Sunday, May 27, 2007

Happy Memorial Day!!! Thank You and GOD Bless Our Troops Alive And Fallen!!!

Stocks ended the week on a light-volume positive note, after a pretty wild and semi-rough week that saw the Nasdaq come under two more days of distribution. However, the constant takeovers, M&A's, and LBO, continues to keep a floor on this market and give short sellers the pain they deserve when they short a rising market (a play only amateurs and ego-driven traders make).

Despite the NAR existing-home sales reporting a drop of 2.6% in April to a four-year low, below estimates, stocks still managed a pre-holiday really. At the close, the Nasdaq, Nasdaq 100, and SP 600 led the way with .8% gains, the NYSE followed with a .7% rise, the SP 500 finished with a .6% gain, and the DJIA ended the day with a .5% gain. Leading stocks, via the IBD 85-85, did even better, gaining 1.5%. For the week, the SP 600 finished .7% higher, as the only index that made gains on the week. The rest of the indexes finished lower, with the Nassy 100 losing .8%, the SP 600 losing .7%, the SP 500 losing .5%, the DJIA losing .4%, the NYSE lost .2%, and the Nasdaq finished lower by .05%. So it wasn't a great week, but by the losses it wasn't a horrible week either. It just was what it was, which looks like a little bit of consolidation of all those recent gains. There really is nothing to takeaway from this week's action.

The only one real obvious week spot Friday and for the week was in the Utilities sector. The top stocks that I was long in that sector (NU EE ETR AYE ITC) took some big hits, causing me to sell some down or out completely, and the DJUA fell 3.9%. The cause of this was due to the rising rates in the bond market. Many of these stocks look toppy, like PNW. The rising rates also put a kibosh on the possibility of a Fed Fund rate cut as the odds fell to less than 50% that rates would be cut this year.

Volume was lower by about 33%, on both the NYSE and the Nasdaq, advancers beat decliners by a 9 to 5 margin on the Nasdaq and by a 12 to 5 margin on the NYSE, new highs came in with only 134 new 52-week highs. This is yet another disturbing trend of new highs coming much lower despite the indexes being near another all-time high. This divergence has been happening since November. However, the put/call ratio is still very high at .93. The high put/call shows people are still shorting stocks and buying puts on the rally. The most interesting internal data I saw on Friday was that the NYSE short interest is at a near five-year high of 7.46%. That along with the put/call ratio indicates a lot of people are making bets this market goes lower. The crowd is normally always wrong.

The lack of losses by the major market indexes can be thanked to all the activity in the buyout markets. The leveraged buyout of AL by AA has been rejected, Kerkorian made a bid for MGM assets, BOL and TOPP received buyout offers, NDAQ buys Nordic exchange OMX, ASN announces it is in buyout talks, and KO bought Glaceau's Energy Brands for its vitamin water. This kind of action is indicative of a market that is in a very bullish stage still. Markets do not bottom with this type of action, but they do top on this action. However, we will have to see a lot more outrageous deals like the one we saw with MSFT buying AQNT for an unbelievable price over the actual revenue.

There have been some distribution days that have made this rally a bit nervous recently but a lot of leading stocks continue to hold well or make good price gains with these indexes near their recent highs. With the indexes still over the 50 dma, it is just too early to jump the gun and call a market top. It didn't serve me well on Feb. 27th and it hasn't done anyone any good since then. It is very hard to me to be a "hater" on this market, even with seven year resistance lining up on the SP 500. That seven year resistance, even though a lot of commentators are talking about it, just is not important for me at all. If there are bagholders in the SPY from 2000, trust me, they are not going to sell and breakeven when the SPY finally hits that mark. This is simply a number I have NO interest in. However, CNBC will, so you can enjoy that if you waste your time on that non-sense.

The only thing I wish I could see change is the financials. It would be nice if the banking indexes were rallying along with the market indexes. Actually, what I have noticed also is that the DJTA is also not making a new high with the index. So now the index is rallying without the DJTA DJUA and the BKX hitting new highs. Just something to be aware of. Until the market's trend changes, it is still just semantics.

