DOW CONTINUES ITS LOST MOMENTUM . . . .

 

Who is going to win the Super Bowl? Historically that determines the direction of the market. I don't know who is going to win but I have my money on Archie's son.

We had a good week last week, and the markets continues on their historic slide. This week is just as action-packed!

It appears the factors that continue to push the market to record highs in January are not as strong as the retreat from the emerging markets continues to be at the centerpiece.

I think the emerging market scenario will remain at the front of the news this week but we do have at least 80 companies reporting earnings also so don't discount that.

For the month of January, the Dow fell 5.3 percent and the S&P 500 lost 3.6 percent - marking their worst monthly percentage declines since May 2012.

It almost seems like the markets are trying to walk on eggshells right now. Any bad news anywhere on the globe seems like it would have an adverse effect upon the market.

There are some strategists that believe the emerging markets will continue to fall and have "currency balancing" to maintain before they find a bottom. American companies in general drive about 5% of profits from these markets. One company in particular would be affected that I know of.

If the markets fall the S&P 500 usually follows, but not nearly as much.

Earnings So Far

With half of the S&P 500 companies having reported earnings so far, almost 70% have topped earnings expectations, above the long-term average of 63%.

Two-thirds have exceeded estimates on revenue, above the historical average of 61 percent, though companies have generally been meeting or beating lowered expectations.

While there are equity risks, there's very little risk from a bear market standpoint.

That markets have held on as well as they have shows that equity appetite still exists.

The S&P 500 is about 0.5 percent above its 100-day moving average, a level that could provide support against further losses.

Eco Calendar 

Besides all the earnings this week, the economic calendar is also jam packed. United States and Asia will reveal more information about manufacturing on Tuesday and Wednesday will have the ADP non farm payroll report.

Thursday early in the morning were going to have interest rate decisions for Great Britain, and Europe as a whole. The ECB will have a press conference before the markets opened on Thursday. This will be very important as will Friday's non farm payroll report for January.

This was a good example of waiting for a trade and On Thursday we did just that. the recommendation of the call spread on SPY went off perfect and could have been closed out early if you had some Free trades.  The SPY and AAPL put trades went off very well and was never a concern on AAPL and really not even of SPY if you were watching the Bollenger Bands.  Anyway glad that is behind me.

My results for the year are posted so you can see what and when I traded weekly. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Aj-gjBJLwH3rdERid3A0RE1GRFlyaHB0S0VxbHc0Vnc&usp=drive_web#gid=0 (SLOW MONEY OPTIONS)

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Aj-gjBJLwH3rcjJqRndVSlBzY2hNenM4YXZQT1FBZEE&usp=drive_web#gid=0  (FAST MONEY TRADING)

You know I had some good days and some bad, good weeks and bad weeks.  But I have a trading plan, goal and consistency in my trading and that is what I'm trying to teach you.  I believe each of you can do the same thing it takes discipline.  So here's to each of you next year lets write down our goals for the day, week, month and year.  How we are going to achieve it, have a trader notebook that we read daily and last have me to mentor you throughout the days ahead.

I would  really like to hear from you and how you're doing and maybe what I can do to improve the service. Remember me talking about trading/investing is like running a business?  Well to get a general feel of your business and what your customers are thinking.  It is good to pay attention to earning of others business it helps set the mood of possibility of your customers/consumers also.

So how did we do this past week with SLOW MONEY OPTIONS? all recommended trades did what they were supposed to do! Well almost I just followed my rules. Remember always take the more conservative spread is the reason that I give you choices.  What I do is take all my recommendations just split the money between choices. You can trade just enough to give you an extra days results of trading or trade enough to give you a weeks worth of trading.  The choice is yours take responsibility.

I am trading weekly options to help you grow your portfolios a little each week. We are either making money or not losing money.  Thank you for letting me serve you, I consider it a privilege to work with each of you.  I strive to make a successful trade one week at a time.

Are you making money? If not why not trade with me. Remember the goal is to make money NOT lose money . . . Duh . . . . . . . Take a look and see how Slow Money Option Trading went https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc key=0AjgjBJLwH3rdERid3A0RE1GRFlyaHB0S0VxbHc0Vnc&authkey=COb7xdMJ

Remember if your not a paid up member of the Fast MoneyTradingTeam you will not get the weekly Slow Money Option recommendations. Yes, I expect to publish Wednesday,Thursday or Friday my weekly option trade to the paid up members.