The Woodshed

Here's a blast from the past...March, 2007

For those of you who read Bill Cara (that man is a saint!), you will know that frequent contributor MarkM infrequently self-imposes punishment of going to the woodshed.

Here's a woodshed that we can all hang out in for smokin' , drinkin' and cussin'--all of the things that promote civil discourse and social cohesion--

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What I don't understand is why Goldman Sachs would come out with their own revision of GDP just one day prior to the government's doing so. I'm consigning them to the woodshed!

I sold some of my SPY calls into this AND I lightened up on some puts (XRAY, CFR, DUG calls). I also sold EDZ out of my spec account. I also thought that I had sold SMN, but apparently, that did not launch.

I was particularly angry this a.m. For the second day in a row, Fidelity had a bad feed. Yesterday OIH was not even a recognized symbol. This a.m. I had two option symbols that were not recognized. I also got a 1.59 fill on a SPY option sell that had a bid of 1.63. This is the second time that has happened. I have an expectation with liquid options that that the market is the bid. That's the second time in a week. Do not, then, put in market buys/sells even on liquid options as you may get a bad fill.

I'm wondering if today's GDP report will create a 'sell the news', or create some euphoric response. I truly believe that the market always WANTS to go up. Certainly it got some reason for that.

Time for some charts:

Here's LYBI. I found this on StockFetcher doing a scan....Your editor sold into the giant candle. The bid/ask spread was about .30 on this small stock. Not liquid, and I made a nice little profit on it on a modest holding of 500 shares @ $3.96. I sold at $5.20, though the stock hit a high of $5.60.
I guess it might be $10 tomorrow...but the wide bid-ask throughout the day was troublesome. I pocketed $600 net of commissions on a 2 week holding. I'll take that 31.3%....


I'm still holding this puppy.

I'm neutral to modestly short. Tomorrow is month end. Who knows what brooding will take place over the weekend. I still believe that we are at an inflection point where news is the main driver. In issue after issue during earnings season, we are seeing beneficent rewards and hammering punishments delivered when the good news surprises or the bad news disgusts.

I've manage to salvage my portfolio from the evils of the COST puts gone awry....but who knows what danger may be lurking?

Hope your day went well.