It is clearly obvious to me that the wall-of-worry is still alive and well, despite what the II, AAII, and realmoney.com polls suggest. The Investors Intelligence survey came in with bulls rising to 54.3% which is a 2007 high and bears falling to 20.7% a 2007 low. The AAII bulls have increased to 37% and the bears have fallen to 38.5%. The realmoney.com poll shows 47% are bullish and 25% are bearish. However, their money is NOT where their mouth is.

The put/call, as I mentioned, is at .93, NYSE short interest is near 5-yr highs, mutual fund inflows keep slowing to a trickle, and margin debt (normally used for bearish bets) is at an all-time high at $319 billion. That is a YOY gain of 67%. So obviously the bets are being made against the bulls, despite the crowd insisting they are bullish. Very odd indeed, if that is what you were thinking. So basically what I am seeing is that people would rather be long than short but are still shorting the market. Seems to me only the smart money is buying stocks here. The dumb money is selling/shorting.

Another possible scenario for the shorting is that a lot of market particants are making a big deal over gas prices and how it is going to wreck the economy. I have been hearing this damn argument for years now. I am still waiting for it to come to fruition. It is true that gas prices are getting a bit crazy but our net wealth is higher than ever and if our SPOILED BRAT American consumer ways are any indication--we can afford it. So no matter how much they say the gas prices are going to hurt the economy, the fact of the matter is this just creates another wall-of-worry for the markets to climb as traders short the market waiting for this magical correction caused by the consumers pockets drying up. Until it actually dries up, why short the market and lose money?

This uptrend is still not to be messed with. Next week will show us if the distribution days in the Nasdaq are anything that is going to turn into some real selling. If the action in leading stocks is any indication, we are not going to get too much selling off of those distro days. The indexes and leading stocks continue to hold that key 50 day moving average and have good to great accumulation/distribution ratings. Right now the right play seems to be to buy the dips. That is not a method I endorse, unless the dip is on low volume and followed by a heavy volume bounce around a key moving average or support.

The market is getting a little bit oversold according to the 10-week moving average of the advance/decline line oscillator and the index put/call 21-day moving avg. is getting near the 2.00 level where the markets like to try to top out. But there is still room left with it at 1.80. So that along with the former oscillator mentioned tells us that there is more room to rally before we become overbought or have the extreme index put buying that signals a real top. A high put/call is bullish until it stays high for too long and gets to extreme levels. When that happens it actually confirms the market, if a selloff happens.

As it stands, right now, however, there is no selloff, so the only right thing to do now is to follow that trend, until that trend changes. Next week we have non-farm payroll numbers, the second reading of Q1 GDP, consumer confidence numbers, and the FOMC minutes. Along with the economic numbers, we have earnings from DELL COST HNZ HOV SHLD DBRN RL PSS JAS JCG that should create some minor excitement as earnings season comes to a close.

Enjoy your Memorial Day!!! Never forget the sacrifices that our troops make to allow you to read this blog. This blog and all the money making ideas would not be possible without the brave men and women who sacrifice their lives defending this country and making this world a better place to live in for EVERYONE. Not just Americans. EVERYONE deserves freedom. If you lived under a dictatorship, only then could you appreciate how well off we have it. I have a feeling there are many that read this blog that take YOUR freedom for granted. If that is the case, you should really take a minute and think about how the world would be if the USA did not exist. Do you really think you would be trading stocks? Do you really think you would be free?

Aloha and I will see you in the chat room!!!!

top holdings up this week - purchase date

TRCR 306% - 1/12
MA 181% - 8/2
TTEC 140% - 8/25
OMTR 137% - 9/15
SVNT 131% - 8/24
MEH 119% - 8/30
CPA 118% - 9/15
KHDH 108% - 5/30
JSDA 106% - 12/20
HRZ 104% - 9/27
MFW 104% - 1/29
ULTR 101% - 10/27
CRY 94% - 1/10
EVEP 90% - 11/16
CXW 87% - 5/19
IGLD 79% - 10/26
DECK 76% - 9/13
MCZ 74% - 3/27
HURN 70% - 9/13
CNH 65% - 11/2
BMA 64% - 10/24
APLX 62% - 9/28
VDSI 61% - 1/4
ZNH 59% - 12/26
NXST 59% - 3/28
LFL 57% - 12/13
TESO 56% - 2/16
VCLK 55% - 11/14
APFC 55% - 3/5
TTG 52% - 11/30
NSH 52% - 12/19

