Stocks Trading Next Week

Monday - Close all short positions. We might have a little manipulation going on! Ha. Well in case like that it's better to reduce exposure. Out of all futures position on Friday as well.

- re-open long position in IEO.

Will go long if market closes up on high vol. But I doubt that. I've never seen a window dressing/gov't intervention/whatever manipulation succeed and it's better safe than to rush on to the long side.

The rest will be updated as we go.

Shorts update 3

CHS: Covered all @ $9.15. I forgot this thing would release earnings. Covered all and waiting for the sell signal to re-emerge. 

HEW: Covered 2/3 @ $28.83. Price target hit and the position was closed automatically by the computer. This is some major support level so I'm siding with the computer here. Will re-short if a breakout to the downside occurs. 

IEO: Close long position @ $45.53 and flipped to short. I'd like to keep the reasons private since I primarily trade oil for a living. 

DBP: Cover in full @ $33.50 AVERAGE. There is NO liquidity in this POS. Stay away. 

P/L:

CHS: -$0.30/share

HEW: +$2.56/share

IEO: + $3.16/share

DBP: -$0.48/share

Shorts update 2

Keep all short positions and keep IEO long. 

Add to HEW short @ $30.15. Each failed attempt to break old highs is resulting in a deeper low. Very low risk short here. 

Initiate new short on CHS @ $8.85. Three brokers "research" upgraded this. What an excellent signal to sell! 

Equity Short Update

1. Close short position on ANN in full @ $7.21. 

2. Close short position on HEW in half @ $29.60. 

3. Close short position on BAC in full EOD (update: @ $11.36). 

4. Initiate new short position on DBP EOD (update: @ $33.02). There is no liquidity with this thing!

5. Initiate new long position on IEO @ $42.37.

P/L:

ANN:  + $1.37/share

BAC:   +$0.75/share

HEW:  Ongoing.

Looking for a short term upmove, then perhaps I'll re-short the consumer disc. sector when the signal re-emerges. 

Stocks to Short

Some of you asked what stocks in particular I am shorting. I generally don't short individual stocks unless I see one that's acting particularly good. Generally I'm looking for a 1) a definite breaking of trendline and 2) another test of the trendline on low volume, which results in a failure. I also use some indicators I programmed on my own as an aid but in general you should never rely on any indicator to enter trading decisions. To that end I disclose two of my stock short positions here:

1) HEW short @ 31.39. It shot up to $32.50ish as I held on then it fell back to $30. I'm still short. 

2) ANN short today @7.82. Looks like shorts were squeezed hard today when prices shot up on heavy volume. This seems to be a classic short squeeze that failed to trigger enough stops (latest high). It will probably go above 8 in the next couple of days but I can afford to wait. My position on ANN is much smaller than usual due to the high probability of hitting 8+ but prices and my indicator is showing unequivocally that price is going to fall shortly. 

Update 5/20/09

Add to ANN short position at $9.10. The insane buying by small lots (100s of shares) this morning gave a clear cut selling signal. I took it and added a large portion to the position. Now averaging short position @ $8.73. 

Add to HEW short position at $30.35. Something strange is going on this morning with major indexes propped up by small regular lots. Market manupulation at its best. Another thing about market manipulation is that it never works for long. So I faded it and added to HEW position. 

Initiated new short position on CHS, selling at $8.55. Some broker upgraded the shares which is a clear selling signal. The consumer discretionary sector was the best performing sector during the rally. Normally I wouldn't short the leaders, but based on my volume reading the surge in this sector is mainly due to small retail buying, which I'll fade without hesitation. 

Initiated new short position on BAC (small) @ $12.11. GS upgraded BAC which means they are selling. It came so predictably that BAC raised a large sum on a stock sale blah blah which means the upgrade is nothing but a pump-and-dump by GS. I used to have at least a little respect for GS analysts but recently they proved that they are as crooked as the other "research" "analysts".