Blog Archives
Competing Against Fear
August 16, 2010
Good morning. It was a sharply down week for the market last week, with the SPY closing at 108.31, down 5.08 for the week (3.6%). The VIX, as expected with the market down, ran up 20.7%, closing up 5.5 at 26.23. The close Friday on the September S&P Futures contract of 1076.10 is fairly close to the midpoint of the post-holiday low of 1003 (in the pre-market session on July 6) and the high on August 5 of 1127.
Grind Out Some Returns
March 1, 2010
Good morning. The market ended last week down ever so slightly, with the SPY down a whole .40 (or .4%) on the week. However, that weekly summary masks a series of almost violent ups and downs on both an inter and intra day basis. For example, we had a virtually flat Monday, then a surprisingly negative Consumer Confidence number on Tuesday sent us down almost 1.5%. Wednesday brought a snap back rally of almost the same magnitude, followed by bad jobs numbers on Thursday that had us down almost 2% before recovering to almost unchanged.
Asia, Greece and More
February 16, 2010
Good morning. It was a very interesting week for the market last week. The SPY advanced 1.38 (or .9%) on the week to close at 108.66, after actually trading lower on last Friday than the close of the week before. It was actually a fairly impressive rally off the lows last Friday, as the low opening was associated with negative market news from both Europe and Asia.
Banking Industry Backlash
January 25, 2010
Good afternoon. Last week was the worst week in the market since last March, with the SPY down over 4% to close at 109.21. That closing number is also lower than the 111.44 closing number from last year, wiping out all of the early January gains. The VIX was up a dramatic 52% for the week to close at 27.30, and erased a lot of the upward sloping volatility skew we talked about last week.
Era of the Hypocrite
January 11, 2010
Good morning. It was a strong first week for the market in 2010, with the SPY closing up 3.13 on the week to 114.57 (2.8%). More importantly (maybe) is the amazing drop in the VIX, from 21.68 to 19.12, an astounding 16%. Could an expiration back spread be in our future? I am surely tempted, and may jump on one as soon as today.