Market Commentary At Big Wave Trading Bronze Level One

New Swing Longs: Silver Level Two

New Swing Shorts: Silver Level Two

Stocks On My Watchlist: Gold Level Three

Complete Profits/Losses: Gold Level Three

Partial Profits/Losses: Gold Level Three

MauiTrader Forums: Gold Level Three

MauiTrader Chat Room: Gold Level Three

Longs Up On The Day: Gold Level Three

Shorts Up On The Day: Gold Level Three

Saturday, May 19, 2007

M&A Deals Keep The Market Moving As The NYSE and DJIA Hit All-Time Highs On Heavier Volume

It was another M&A filled rally on wall street as the news of mergers and buyouts keep on coming. The SP 600, Nassy, and the NYSE all gained .8%, the SP 500 was up .7%, and the DJIA rallied .6% hitting an all-time high with the NYSE. All indexes closed near their HOD. The best gain came from the IBD 100. The IBD 100 gained 1.2% today, well outpacing the broad market. It is always bullish when leading stocks lead.

All of these gains can be thanked on a series of deals that came about or the rumors that were stirred up on Friday. The big one was MSFT buying AQNT for an insane amount of money–we have heard enough about that. But there were other mergers that helped also. A private equity buyout by Blackstone Group for ADS, GE announcing that it is selling off its plastic division, and Thursday’s WPPGY buy of TFSM show that the market is full of liquidity.

With all of these M&A deals and with Friday being options expiration, volume came in much higher on both the NYSE and the Nasdaq. This gives the markets a clear accumulation day and with the markets hitting new highs that is very bullish. And if you think the higher volume is no good because it was options expiration, you are wrong. It wouldn’t matter if prices did not change much. But the fact that prices were up almost 1% across the board is good enough for me to see today as accumulation. The fact that it was options expiration is just not that important to me when prices are higher or lower by .5%.

The same thing happened this week that happened last week. The Nasdaq underperformed the DJIA by a wide margin again. This week the DJIA was up 1.7% but the Nasdaq was down .1%. That is the second week in a row that the Nasdaq has fallen. For the DJIA, the opposite is true, as that index put in its seventh straight week of gains. The DJIA just will not stop, for now.

The DJIA action is getting a bit crazy but as long as this trend remains there is nothing to do but ride it higher. This is a bullish tape and fighting this is only going to hurt down the road. That is why the greatest traders of all-time never made any trades against the market. I still see some people buying puts on some DJIA stocks. PURE SUICIDE!!

It might be foolish to buy stocks this far extended but it is even more foolish to make bearish bets when the momentum train is at full speed ahead. The smart active investor is riding this trend making sure he buys close to a correct pivot point. If you are doing that you should be making money in this market. Granted, it is not automatic money but it is still a good stock pickers market.

There are a lot of negatives out there, despite these highs, but until these things are confirmed by lower prices these are just noise. Some of that noise though is quite interesting.

We keep having lower volume rallies that are followed by distribution. However, Friday’s gains on higher volume kind of dampens that argument. Since November the amount of stocks making 52-week highs keep contracting on every new all-time high by the NYSE. This is really negative divergence and portends to a very weak market when the market decides to rollover. The other problem is that new 52-week lows keep expanding on every new all-time high by the NYSE. This just confirms the negative divergence with the new highs. This is not bullish in the long-term. But in the short-term it doesn’t matter.

Breadth is also weakening as the markets now hit new highs and the DJ Transportation average is not confirming the DJIA with all-time highs. The fact that the Nasdaq is also lagging so badly is yet another ugly development. But with the weakening breadth you can also make a bullish case as the 10-day adv/dec moving average overbought/oversold oscillator is moving to oversold levels. If the market keeps rising, while we move to oversold, it could produce a very powerful rally as breadth comes back in. On Friday breadth was positive with the gains, something the gains couldn’t accomplish recently.

This market is much more difficult than normal bull markets due to the fact that we are having this run after four years of gains. The rally in 2003, came after two years of non-stop selling. The charts that setup in green pretty bases that then broke out to new highs followed-through immediately and most gave quick 20% plus gains. Nowadays you are lucky if your stock moves higher immediately and we are also very lucky if we can get a 50% gain out of the stock. That is what a lower VIX environment produces with no 10% pullback on the DJIA since 2003.

