Oh What a Day!

Today was a spectacular surge due to the Fed's latest innovation. I'm not sure that this creates any additional liquidity, but surely it has to increase confidence. I know that Gary K in his very good discipline will be looking for a follow through day. It was until I understood better the nature of short covering rallies--the volume and explosiveness-that I truly understood the importance of follow through days. Tonight we be a good time to listen to him to find out what he is looking for.

If you want to see the top NYSE short interest positions. You can find that information here.


The HMO stocks were killed today. The DJ US Healthcare Index was down 11.5% today. The HMO's, which are a part of that were down as much as 30%. Here's a snapshot of two day's activity (click to make larger):


In voyeuristic mode again, I made an chart of the top 5 Instituional Holders for WLP, UNH, HUM:

I took a speculative call option (yep, wrong way) on WLP last week thinking that it might snap back. However, I did this against the technical picture saying bad news was coming. Also, I did it against my knowing that HMO's are not recession-proof. I shared my frustrations in an earlier post, so I'll not bore you with my lament yet again.

I found it interesting that Capital Research and Management had substantial positions in both UNH and WLP. I also note that there is not an updated form (per NASDAQ inst. holdings report). Anyway, much agony to be had in this sector which was just decimated.