This week reminded me of a dance . . two steps back and one step forward turn around and do it again . . .

     

What a wild ride the markets took last week! Monday the markets tanked and the end of the week they ended up positive.  After the S&P 500 gained by weeks end, investors want to know if things are going to get better or is this weakness going to turn into a full-blown correction?

      Between Thursday and Friday, the S&P 500 gained 2.6%, its best two-day performance in almost 4 months. Why did this happen?

      The present signals could push the markets through the 20 day moving average, that short term. Intermediate-term, the markets still looks scary.

Economic News

     Retail sales for January will be in focus for the U.S. this week. Depending what happens, it could offer more evidence that the economy has lost some momentum since the quarter started.

      On Friday when we had the January non farm payroll data, it revealed that the United States did slow sharply over the past couple months. Don't be surprised if we find out the economy is losing strength.  I don't know about you but I was surprised that the markets rallied later in the day on Friday.

      The Commerce Department should report on Thursday that retail sales were flat in January. What caused this? Most economists believe it was influenced by the drop in receipts from auto sales. But if we take auto sales out, retail sales barely went up.  Then I'm sure they will say it was weather related . . . dah.

      These numbers are important because include the January gift card numbers to complete the Christmas sales picture.

      New Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen will be in the spotlight as she testifies before U.S. lawmakers next week in her first public comments on monetary policy and the economy after taking the reins at the U.S. central bank.

      On Thursday, a group of nine retailers that report comparable monthly sales posted a 3.6 percent rise for January, below the 4.9 percent pace a year earlier. The data suggested that January was a tough end to the most competitive holiday season for U.S. retailers since the 2007-2009 recession.

      Next week's economic calendar will include weekly jobless claims on Thursday and January's industrial output on Friday. The preliminary February reading on consumer sentiment will also be released on Friday by  Reuters and the University of Michigan.

     Friday, prior to the opening when the non farm payroll report came in at 113,000 the dollar tumbled in gold futures rose because it didn't come near expectations of 175,000.

     As quickly as it dropped it started the rebound.

Evidently the belief that pent-up demand will unleash better labor market and economic news in coming months that the markets to continue to move up. 

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? AAPL call spreads really had me worried Friday in the premks but as soon as we had enough data the bollonger bands proved my plan out.  Just let the put and call spreads expire.  Now the SPY trades were not so. The most conservative trade were the puts and they did just find.  Now here is what happened on the call side. Thursday got the trade off for .o4cr. and Friday it looked OK until the mks opened.  I monitored it past noon and became concerned that I might have to roll.  By monitoring the volume, RSI and the bollenger bands I decided @ 1:30 pm to go ahead and plan it safe closed out the position @ .04cr.  Ended up costing me the commissions to make the trade. When 3:00pm rolled around I was glad I followed my plan.   Remember you will live to trade another day if you don't get greedy and learn to take a small loss to be right.  I'm in this for the long hall and will not take undue risk. 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.