It should be no surprise to market watchers that volatility has been on vacation for the last couple of months. If fact, as of last week, the S&P 500 has traded higher or lower more than 1% in just one of the last 35 trading days. To put this in perspective, the S&P 500 traded higher […]

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As an AOL user, you are able to take advantage of many of the new and improved features offered with the release of the new versions of AOL. One of these features allows the user to distinguish email from known sources versus email from unknown sources. To ensure that you receive the weekly email updates

In last week’s Hotline, we told you the market was basically in a bullish holding pattern. What that meant is that stocks were essentially flat lining on low summer volume, but that flat line was occurring near the all-time highs on the major indices. This week, it was much of the same in markets, as […]

To say that the equity markets have been Fed-driven during the past seven years would be an exercise in stating the obvious. Yet on days like today, we get that message drummed home to us with a very loud beat. As I woke up and scanned the financial media this morning, all I saw was

Coming off record one-week gains, oil has gotten a bit of a hangover this week and is off almost 2%. The rally last week once again was based largely on rumors of an oil output freeze that has yet to materialize. We believe that oil’s run for the short term has matured. Moreover, we believe

It’s the dog days of summer, and trading volumes on the stock exchanges are pretty low. And while the action in markets over the past couple of weeks has been reflective of a summer slowdown, we still are flying through August in a bullish holding pattern. Recall that last week, we saw all three major […]

There are a whole lot of billionaires bearish on the equity markets right now. That bearishness is understandably born out of a sense of unease about this market, a market that’s feeling way too “toppy” and way too overbought. So, who are these bearish billionaires? Well, the list reads like a who’s who of American

When you get this alert, sell to close the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT) August $138 puts (TLT160819P00138000), which last traded at $0.11. While they are close to being in the money, we believe that is best to get something, rather than potentially nothing, with options expiry happening today.

As we head toward the expiration date for August options this Friday, we are faced with a decision as to whether we should be assigned shares of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) and the iShares Russell 2000 Index (IWM) or buy back the options to avoid being short. We will explain the mechanics and risks of each transaction. […]