With the market being so volatile and with bearish tones ringing loud, entrance into regular call trades poses great risk. There have been some strong earnings announcements out by the coal companies that have already reported. These announcements tend to lead to a bullish bias in Coal, but the market has not been kind to anything energy related in the past month so we need to tread cautiously. We set up a straddle on JRCC…The chart below is of JRCC and shows the 2 trading scenarios that we discussed and […]

ECONOMIC REPORT U.S. economy suffers fourth-quarter contraction Revisions show spending slower, profits higher than previously thought By Rex Nutting, MarketWatch Last update: 9:01 a.m. EDT July 31, 2008Comments: 59WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The U.S. economy contracted in the fourth quarter of 2007, the first quarter of negative growth since the 2001 recession, the Commerce Department said Thursday in its annual revision to gross domestic product. Real GDP fell 0.2% in the quarter; a 0.6% increase had previously been reported. Many economists who think the economy is in recession believe it began […]

There are many strategies when it comes to playing puts. The following is just one idea that has been effective for me. It is a very simple strategy, but requires much patience. My favorite thing about the strategy is that it minimizes risk and gives nice gain potential. Remember, this type of a play is difficult for some, because you are buying puts as a stock rises. It is important to remember that stops are an important part of the strategy. Below are the following steps on what to look […]

Are stock splits good for a shareholder? In its essence, splitting a stock is like cutting your sandwich in half. There is no real value added, but it is easier to handle and many more individuals can get in. A list of upcoming companies who will be having stock splits can be found at www.earnings.com Below are a few stocks with their earnings dates marked so you can see the near term results of the splits. In other words…beware of splits!