This market is starting to feel invincible but trust me the gains that it is offering now WILL BE NOTHING compared to the gains that will come after the ensuing bear market happens. If the VIX can get up to near 30, our TRCR 300% gains will be 900% gains. Your 100% gains will be 300% gains. This is what is normal in bull markets. So this market may be a bull market but trust me it is no bull market for active growth investors. This is a slowly dying market. The trend still offers plenty of chances to make money. But I am not going to get filthy rich at this point in the game.

Stocks like TESO AFSI HRZ can make you very wealthy. These are three stocks that I was very adamant about going long. If you went long these you are doing very well. So I am not sure why we complain. But maybe that is the nature of our greedy ways.

Speaking of greedy. Anyone following TNH. That is what a top looks like. Arithmetic daily chart going back to 2001. Take a look at that chart. Study that price and volume action. Notice the extremely wild reversal on the price graph along with a GIANT spike in volume. That is what tops look like. This is the best stock, in the best sector, in the current bull market. Now that this stock has topped it could be hinting at what is in store for the market. We shall see.

One thing we do know is that last year I nailed the ERS top after producing 550% gains in it. I went long ERS took a 500% plus gain and sold it at the top. I have to admit i held on to a little as it came down. But if you go review my commentary from April-May 206, you will see I nailed that top in that leading stock, in the leading sector, in the bull market. If TNH was last years ERS, the top should be soon. I was long TNH for a 250% gain, before this top. So I have sold all in anticipation of this being the top. Just like ERS last year. Study both of those charts. Study the climb, study the volume, and study the ensuing selloff. Same thing, so far.

This is the greatest economic story NEVER told. And it never will be. If Bill Clinton was in office, the biased media wouldn’t shut up over this great market. Instead we get silence and actually get negative spin. What a disgrace the media has become. Disgusting and irresponsible. What a great market!!!!!!! But nobody cares and the media is still bashing it….so there is still plenty of reasons to go higher, even if TNH topped. :)

Aloha and I will see you in the chat room. Where we always are making new all-time highs!!

top holdings - purchase date

TRCR 297% - 1/12
ONT 205% - 12/21
MA 178% - 8/2
OMTR 143% - 9/15
TTEC 137% - 8/25
MEH 120% - 8/30
ULTR 120% - 10/27
CPA 119% - 9/15
SVNT 117% - 8/24
BAM 107% - 11/17/05
KHDH 106% - 5/30
HRZ 99% - 9/27
IGLD 96% - 10/26
EVEP 93% - 11/16
JSDA 93% - 12/20
PRGX 91% - 1/12
HMSY 90% - 6/23
MFW 88% - 1/29
PAE 83% - 3/22
CRY 80% - 1/10
CXW 78% - 5/19
CLRT 77% - 11/30
DECK 72% - 9/13
HURN 70% - 9/13
CNH 69% - 11/2
VDSI 66% - 1/4
TESO 64% - 2/16
LFL 63% - 12/13
APLX 62% - 9/28
IMKTA 50% - 8/28
ETR 50% - 9/27


Market Commentary At Big Wave Trading Bronze Level One

New Swing Longs: Silver Level Two

New Swing Shorts: Silver Level Two

Stocks On My Watchlist: Gold Level Three

Complete Profits/Losses: Gold Level Three

Partial Profits/Losses: Gold Level Three

MauiTrader Forums: Gold Level Three

MauiTrader Chat Room: Gold Level Three

Longs Up On The Day: Gold Level Three

Shorts Up On The Day: Gold Level Three

Saturday, May 12, 2007

Stocks End The Week On A Bullish Note, Despite The Lower Volume

Stocks gapped higher on the back of economic data that was taken as more positive than negative and on some more M&A talk. The Labor Department said the wholesale PPI came in with a .7% increase in April. This was in line with estimates and showed that growth in prices at the producer level were flat except gas. Gas cost rose 8.2%.

April retail sales came in .2% lower but was much better than the numbers the same-store sales delivered on Thursday when they reported a 1.8% fall on the back of some of the worst declines WMT has seen in over 20 years.

