StockTraderBoy.com

The stock market seems to be range-bond for now. Lower volumes will have an effect on the markets as the July 4th holiday gets closer. There is no real urgency to load up in any one particular stock at the moment. The post-summer election climate will keep the markets range-bond again, with a possible 10% move up or down depending on the results. Republican majority will spark a rally and a Democratic majority will trigger the slide down. Either way, with tax credits expiring and more uncertainity going into 2011, the markets will not see any significant upside. The dividend stocks will remain popular, get paid to wait! I would not recommend speculating right now, because really no one knows where we are headed. Protect your portofolio and use the money you would normally put in the market over the next 3-4 months and take a nice vacation. Relax and enjoy life, the stocks you want today will be the same price or cheaper in October!

The bottom is starting to form on this correction. There may still be another leg down because there will be a lack of stimulus for the markets until earnings season in July. I believe the sell in May and go away, may extend into the options expiration in June. Look  for volume increases and some 5-10% moves to the upside going into July. Now that being said, the economy will have to pull us through. The first week of June should be a good indicator for the summer travel season. We need to see the consumer eating out, going to movies, and taking the kids to the beach for the weekend. If the consumer feels confident enough to go on a vacation, then earnings should not dissappoint in July. The great part about blogging is, the secrets are revealed in the text. Let’s go back to the comment about going to the movies. Some families will be staying closer to home and recreational activities will be the main points of interest. Look for companies in the movie business, the sporting goods business, and the restaurant business. These are the businesses that will thrive this summer.

Although we are tired of hearing about Apple, take this recent sell-off as an opportunity to acquire shares of Apple. You need to buy stocks before the hype hits the air. The iPad and iPhone will dominate the holidays this year. Get in front of the this move. The one thing certain, the kids will get what they want, no matter what!

In closing, still be cautious in this market. Add to your long positions and use everyday as a learning tool. Thanks for your support and good trading!

Big Risk, Big Reward or pull out and go home. That is the current market sentiment. The first trade for this challenge is:
BUY Citigroup (C) Jun 2010 $4 Calls

Start with 8 Call Option Contracts at or around $0.20. Depending on your account fees, you should be able to acquire for around $180 after fees and commissions. So this would cost average at $0.22-0.23 per contract. Hold through May option expiration next Friday and then be ready to sell on the first move up. Hopefully around $0.40 per contract. Which would net around $300 in proceeds from a $180 investment. That’s a 40% profit margin!

Follow me over the next 100 days as I develop and release little by little, my plan for consistent returns of 20% and more, month after month. For this project, I will start with just $200 and try to turn that into $1,000 in 100 days.  This will be a challenge in these market conditions, but I believe it can be done. The first trade will come Friday afternoon as we get a feel for the market close before the weekend and the following Mutual Fund Monday. Thanks for your support and good trading to all!

Last Wednesday the stock market had a sudden sell-off that cost billions of dollars in stop-loss orders filled for unsuspecting customers that had serious profits built up from the recent market run-up. The news was strong following the crash, but market makers decided that is was, what is was. Nothing should be cancelled or re-issued. Later the exchanges did cancel trades beyond the 60% mark, but that did nothing for the stop-loss sales from the average person. This was no accident in my opinion and someone should pay for this. The markets are controlled by institutions and they have too much control. Nothing trades based on fundamentals or trends anymore. The institutions wake up everyday and decide how they will make the market move based on their needs, not their customer’s needs. I personally was not affected by the mishap, other than one extra week of getting back to even. Funny how this happened during an extra long option expiration month, funny how CNBC played the ‘SIREN’ video over and over that day, funny how a stock like PG sells off 30%…? This was pure manipulation in my opinion and one day the act will be exposed and jail time will be issued. What happened to picking companies you like that have growth potential and investing your hard earned money in that company so that they could use your capital to grow and in return growing your investment? That’s how is was designed to work. I think the institutions are losing revenue from retail investors as they turn to self-trading formats and no longer pay to seek advice, as the internet and media provide the knowledge the retail investor seeks. In return, they use a scare tactic like Wednesday to say, “hey we are in control and you should have your money invested in our firm so you can avoid our manipulation.” But guess what, we the people will not stand for that, just as they seek higher profits, we seek cost-cutting measures in-order to gain higher profits for ourselves. The business cycle 1.0!

StockTraderBoy.com likes the Jun $90 Call Options in CVX headed into earnings on Friday. Took a position first thing Monday before the Benchmark upgrade. Sometimes timing is everything! Oil is going up so any earnings surprise will be corrected with rising oil prices. The front month options will not give you that exit plan. Always have Plan B!  Citigroup $5 Call Options more than 45 days out are great trades after the 4% selloff today. HON headed to $50 per share before May options expire on the 21st.

Quick and simple, Blackrock reported earnings of $2.40 per share, just 2% or $0.05 below estimates. Some due to non-recurring cost reported in the quarter. Yet, the stock sells off 9% in the course of a Mutual Fund Monday. Look for a small hangover going into Tuesday’s trading session with a bottom during the congressional hearing with Goldman Sachs. Pull the trigger and look for a $200 share price to return my mid May, and that $220 share price by July. Opportunities like this don’t come everyday!

Also keep in mind that this is why we only play stocks 3-5 days before earnings. Because this blog is new, we mentioned Blackrock for conversation, but made no play beacause of the timing. Trying to guess earnings are financial suicide, play the before & after. And the after is now here. Look at the July 210 and 220 call options as a play.

Blackrock and Caterpillar report earnings before the bell on Monday. Caterpillar should give us a feel for the industrial recovery that may or may not be taking place. Stimulus money should provide a boost for CAT, as local and state governments spend money on repairs and improvements. Blackrock is rock solid and may provail as the leading investment firm in our market. With the Goldman Sachs issues still lingering, look for money moving into Blackrock for a safer investment firm play. Looking for earnings of 2.45 per share, any beat would result in a 3-5% move in this stock. BLK had a nice run up, starting Thursday and may continue that trend. Let’s go with a $220 price target on goood earnings, and any pull back from just meeting expectations would signal a BUY rating.

StockTraderBoy.com is an interactive blog designed to promote conversations related to the Stock Markets. This blog has been created to help traders of all levels increase their knowledge base and hopefully increase their profits! StockTraderBoy.com is a huge fan of all markets and spends hours everyday researching and testing stock market trends, in hopes of finding the next great trade. This is an exciting time for traders, the economy is beginning to recover, stocks are hitting 52 week highs every week and profits are growing. The recent recession has been painful for most, including StockTraderBoy.com, but with pain…comes gain. The recession will end up being the greatest thing that ever happened when it comes to company profits. Most companies have relentlessly cut cost and derived better ways to conduct business. Resulting in higher profits, even though sales are still depressed in comparsion with historical trends. As higher sales return, so will employment, and even higher sales will result. So with the new normal and the streamline operational patterns that have developed, higher sales equals higher profits. Get ready for historical uptrends in the markets. The opportunity is here and the only thing to do, is to get plugged in, do your research and be ready to trade when the time comes. Thanks for all the future support and lets make 2010 the best year ever!