Train To Be Clutch

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (BIP) recently made all time highs of $37.00 and has pulled back to $34.26. The trend is still in tact from 10/4/11. The company is a utility play that has a portfolio of assets that span the globe. BIP also has a 4.28% dividend yield.

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No position at this time. Position declarations are believed to be accurate at time of writing but may change at any time and without notice.

Discovery Communications

Discovery Communications made all time highs this week at $55.11. The stock has risen 52% since the start of 2012. The company trades at a Forward P/E of 16 and has no dividend yield. CBS Corporation, another broadcasting stock made all time highs this week as well. I would be looking to play this from the long side as long as the trend stays intact. 

http://seaofopportunity.blogspot.com/

No position at this time. Position declarations are believed to be accurate at time of writing but may change at any time and without notice.

Costco Wholesale

Costco announced an increase of 6% in same-store sales for the month of August this morning. The stock traded to all time highs today closing at $98.59. The stock punched through it's Bollinger Bands on a daily time frame and a variety of technical indicators are reading overbought such as Stochastics and RSI. Costco could be a worthy name to add to a watch list if one is trying to get long some retail strength.

http://seaofopportunity.blogspot.com/

No position at this time. Position declarations are believed to be accurate at time of writing but may change at any time and without notice.

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals made all time today after coming out of a four month consolidation. Stock is up 164% YTD. On a short term time frame RSI 2 and 5 are reading 100. I think this stock could be a long on pullbacks as long as the uptrend remains intact. Use proper risk management.

http://seaofopportunity.blogspot.com/

No position at this time. Position declarations are believed to be accurate at time of writing but may change at any time and without notice.

Discover Financial

Discover Financial is making all time highs. The company announced a payment processing deal this morning with Pay-Pal and the stock jumped. There was bullish option activity in Mastercard this morning as well. Discover is making all time highs while Visa and Mastercard are not. Discover trades at 2.3x book value while MA and V trade at 4x and 9x respectively.

http://seaofopportunity.blogspot.com/

No position at this time. Position declarations are believed to be accurate at time of writing but may change at any time and without notice.

11 Charts: All Time Lows Last 1-3 Months

Possible short set ups, all names have made all time lows in the past 3 months.

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No position at this time. Position declarations are believed to be accurate at time of writing but may change at any time and without notice.

Retail Strength

Michael Kors is a retail name that had an IPO in February of 2012. Bulls will argue that the name broke resistance at 58.60 and recently made all time highs. They will be looking for continued strength from here on out. Bears on the other hand will argue that the name trades at expensive multiples such as 18 times book value and a forward P/E of 30. Only time will tell for who is on the right side of the trade.

http://seaofopportunity.blogspot.com/


No position at this time. Position declarations are believed to be accurate at time of writing but may change at any time and without notice.

Healthcare REITs are Strong

Above we have the weekly and daily time frames of Ventas Inc. Healthcare REITs in general have been extremely bullish since they are currently offering yields more attractive than treasury bonds. Stock recently moved back to its 50EMA.

http://seaofopportunity.blogspot.com/

No position at this time. Position declarations are believed to be accurate at time of writing but may change at any time and without notice.

Retail Short Trade

Vera Bradley is at a key resistance level at 25.50. I like this name on the short side and the trade can easily be managed with a stop at 25.50-26 depending on your risk tolerance. Looking for a move back down to 21-22. Many technical indicators reading extremely overbought as well.

http://seaofopportunity.blogspot.com/ 


No position at this time. Position declarations are believed to be accurate at time of writing but may change at any time and without notice.

Battle at $47.30!

Do or die time for Cliffs Natural Resources. The stock is approaching a huge level at 47.30. My bias is leaning on the short side and I believe the coal sector is due for some more pain. That being said, the bull case is that CLF does have a 5.5% yield which is much more significant than treasuries. Longer term investors might see CLF as a value play as well but a test and clear fail of 47-47.30 would put CLF in favor of the bears.

http://seaofopportunity.blogspot.com/


 No position at this time. Position declarations are believed to be accurate at time of writing but may change at any time and without notice.

All Time Highs: Express Scripts (ESRX)

Express Scripts making all time highs today. Stock is poised for higher prices in my opinion. I am looking for a pullback to enter a trade. With SPY near the upper end of its range, we could see a pullback soon if the bears come in with some force. Happy trading.

 http://seaofopportunity.blogspot.com/

 No position at this time. Position declarations are believed to be accurate at time of writing but may change at any time and without notice.

