Oh, Baby...........

I'm feeling a terrific sense of control over this market (at last). Recently, I've been doing extremely well. Even with intraday trading, I'll buy calls at just about the bottom, sell them at just about the top, then buy puts, and then ride those all the way down. I'm rarely this "in synch" with the market, but it's been a good feeling.


I noticed that Barron's this week features Blackstone's CEO on the cover, pointing out that a massive public offering of the largest private equity partnership clearly signals the peak of these beasts. I couldn't agree more. Oh, let's check in to see how the public's investment in the two-day old Blackstone has been faring.......


Of course, the big news today is that today's bounce from last week's downside action completely evaporated. The Dow surged 120 points higher (and I profitably closed out some calls I bought earlier in the day, then gobbled up a huge number of puts), then the entire gain by blown to smithereens. As you can see from the Russell, the medium-term trendline is now broken.


About half an hour before the close, I sold all my puts (DIA and $RUT), since I felt the selling was - - at least very short term - - overdone. Here's the S&P 500.....


In a broad sense, I think things have changed. It's been horrible awaiting the change, but I think it is finally here. In the broadest view, I think we have witnessed the passing of the Mother of All Double Tops.


This is not to say I'm speculating on outright collapse from here. On the contrary, I think we're probably due for another bounce up. But - as with today's - I may well decide that the bounce has exhausted itself just a couple of hours into a single trading day. My portfolios are devoid of any index positions right now, and consist of carefully-selected equity shorts, equity puts, and a couple of longs (DXD and BBI).

If you're just dying for a bullish stock, AutoDesk (ADSK) looks interesting:


Real estate has been in a freefall for months. I was thinking it would stabilize. But we might be in for some more downside action. Apartment Investments (AIV) has an impressive head and shoulders pattern.


My short in BEAS had a good day. I've put the clearly defined support and resistance horizontal lines here.


Bear Stearns was the "culprit" behind today's fall. I've been mentioning this as a short (or put purchase) for a long time. You can plainly see how, after its fall from its ultimate high, it tried to retrace........but the jig is up, and it's been falling ever since.


Looking at a broader chart, you can see a major, major supporting trendline has been shattered.


Goldman Sachs - employer of the hottie pictured at the top of today's entry - is suffering as well, although not to the same degree. My puts in this are up, and there's plenty of downside left on the stock, tinted here.


Another set of puts that's doing great is JC Penney (JCP). I've illustrated a potential target. Thank you, polyester! Thank you, leisure suits! Thank you, lawnmower care supplies!


Massey (MEE) is sporting a monstrous, gorgeous head and shoulders, and I think the retracement is complete now.


A bunch of people have written me asking to explain some options trading basics. I'll do it on a quieter day when the market is up half a point or something. I've had enough. I'm going for a swim........

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OK, I'm starting to enjoy the market again. Four down days in a row. Granted, only two of them were worth anything (today and last Friday), but I'll take what I can get. Red on the screen, and I'm a happy guy.

Today was actually my second-best day ever in percentage terms, and it wasn't even down that dramatically. It's finally becoming clear to the public that the economy is faltering. Bring on some more of that! I guess I'll only regret it when I try (again) to sell my second house here in Palo Alto, The market has become mushy around here, and I gave up selling it a few months ago. I was going to try again in spring, but if things keep going this way, I may wind up as a landlord far longer than I ever intended.

Many months ago I suggested ESRX as a short. It's worked out nicely. It never violated the stop price I suggested, and those owning puts have made out like bandits.


The NASDAQ is looking particularly squishy these days, which is terrific. Take a gander:


Similar action is on the $NDX. You can see a nice progression of lower highs here, and today's downdraft was a monster bearish engulfing pattern.


Also take note of just how quickly the air has come out of the S&P's RSI indicator. It's fallen from nosebleed levels to well under the important 70 line. Let's keep beating the spirit out of these bulls, guys 'n' gals. Shake them and break them.


I loaded up on $XAU puts early today, when it was high. It closed pretty much unchanged. This isn't a clean head and shoulders pattern per se, but it's got the markings of one. I like it.


The Fib Fans on ADSK are charming, to me, and it's got a nice, clean stop. Ummm, keep in mind that tight stops can get ignored by giant gaps up, such as I experienced with Cigna (CI) today. It basically opened at its high and fell the rest of the day. Grumble. But I digress.


I've been holding AGN puts for a while. Nice one.


For those wanting to take advantage of the sky-high REIT market, may I direct your attention to ARE?


ATI looks to have put in a lovely double top.


Capital One (COF), mentioned here on numerous occasions, is behaving like a good boy should.


NOV is a nice play on the OIH drop.


Finally, someone mentioned US Steel (X). I bought puts on this a couple of days back. I like what I see here.


In closing, I just want to say thank-you for the thank-yous. There are a lot of nice notes in the comments section, and believe me, I don't do this blog for the money (averting eyes....) I do it for the love! So I appreciate the nice words.