was the overnight markets and these were prime candidates to play in the mud with the others.    Anyways, yesterday was a day for us to daytrade these high flying Chinese stocks and it occupied most of our day.    Now, we need to get back to basics and deal with reality and concentrate on the others like GS, FSLR, VMW, AZZ etc.  The EPS winners and ones to come and the potential set ups that we can all get in early on. 

We all need to be a realistic after two days of solid gains!

..some calmness

Seems many gurus are writing off the market saying this latest liquidity plan is just for the big boyz to get out higher and fry us all.  Hell, many have predicting doom since summer or years for different crisis situations, but we just keep playing along with many of you as we have done so for 3-4-5 years.   We love conspiracy theories , but we don't trade them unless they are ours and we won't give up now thinking this market can trade up still.   Maybe , we are too simple and too simple in our methodology... We/You are not giving our neighbour a loan and they won't give us one and so the banks have the same situation.   They don't trust each other and so the liquidity plan comes to fruition.   Simple...  someone steps in and helps both sides.   We are in favor of this intervention and think this will help soothe out things eventually.   It's a start.   The last time anything close to this being done  on such a worldly scale was after 9-11.  That puts things into perspective in more than one sense.   The severity of it all now and the ability to fight back is there as we've seen before.    Day by day things will clear... if the market can't hold a13500 DJIA or NASD 2700 close in the short term, we'd start to worry more from a technical standpoint.   But...until then we are ready to jump on Santa's sleigh and go for a ride with a few of his helpers.     Well, the DJIA did hold 13500 (barely) and the NASD is still some 30 pts away, but we all know what 30 points is like and that's a half day of a run these days.    The way RIMM, AAPL BIDU performed makes it even more plausible soon and therefore an opportunity to strike these names up again will come.   We are encouraged by today's action, the lows of Wednesday were hardly touched on the indices and we worked higher into the close.  A little grit and determination was seen today and everything held together after yesterdays big intraday slide.  ' If ' we get a manipulated CPI number premarket, we could have an added ingredient for a move starting for next week.   We are getting to the biggest time of the year for manipulation as the volume will soon start to dry up.  This is the time for all the manipulators to step forward..big and small and boost year end totals on all boards.    Surely, a BIG lot(s) will be there to help out the market.  You help us out with liquidity....we'll help up you in other ways, guys!.. told you we love conspiracy theories, we just like'em on the bull side.

LRN,   K12, how cool a name is that!;).  Anything/anybody to help the kids from Kindergarten to grade 12 surf online other than us is a great concept!.  Okay, so its a little more than that as LRN offers a 'real' curriculum of educational services, lessons.    A virtual public skool alternative to supplement the kids education.  A recent educational IPO, APEI serving the military/law enforcement had a big run since it IPO'd as we noted with LRN today in the $22's.  It had nice full day trading to the $25's and we were trading/taking positions throughout the day.  A 6mln float makes it attractive to boot.

MELI, a long standing citizen here and a recent alert this week at $45 was making some people very happy last night as it traded to $58 AH's off Cramer.  It's only a recap if you are not trading it this week as it's held its ground near highs through all the volatility we've seen.  We have always liked to sell to an incoming herd from another source.

MA,  another long term play here and again highlighted a few times this week hit a NCH with a $224 close with a converted touchdown and field goal day..10pts. No yellow flags with this machine.

Solars, we highlighted this bunch into the trading day and it was really the only 'group' action going with FSLR, ESLR leading the way off the upgrades mentioned in the morning.  JASO, SOLF, YGE all held green as well and if we keep seeing this group up, STP, SPWR will join the ranks again.

MBT, VIP, after making NCH's recently they have tested 9ema and seem ready to resume if the market gives them a chance.   The telecom sector has been one of the leaders on bad days in the market and with Russia's political picture clearing up it should bode well for these ADR's soon enough.  These have always held up during the rocky days of November.    ROS,  a secondary play on the above when we started coverage back who knows when is a clear beneficiary as its practically a 'state owned co'.  The other two offer volume and so we'd continue playing with them.

RICK, so this is where all the bankers are striking up liquidity plans these days!..No wonder they have no $$$$.  This one just keeps on doing a slow dance up.

GXDX,  no big surprise the traders didn't show up the day after EPS.  We've outlined numerous times recently that small/ float EPS plays are not getting the love immediately as we have been used to in the past. The chasers are still not there as we saw today and since this stock had a very nice pre earnings run, its really not surprising to see profit taking come in.  Keep it up there on your potential playlist.  A pullback always balances your risk/reward out.

Oh yeah, RIGL,  wait till phase 3 comes out, it will go to $100..;).  The beauty of this action is there's crazy foolish money out there still to play feverishly and we like that.   Along with interest seen in the IPO LRN,  it gives us more hope in the coming weeks for plays as there is a willingness to put money to work.  It's sporadic now and sometimes doesn't last too long , but that could all change as spreads widen in more names when the volume starts to dry up into the New Year.