The last bit of excitement that helped send stocks higher early on came on the announcement that CME has raised its offer for BOT. There is no news of what ICE is going to do but they are reviewing their options.

The markets took this news in stride and managed a nice rally that saw dip buyers come in and buy the “bargains” Thursday’s selloff had left them. After a mid-day low, bulls went to work sending the indexes to their HOD, however on lower volume.

At the close, the SP 600 and the NYSE led the way with 1.2% gains, the Nasdaq followed with a 1.1% gain, the SP 500 gained 1%, and the DJIA rallied .8%. Leading stocks took back control, on Friday, as the IBD 100 rallied 1.7%, well outpacing the broad market. That is just the kind of action you want to see after a day of selling in the markets.

Volume, like I stated, however, was lower, across the board. Volume fell 23% on the Nasdaq and fell 10% on the NYSE, mitigating the power of the gains. But despite the lower volume, the breadth was very good. Advancers beat decliners by a 13-to-4 margin on the NYSE and by a 3-to-1 margin on the Nasdaq. So that was very impressive.

What was not impressive in the breadth department was the new highs. Despite reversing almost all of yesterday’s losses, new highs did not expand at all on the market. New 52-week highs came in at 257 and new 52-week lows came in at 82.

For the week, the DJIA rallied .5% making it the sixth week in a row of gains, the SP 500 followed with a .02% gain, the NYSE lost .06%, the SP 600 lost .3%, and the Nasdaq led to the downside with a .4% loss. The top index, this week, was the IBD 100 with a 1.4% gain. It was very good to see the IBD 100 lead again. This is much better than the DJIA leading.

Some of the best stocks on Friday came from China as China announced they were lifting restrictions on some refined products. GSH CHL SNP and LFC all saw significant gains as most of these blasted out of bases that were not the most perfect bases to be blasting out of. But a breakout is a breakout and they did breakout.

The selloff on Thursday with the Nasdaq having slightly higher volume and the volume on the NYSE lower had only a slight impact on my top stocks in my portfolio and left me only fully selling a bunch of speculative longs. All of my complete sells on Thursday were from the pure speculative arena. The leaders didn’t do so bad and the pullbacks did not have the feel of panic in them. Hence today’s price gains.

The Thursday selloff allowed me to dump those losers or weak stocks so that I can now have more money to put in to better charts that have much better technical patterns. And that is exactly what has now happened. After Friday’s trading, more than a handful of very beautiful and green charts have setup into perfect buy areas. There are a lot of charts bouncing right off the 50 dma or breaking out of longer bases on very strong volume with green charts. The complete sells obviously did not look like these.

This is why pullbacks are good. I can get rid of the crap that is not working and buy pure quality with better charts. If you are a silver or gold member you can see those beautiful charts and then compare them to the sells I made on Thursday and see I have moved money from stocks with broken patterns to stocks that are ready to move. In fact, Friday’s scan has revealed the most what I would consider “near perfect” charts in one day for more speculative stocks since 2007 began. If Thursday’s selloff had not happened, I would have had less money to put into these pretty charts. Instead I now have more money to use on margin in the prettier charts that should do MUCH better than what I have. This is why pullbacks are good: you can sell laggards and move money into cash (which would be better than losing money) or move the money into stocks with better chart patterns.

Without a pullback, you instead hold the laggards and have less money to work in the better patterns. Turnover is good; not bad. Another positive about smaller selloffs are that you don’t have 4% pullbacks like you do in February. Those kind of vicious pullbacks are the result of non-stop markets that never have 1% pullbacks in the DJIA or 2% pullbacks in the Nasdaq. When you don’t have normal pullbacks, you get one day crashes. So these things are good not bad.

The dip buyers are still working and even after the dip buyers are done the retail and sometimes institutional crowd is right there putting money to work. Right now people do not want to be left behind and the best thing to do is stay out of there way, not fight the trend, and to just ride the trend. Right now it is a completely bullish market, despite some complacency (the put/call fell below .7), and doing anything but going long here is the wrong play.

