Global Market Comments
April 24, 2014
Fiat Lux
Featured Trade:
(ORLANDO FLORIDA SATURDAY, MAY 17 GLOBAL STRAGEGY LUNCHEON),
(APPLE BLOWS OUT Q2), (AAPL),
(ANOTHER NAIL IN THE NUCLEAR COFFIN),
(NLR), (CCJ)
Apple Inc. (AAPL)
Market Vectors Uranium+Nuclear Enrgy ETF (NLR)
Cameco Corporation (CCJ)
Steve Jobs must be rolling over in his grave. He hated the idea of rewarding Wall Street in any way viewing the entire industry as nothing more than a collection of thieves, con men, and charlatans.
Today, we learned that Apple will carry out a 7:1 stock split in June, creating an absolute windfall for the brokerage industry. It seems that the brokers are having the last laugh. How far the Apple has fallen from the tree.
The news came out during the company?s spectacular Q2 earnings announcement covering the January-March quarter. Earnings per share rocketed from an estimated $10.18 to $11.62. Revenues leapt from a forecast $43.53 billion to $45.6 billion.
CEO Tim Cook guided revenues for the full year to the $36-$38 billion range. He also announced a massive increase in Apple?s share buy back program from $100 billion to $130 billion, the largest in corporate history.
iPhones, the firm?s core business, saw sales rocket from 38.5 million to an eye popping 43.7 million. And this is with the release of the new, big screen iPhone 6 in a few months! iPad?s fell from 19.8 million to 16.4 million due to production problems. CEO Tim Cook reaffirmed his belief that tablets will soon completely replace the personal computer.
There were no hints whatsoever about the numerous noise generating topics of Apple TV or Apple watches. Neither of these will ever account for more than a pittance of the company?s earnings, no matter how often speculation is dragged out on slow news days.
The gap up in shares in the aftermarket, some 7% to $565 a share, pretty much make it impossible to get any sort of entry points for a long side play in Apple. For week?s I had been urging followers to get in on the next dip to $500. But we never got there. At least Apple is trading with the rest of the market in 2014, like an absolute pig.
Still, Apple?s announcement augurs well for NASDAQ on Thursday and the market in general. That?s fine with me, as it presents me with a higher high from which the sell the market. Good thing I covered my short.
The New Apple Cupertino Headquarters Now Under Construction
In the 40 years since Vietnam, our record in predicting where we will be militarily engaged next, even six months out, is perfect. We?ve never gotten it right. Not in Grenada, Haiti, Panama, Libya (twice), Iraq (twice), Afghanistan, the Balkans, or Somalia. We need a lot more humility,? said former Secretary of Defense, Robert M. Gates.
While the Diary of a Mad Hedge Fund Trader focuses on investment over a one week to six-month time frame, Mad Day Trader, provided by Jim Parker, will exploit money-making opportunities over a brief ten minute to three day window. It is ideally suited for day traders, but can also be used by long-term investors to improve market timing for entry and exit points.
While the Diary of a Mad Hedge Fund Trader focuses on investment over a one week to six-month time frame, Mad Day Trader, provided by Jim Parker, will exploit money-making opportunities over a brief ten minute to three day window. It is ideally suited for day traders, but can also be used by long-term investors to improve market timing for entry and exit points.
Global Market Comments
April 23, 2014
Fiat Lux
Featured Trade:
(JUNE 17 NEW YORK STRATEGY LUNCHEON)
(APRIL 23 GLOBAL STRATEGY WEBINAR),
(COME TO THE JUNE 13-14 INVEST LIKE A MONSTER LAS VEGAS CONFERENCE)
Please come to hear me, Mad Hedge Fund Trader John Thomas, as the keynote speaker at the Invest Like a Monster Las Vegas Conference on June 13-14.
I will be joined by many old friends from across the investment spectrum. Jon and Pete Najarian will teach you the tricks of the trade for navigating the ever complex options markets.