All Time Highs: Telus (TU)

Telus Corp (TU) making all time highs today. Looking to be a buyer on pullbacks. 

http://seaofopportunity.blogspot.com/

No position at this time. Position declarations are believed to be accurate at time of writing but may change at any time and without notice.

Of Monsters And Men - Little Talks (Bombay Bicycle Club Remix)

Song of the day: Justice - Helix (Lazerdisk Party Sex Remix)

Song of the day: Kill Paris - Shades Of Funk

Song of the Day: Metric - Youth Without Youth

Song of the Day: Sir Michael Rocks -- We Get High (prod. Cookin Soul)

Michael Norton: How to buy happiness

Volatility at World's End: Two Decades of Movement in Markets

Awesome.

More on this can be found here: http://www.artemiscm.com/category/research/

Denise Shull Market Mind Games - Psychological Leverage

The Great Depression

John Stossel's Illegal Everything

Gamma is Cheap(er)

With the market making new yearly hi's (SPY chart below), the price of front month options in the SPY is priced considerably lower than its back month comrades. As depicted in the skew charts below, 2011 illustrated a common skew that we often see - front month options being most expensive based Implied Volatility, or IV, relative to the other series. As you can see in the final skew chart, front month options are pricing in very little movement for the coming weeks. This is not really surprising given the general outlook on the VIX and the market action seen earlier this week in the VIX options, where vol reeled some 6 pts lower in a single day. With the vol of the vol so to speak seemingly headed lower, gamma is currently cheap and maybe will be cheaper still. Nevertheless, it provides some intriguing possibilities and opportunities, not the least of which is a reversion to the mean trades (read short calendars - warning:could take a while) or outright long gamma positions to speculate or hedge against near term portfolio events. Happy trading.

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VIX Vega beat down

Important to ask yourself why they are doing this?

http://seaofopportunity.blogspot.com/ *Special thanks to Option Radar, BMO Capital, MEB Options, Bloomberg, Reuters, Optionistics, LiveVolPro, CBOE, AMEX, Option Monster, T.O.P. group, and all of the options desks and traders we work with to provide the option flow! No position at this time. Position declarations are believed to be accurate at time of writing but may change at any time and without notice.

Trade Reviews - February 1st, 2012

5-minute BAC chart

Today was a clear trend-up day in BAC. We gapped up from yesterday's close and never came came close to closing it. In the first hour of trading, BAC broke through R1 and R2. It looked like $7.50 would be a target, but only reached $7.42. The profitable afternoon trades were to buy every VWAP touch.

http://seaofopportunity.blogspot.com/

*Special thanks to Option Radar, BMO Capital, MEB Options, Bloomberg, Reuters, Optionistics, LiveVolPro, CBOE, AMEX, Option Monster, T.O.P. group, and all of the options desks and traders we work with to provide the option flow!

No position at this time. Position declarations are believed to be accurate at time of writing but may change at any time and without notice.

Trade Reviews - January 31st, 2012

5-minute BAC chart

5-minute GS chart

Before the market opened, BAC gapped up 8 cents from yesterday's close. BAC closed the gap at 11:10AM. At 9:55AM, Morgan Stanley was the first bank to close the gap. Keeping an eye on on MS and other financials would have been the clue that BAC would eventually fill its gap. The next trade in BAC was to buy the unch. Goldman Sachs would have been the clue to buy the unch and hold. At 11:05AM, GS broke above VWAP and and broke through R1, R2, and R3. BAC and GS both closed just above VWAP.

http://seaofopportunity.blogspot.com/

*Special thanks to Option Radar, BMO Capital, MEB Options, Bloomberg, Reuters, Optionistics, LiveVolPro, CBOE, AMEX, Option Monster, T.O.P. group, and all of the options desks and traders we work with to provide the option flow!

No position at this time. Position declarations are believed to be accurate at time of writing but may change at any time and without notice.

The Long Roots of the Chinese Economic Boom

This is part 1 of 10.  I'm only about half way though but I've found it very interesting thus far. Enjoy.

Jim Dalton Webinar - Thinking Fast and Slow

Book by Daniel Kahneman, "Thinking, Fast and Slow", is in heavy rotation in the Flotilla Trading Room. Check out Dalton's take.

Understanding How We Make Decisions from Jim Dalton on Vimeo.

Big March Roll on VIX

Asch Conformity Experiment

Song of the Day Teen Daze - Let's Groove