More of the Same Market Action Today

The market opened up a little in the green on more positive earnings and another drop in oil prices. Traders are still holding the momentum from yesterday, although there is a pause coming out of the gate this morning. Gold continues to sell off as traders leave the “flight to safety” and continue to nibble and bite on stocks. Eventually the Financials will see some consolidation off the extremely sharp short-term bullish move that came from short covering and bargain buying. Earnings Season continues to put volatility in the market as traders push and shove and jostle around. The initial consensus from Earnings Season appears to be more bullishness than bearishness.

7:00 pm MT: Market Wrap: There wasn't a whole lot that the market did today that it didn't do yesterday, and pretty much for the same reasons. Energy and Commodities down and Financials, Healthcare/Biotechs, Railroads, Retail, and Cyclicals up. Most of my bullish watchlist from yesterday carried through a little bit today (or for some stocks - a lot), and most of my bearish watchlist from yesterday dropped a little or a lot today. The one notable exception was CAT, which rolled over today. Yesterday I posted that I thought the short term upswing could go another 1-2 days (especially because I was seeing a lot of Rising Three Methods). We had one of those days today, we may see a little more wiggle up tomorrow. And as always: earnings, earnings, earnings.....

Here is a summary of my (paper) trades on the day: I sold the BNI calls for a 1.10 profit, or 16% gain from yesterday. I also continued playing Railroads with some NSC calls today that I bought and sold for a .46 cent profit, or 14% gain intra-day. I closed all the Railroad plays because BNI and UNP both announce earnings before the open tomorrow. I also nibbled in a 1/5th size call position on SLB that I'm holding for a day or two. The last thing I did was add an IWM Iron Condor to my existing IC on IWM. I liked the add-on because the IWM has moved so much the past week. So I picked up a 77/78 65/66 for a net credit of .15 cents. There were more trades today than there was time or money if you were playing short swings, especially on stocks from the watchlist I gave you yesterday.

Here is a list of interesting Bullish Bounces or Breakouts today (in addition to yesterday's Bullish Watchlist, which had many movers today):

Biotechs: ILMN
Tech: ADBE
Railroads: NSC, BNI, UNP
Retail: SHLD, ANF (the move in ANF is almost done)
Defense: GD, LMT
Chemicals: PX
Financials: JPM
Note: DHR is pulling back nicely, AMZN is headed for a breakout of a Double-Bottom after a better than expected earnings report a few hours ago, and CELG may be interesting to watch after earnings tomorrow morning.

Here is a list of Bearish movers today: (besides Energy, Utility and Commodity stocks from yesterday's watchlist)

CHRW, COST, BJ, and CAT