The stock market opened lower today and continue to slide until the close. It seemed like profit-taking finally sped up a bit as the earnings season started. BIIB bucked the trend today and closed up +5%. There were rumors that BIIB could be a take-over target. We caught this action just when BIIB started to go up. In our Trading Room, I commented:
BIIB
sudden jump...
BIIB
check out that volume!!
We bought the BIIB April 50 calls at $3 and took the profits at $5 (day high), for an intraday +67% gain!!
April 07, 2009
11:15 | HappyTrading BIIB ($53.60) Sold to Close IDKDJ Apr 50 calls, at $5.00 +67%
09:02 | HappyTrading BIIB ($51.50) Bought to Open IDKDJ Apr 50 calls, at $3.00
Because the day started out on the bearish side, I was also looking to play "puts":
ESI/APOL
good puts play for today...
We bought the ESI April 110 puts at $5.4 and cashed them out at $8 for a +48% gain. These options went as high $8.75 and closed at $7.3:
09:41 | HappyTrading ESI ($104.00) Sold to Close ESIPB Apr 110 put, at $8.00 +48%
08:38 | HappyTrading ESI ($108.00) Bought to Open ESIPB Apr 110 put, at $5.40
Others picked up APOL 65 puts:
kck
happy bought apol 65put @2.15 sold @3.20 thanks (+49%)
Once again, we scored on both calls and puts on the same day!! After the market, MOS reported 3Q profit that plunged nearly 89%!! Its shares traded down 6.73% in after-hours. The Dow ended down 186.29 points; SPX lost 19.93 points; Nasdaq fell 45.1 points:
GLD (gold) and SLV (silver) bounced a little higher. But, other commodity-related sectors were very weak: XME (metals and mining) -4.27%; OIN (oil services) -2.67%; XLE (energy) -2.99%; PBW (clean energy) -5.66%. Techs also slipped, with SOXX (semiconductors) down 3.86%. XLF (financials) lost 2.97%. FXI (Chinese ADRs) dropped 1.97%.
SPX
SPX lost 19.93 points to close at 815.55. It closed just below the 10-day MA. MACD flattened.
Nasdaq
Nasdaq fell 45.1 points to close at 1561.61. It closed right at its 10-day MA. The MACD turned lower.
The market certainly looked weaker today. Both SKF and SRS bounced +6.58% and +15.2%, respectively. However, VIX slipped 1.32%!! Some mixed signals. Both SPX and Nasdaq are pretty much at their 10-day MAs. It is time to be a little more cautious. Below the 10-day MAs, SPX 800 and Nasdaq 1500 are the support levels. The market might be range-bound for a few days.
Good night and HappyTrading! ™