Fellow former combat pilot, Chuck Hughes, will go into depth on his own highly successful approach to trading the market. To listen to my in depth interview with him on Hedge Fund Radio, please click here.
Well known market commentator Guy Adami, the Prince of New Jersey, will be there to give his trading insights. So will former hedge fund manager and Yahoo Finance guru Jeff Macke.
The first day will be devoted to three educational sessions that get into the nitty gritty of trading options. The day winds up with a cocktail party with the Najarian Brothers and me.
I will kick off the Saturday session with and extended presentation on the long-term future of the financial markets, to be followed by an extensive question and answer session. I will be followed by an impressive lineup of market veterans.
The event will be held at the Bellagio Hotel on the Strip, my favorite Las Vegas haunt, best known for its spectacular water fountains out front. You may recognize it in the hit movies The Hangover and Ocean?s Eleven.
General admission costs $499 for the two full days. You can buy a VIP ticket for $699, which includes social events with the high and the mighty. It is all great value for the money, given the quality and quantity of the information you will obtain. Just click here: http://www.optionmonster.com/events/?refId=186 to buy tickets.
Trademonster?s proprietary program, called Heat Seeker ?, monitors no less than 180,000 trades a second to give an early warning of large trades that are about to hit the stock, options, and futures markets. To give you an idea of how much data this is, think of downloading the entire contents of the Library of Congress, about 20 terabytes, every 33 minutes.
The firm maintains a 10 gigabyte per second conduit that transfers data at 6,000 times the speed of a T-1 line, the fastest such pipe in the civilian world. The firm then distills this ocean of data into the top movers of the day, which is put up for free on its website, and offers much more detailed analysis through a premium subscription product.
?As with the NFL,? says Jon, ?you can?t defend against speed.?
The system catches big hedge funds, pension funds, and mutual funds shifting large positions, giving subscribers a peak at the bullish or bearish tilt of the market. It also offers accurate predictions of imminent moves in single stock and index volatility.
Jon started his career as a linebacker for the Chicago Bears, and I can personally attest that he still has a handshake that?s like a steel vice grip. Maybe it was his brute strength that enabled him to work as pit trader on the Chicago Board of Options Exchange for 22 years, where he was known by his floor call letters of ?DRJ.? He formed Mercury Trading in 1989 and then sold it to the mega hedge fund, Citadel, in 2004.
Jon developed his patented algorithms for Heat Seeker? with his brother Pete, another NFL player (Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Minnesota Vikings), who like Jon, is a regular face in the financial media.
June is a great time to visit Sin City, as the crowds are largely gone and the sun is wonderfully baking hot. You can ride the neck-breaking roller coaster at the New York New York Hotel, catch one of eight Cirque du Soleil shows, and ride a gondola at the Venetian Hotel.
Or you can try to get a great deal on a luxury item from my buddy, Rick Harrison, at the famous Gold and Silver Pawn, of Pawn Stars fame (good luck with that!).
Just be sure to bring extra sun tan lotion!
While the Diary of a Mad Hedge Fund Trader focuses on investment over a one week to six-month time frame, Mad Day Trader, provided by Jim Parker, will exploit money-making opportunities over a brief ten minute to three day window. It is ideally suited for day traders, but can also be used by long-term investors to improve market timing for entry and exit points.
While the Diary of a Mad Hedge Fund Trader focuses on investment over a one week to six-month time frame, Mad Day Trader, provided by Jim Parker, will exploit money-making opportunities over a brief ten minute to three day window. It is ideally suited for day traders, but can also be used by long-term investors to improve market timing for entry and exit points.
Global Market Comments
April 22, 2014
Fiat Lux
ANOTHER SPECIAL TESLA ISSUE
Featured Trade:
(LAST CHANCE TO ATTEND THE APRIL 25 SAN FRANCISCO STRATEGY LUNCHEON),
(CRASH TESTING THE TESLA), (TSLA)
Tesla Motors, Inc. (TSLA)