Most Popular
1. Banking Crisis is Stocks Bull Market Buying Opportunity - Nadeem_Walayat
2.The Crypto Signal for the Precious Metals Market - P_Radomski_CFA
3. One Possible Outcome to a New World Order - Raymond_Matison
4.Nvidia Blow Off Top - Flying High like the Phoenix too Close to the Sun - Nadeem_Walayat
5. Apple AAPL Stock Trend and Earnings Analysis - Nadeem_Walayat
6.AI, Stocks, and Gold Stocks – Connected After All - P_Radomski_CFA
7.Stock Market CHEAT SHEET - - Nadeem_Walayat
8.US Debt Ceiling Crisis Smoke and Mirrors Circus - Nadeem_Walayat
9.Silver Price May Explode - Avi_Gilburt
10.More US Banks Could Collapse -- A Lot More- EWI
Last 7 days
Stock Market Volatility (VIX) - 25th Mar 24
Stock Market Investor Sentiment - 25th Mar 24
The Federal Reserve Didn't Do Anything But It Had Plenty to Say - 25th Mar 24
Stock Market Breadth - 24th Mar 24
Stock Market Margin Debt Indicator - 24th Mar 24
It’s Easy to Scream Stocks Bubble! - 24th Mar 24
Stocks: What to Make of All This Insider Selling- 24th Mar 24
Money Supply Continues To Fall, Economy Worsens – Investors Don’t Care - 24th Mar 24
Get an Edge in the Crypto Market with Order Flow - 24th Mar 24
US Presidential Election Cycle and Recessions - 18th Mar 24
US Recession Already Happened in 2022! - 18th Mar 24
AI can now remember everything you say - 18th Mar 24
Bitcoin Crypto Mania 2024 - MicroStrategy MSTR Blow off Top! - 14th Mar 24
Bitcoin Gravy Train Trend Forecast 2024 - 11th Mar 24
Gold and the Long-Term Inflation Cycle - 11th Mar 24
Fed’s Next Intertest Rate Move might not align with popular consensus - 11th Mar 24
Two Reasons The Fed Manipulates Interest Rates - 11th Mar 24
US Dollar Trend 2024 - 9th Mar 2024
The Bond Trade and Interest Rates - 9th Mar 2024
Investors Don’t Believe the Gold Rally, Still Prefer General Stocks - 9th Mar 2024
Paper Gold Vs. Real Gold: It's Important to Know the Difference - 9th Mar 2024
Stocks: What This "Record Extreme" Indicator May Be Signaling - 9th Mar 2024
My 3 Favorite Trade Setups - Elliott Wave Course - 9th Mar 2024
Bitcoin Crypto Bubble Mania! - 4th Mar 2024
US Interest Rates - When WIll the Fed Pivot - 1st Mar 2024
S&P Stock Market Real Earnings Yield - 29th Feb 2024
US Unemployment is a Fake Statistic - 29th Feb 2024
U.S. financial market’s “Weimar phase” impact to your fiat and digital assets - 29th Feb 2024
What a Breakdown in Silver Mining Stocks! What an Opportunity! - 29th Feb 2024
Why AI will Soon become SA - Synthetic Intelligence - The Machine Learning Megatrend - 29th Feb 2024
Keep Calm and Carry on Buying Quantum AI Tech Stocks - 19th Feb 24

Market Oracle FREE Newsletter

How to Protect your Wealth by Investing in AI Tech Stocks

Quadruple Witching and Dividends...

Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2010 Jun 21, 2010 - 08:14 AM GMT

By: Mark_McMillan

Stock-Markets

Best Financial Markets Analysis ArticleTrade Recommendations: Take no action.

Daily Trend Indications:


- Positions indicated as Green are Long positions and those indicated as Red are short positions.

- The State of the Market is used to determine how you should trade. A trending market can ignore support and resistance levels and maintain its direction longer than most traders think it will.

- The BIAS is used to determine how aggressive or defensive you should be with a position. If the BIAS is Bullish but the market is in a Trading state, you might enter a short trade to take advantage of a reversal off of resistance. The BIAS tells you to exit that trade on "weaker" signals than you might otherwise trade on as the market is predisposed to move in the direction of BIAS.

- At Risk is generally neutral represented by "-". When it is "Bullish" or "Bearish" it warns of a potential change in the BIAS.

- The Moving Averages are noted as they are important signposts used by the Chartists community in determining the relative health of the markets.

Current ETF positions are:

DIA - Long at $101.18 ($101.37 - $0.19 dividend)

QQQQ - at $45.50 (adjusted down $0.05 for a dividend payment)

SPY - Long at $107.99 ($108.52 less the $0.53 dividend)

Daily Trading Action

The major index ETFs opened higher (price was lower but that didn't account for the dividends they issued) and then moved lower for the first half hour of trading then moved higher for the next hour. The next hour and a half was spent moving lower, with a move higher for the following hour and three quarters. The final hour and three quarters was spent with choppy trading and with the major indexes endind near where they started. The Russell-2000 (IWM 66.80 +0.04) followed a similar script but with more exaggerated moves. Also, the Russell-2000 definitely walked up the support of short term uptrend lines and looks to be setting up to break out higher. The Semiconductor Index (SOX 371.21 -1.18) closed fractionally lower. The Bank Index (KBE 24.84 +0.14) moved a half percent higher (and issued a modest dividend) while the Regional Bank Index (KRE 24.88 -0.03) closed nearly flat. The 20+ Yr Bonds (TLT 97.69 -0.16) closed modestly lower. Volume was the lightest we have seen on a Quadruple Witching day.

