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Consumer Stocks Drift Higher Before Events

Consumer Stocks Drift Higher Before Events

Consumer stocks on the rise, just in time for a series of important news events. Of all the major sector-tracking SPDR ETFs, consumer discretionary (XLY) is closest to its 52-week high. (See RadarScreen® below.) That shows bullish sentiment toward the group and may...

How to Manage Risk in a Teetering Giant: Options Recap

How to Manage Risk in a Teetering Giant: Options Recap

Disclosure: This post is intended for educational purposes only. Options may not be suitable for all investors. What happens if you want to own a stock but are worried about short-term volatility? Use options -- that seemed to be the answer from a big investor...

Vix under Siege as S&P 500 Fills January Gap

Vix under Siege as S&P 500 Fills January Gap

The S&P 500 hit its highest level since late-January as the index fills a "bearish gap." Remember, gaps are patterns on candle-stick charts that show a security jumping up or down from one price zone to another without any transactions between the two. That leaves...

Massive Leverage in Drug Maker: Options Recap

Massive Leverage in Drug Maker: Options Recap

How much leverage can options produce? Keep reading to find out. On Friday, an investor crafted a three-part strategy in Mylan (MYL) that involved selling two contracts to buy another. The result was a position with the potential for massive percentage gains but also...

Winning Streak Continues as Volatility Evaporates

Winning Streak Continues as Volatility Evaporates

Stocks kept climbing last week as volatility dried up and investors rotated into new sectors. The S&P 500 rose 0.8 percent between Friday, July 27, and Friday, August 3. It was the fifth straight weekly gain, good for the index's longest winning streak since...

Don’t Forget about Iranian Sanctions Early Monday

Don’t Forget about Iranian Sanctions Early Monday

President Trump's trade spat with China has gained a lot of attention this week, but don't forget U.S. sanctions on Iran take effect on Monday, August 6. The measures will obviously have an impact on energy. The only trouble is no one really seems to know what it will...

Will the Nasdaq Pull Back next Week?

Will the Nasdaq Pull Back next Week?

Is the Nasdaq headed for a selloff next week? Someone seems to think so. Here's a breakdown of the massive bearish put spread that appeared yesterday in the PowerShares Trust (QQQ) that tracks the Nasdaq-100 index: A block of 50,000 10-August 173.50 puts were bought...

Even in a Good Market, Some Stocks Are Falling off a Cliff

Even in a Good Market, Some Stocks Are Falling off a Cliff

Even when the market's near record highs, some names are breaking lower. This post will highlight a few of those areas where sentiment remains especially weak. The first area that's jumped out of my RadarScreen® yesterday were the asset managers and mutual-fund...

Pharma Bulls Chase Blue-chip Breakout: Options Recap

Pharma Bulls Chase Blue-chip Breakout: Options Recap

A blue-chip drug giant beat estimates this week, and the bulls are chasing in the options market. As we mentioned on Monday's Market Action, maker Pfizer (PFE) was expected to announce positive earnings of about $0.74 per share on Tuesday morning. They crushed that...