I’m still holding SYMC although I wish I had sold this morning early and I picked up some DHI and was probably a day or two too early on that one. Dumped out of WFC – a 9-cent gain off a three-day hold. Could have had 9-cents after the first three minutes. Sometimes you just waste time although a profit is a profit. Sometimes they are so boring you just have to kick them out of the portfolio. WFC fit that profile to a T.
I took a day trade in CRVL. That chart's below – I took it on the fifth bar where it "kissed the 8" and dumped out right at 48 – that was my target and I had to go shopping again. Good thing – looks like everyone else had to go shopping too. MAMA would have been a great trade again today – as I mentioned in my post on cheap stocks – MAMA and MVIS both were showing some support on the monthly charts. MVIS hasn’t been doing much but MAMA has been running pretty well.
I’m getting sick of shopping. I read a column by Barry Ritholtz this morning on Seeking Alpha containing anecdotal evidence that the season is lacking in the retail sector and I’ve got to tell you – I agree. I’ve been out almost every day in December and in years past where I would have had problems with parking – no sweat this year. Also we have had some lines but nothing too difficult and an awful lot of stores just don't have anybody in them. Not the big boxes of course but a lot of the specialty shops. I don’t know what that means for certain but I think it bodes ill for the retail reports in January. That will mean a one-day market decline at best and then ho-hum up we go again. Adam on the Daily Options Report said it best – he called it “relentlessly plodding upturn.” That pretty much nails it.
I really thought we’d have a good day today – at least go up and stay up but there are a lot of profits from the “relentless upturn” and somebody is taking them. Possibly the funds – setting the end of year markers – the retail trade is too conditioned to wait for January to take profits and there are hardly any losses to take this year.
For tomorrow the up/down ratio went up to 48%, the new 20-day highs gained ground and the new 20-day lows lost ground. Everybody went red in the last hour except IWM. The small caps had a great day. The VIX slid back inside of 5% below its 10-day moving average.
This all sums up to a great big – I don’t know. I’m going to sit on my positions through the holiday and see where we go next week. I'll watch CRVL and MAMA and a couple of others to see if I can get a day trade but other than that I'm pretty set where I am.
The magician is now at 38 – 29 having called today correctly – I should have listened and not played DHI – oh well sometimes you have to believe your own stories. I still think homies are over-sold and I'll get 10 - 15% out of DHI yet. I'm looking for a about a buck-60 with no real downside risk. For tomorrow – magic says --- tails – more bear. Could be.
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