There were no economic reports of interest released. Instead, there was only the grilling of BP's CEO, Tony Hayward by a Congressional committee. Mr. Hayward came willingly to be the target of our Congressional representatives who put on a show for their constituencies but otherwise looked rather foolish. They represented that a "little" bit of knowledge can be quite destructive as most of them were clearly lacking on the knowledge part.

Traders eagerly awaited the quarterly event known as Quadruple Witching, when stock options, stock index options, single stock futures, and stock index futures expire on the same day. Volume was expected to spike as option positions we squared up. This didn't happen.

The Major Index ETFs all went ex-dividend with the QQQQ paying $0.05, DIA paying $0.19, and SPY paying a dividend of $0.53 per share for holders of record at the close on Thursday. This explains why all the major indexes (NASDAQ-100, Dow, and S&P-500 closed modestly higher while QQQQ, DIA, and SPY closed modestly lower. The Regional Bank Index (KRE) paid a $0.09 dividend and the Bank Index (KBE) paid a $0.03 dividend as well. IWM and USD will issue a dividend in the coming week.

Key resistance levels came in to play as the major indexes, the Russell-2000, and the Semiconductor Index all trade at significant resistance levels. A break higher can release a lot of energy from the market as well as result in a significant move.

Implied Volatility slid again with the S&P-500 (VIX 23.95 -1.10) 25.05 -0.87) implied volatility falling 3.4% percent and with the implied volatility for the NASDAQ-100 (VXN 24.15 -1.00) falling just under four percent.

Commentary:

Friday's quadruple witching was a non-event as trading volume was light, especially for an options expiration day. With the major indexes little changed and bumping up on resistance, we have to wait for the battle to be played out. We still expect the major indexes to move higher as they only recently broke up through their 200-Day Moving Averages. The S&P-500 is back to the level of resistance seen in November 2009 at around 1114. The Russell-2000 has tried to move above the same level of horizontal resistance for seven sessions of the last seventeen sessions. A move that definitively breaks above these levels should release a fair amount of energy and has the potential to be quite dramatic. Likewise, a failure to break above resistance could put the bears back in charge. For now, we will maintain our long positions.

It should be noted that the Russell-3000 will be rebalanced the following Friday, June 25th. More than 460 companies will be swapped into and out of the Russell-3000 universe. This will affect trading for the coming two weeks and will result in one of the heaviest trading volume days of the year on Friday, June 25th.

We hope you have enjoyed this edition of the McMillan portfolio. You may send comments to mark@stockbarometer.com.

If you are receiving these alerts on a free trial, you have access to all of our previous articles and recommendations by clicking here. If you do not recall your username and/or password, please email us at customersupport@stockbarometer.com.

By Mark McMillan

Important Disclosure
Futures, Options, Mutual Fund, ETF and Equity trading have large potential rewards, but also large potential risk. You must be aware of the risks and be willing to accept them in order to invest in these markets. Don't trade with money you can't afford to lose. This is neither a solicitation nor an offer to buy/sell Futures, Options, Mutual Funds or Equities. No representation is being made that any account will or is likely to achieve profits or losses similar to those discussed on this Web site. The past performance of any trading system or methodology is not necessarily indicative of future results.
Performance results are hypothetical. Hypothetical or simulated performance results have certain inherent limitations. Unlike an actual performance record, simulated results do not represent actual trading. Also, since the trades have not actually been executed, the results may have under- or over-compensated for the impact, if any, of certain market factors, such as a lack of liquidity. Simulated trading programs in general are also subject to the fact that they are designed with the benefit of hindsight. No representation is being made that any account will or is likely to achieve profits or losses similar to those shown.
Investment Research Group and all individuals affiliated with Investment Research Group assume no responsibilities for your trading and investment results.
Investment Research Group (IRG), as a publisher of a financial newsletter of general and regular circulation, cannot tender individual investment advice. Only a registered broker or investment adviser may advise you individually on the suitability and performance of your portfolio or specific investments.
In making any investment decision, you will rely solely on your own review and examination of the fact and records relating to such investments. Past performance of our recommendations is not an indication of future performance. The publisher shall have no liability of whatever nature in respect of any claims, damages, loss, or expense arising out of or in connection with the reliance by you on the contents of our Web site, any promotion, published material, alert, or update.
For a complete understanding of the risks associated with trading, see our Risk Disclosure.

© 2010 Copyright Mark McMillan - All Rights Reserved
Disclaimer: The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. Information and analysis above are derived from sources and utilising methods believed to be reliable, but we cannot accept responsibility for any losses you may incur as a result of this analysis. Individuals should consult with their personal financial advisors.


© 2005-2022 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.


Post Comment

Only logged in users are allowed to post comments. Register/ Log in