Whatever you do, do NOT chase performance. Demand the stock is bouncing off a key moving average or is breaking out of a base at least five weeks long. If you do this you put yourself in a much better position of avoiding severe one day losses that happen to a lot of stocks during earnings season. But, thankfully, we are out of that crazy season and back to our normal trading pattern off of news and economic events.

I am not sure where the sell in May and go away crowd is. But maybe they will show up this week. However, I truly doubt that is going to happen just yet. We have the CPI on Monday and I hope everyone is having a great weekend. Aloha and I will see you in the chat room!!

Market Commentary At Big Wave Trading Bronze Level One

New Swing Longs: Silver Level Two

New Swing Shorts: Silver Level Two

Stocks On My Watchlist: Gold Level Three

Complete Profits/Losses: Gold Level Three

Partial Profits/Losses: Gold Level Three

MauiTrader Forums: Gold Level Three

MauiTrader Chat Room: Gold Level Three

Longs Up On The Day: Gold Level Three

Shorts Up On The Day: Gold Level Three

top holdings - purchase date

KNOL 366% - 1/12/06
TRCR 323% - 1/12
PTT 280% - 11/16
TNH 246% - 10/26
MA 180% - 8/2
TTEC 159% - 8/25
ANO 150% - 2/14
IGLD 127% - 10/26
JSDA 125% - 12/20
ULTR 109% - 10/27
MEH 108% - 8/30
HRZ 106% - 9/27
BAM 106% - 11/17/05
CPA 105% - 9/15
SVNT 100% - 8/24
MFW 94% - 1/29
EVEP 93% - 11/16
NEXC 91% - 10/25
CRY 82% - 1/10
KHDH 80% - 5/30
CXW 78% - 5/19
PAE 73% - 3/22
DECK 71% - 9/13
HURN 69% - 9/13
VDSI 67% - 1/4
LFL 65% - 12/13
CNH 64% - 11/2
NSH 62% - 12/19
APLX 61% - 9/28
TESO 57% - 2/16
BMA 57% - 10/24
KALU 55% - 12/6

Saturday, May 05, 2007

A Very Eventful And Green Week Comes To A Close With Stocks Up Across The Board On Mixed Volume

Stocks started the day off on a very positive note thanks to a couple of big merger rumors and more positive earnings from top stocks that outweighed the poor jobs report. Reports that MSFT wants to buy the search engine YHOO (around a $50 billion transaction) and that RTRSY is being offered takeover bids possibly by Thomson Financial definitely put a fire to a market that is just flush with M&A activity. Great earnings from CROX FSLR UEIC PCLN and RIO did not hurt either.

Good news from the micro could not be found in the macro today. The April jobs report showed only 88,000 jobs were added this month. This was below the 100,000 expected by pundits and was the smallest increase in two years. This is another sign that the economy is starting to slow down. Unemployment ticked up to 4.5% and average hourly earnings rose .2% below expectations of .3%. This can be taken as slightly positive since it does not show rapid inflation in wages.

The good start gave way to a midday reversal that was quickly supported by the dip-buyers, possibly thanks to another fall in oil, and they proceeded to abid stocks up in a choppy fashion into the close. Oil fell $1.26 to $61.93 ending a week where crude oil fell a total of 6.8%. That obviously is good news for consumers.

At the closing bell the SP 600 led the way hitting an all-time high with a .5% gain, the NYSE followed also hitting an all-time high with a .4% gain, the Nasdaq neared 7-year highs closing with a .3% gain, and the DJIA hit an all-time high and the SP 500 came near a 7-year high gaining .2%. Growth investors had a lot to be thankful for today as the IBD 100 led for the third session in-a-row with a .8% gain.

Volume was slightly higher on the Nasdaq by about 2% and for the second day in-a-row the NYSE’s volume came in lower. That is a slight negative divergence with the NYSE hitting all-time highs the past two sessions on lighter volume. However, breadth was very positive which does put a slight positive spin on the lower volume. Advancers beat decliners by a 3-to-2 margin on the NYSE and by an 8-to-7 margin on the Nasdaq. There were a healthy amount of new 52-week highs with 609 and even though there were 66 new 52-week lows the fact that they didn’t expand on an up day is good enough.

For the week the DJIA led the way higher with a 1.1% gain, the NYSE followed with a .9% gain, the SP 500 and the SP 600 rose .8%, and the Nasdaq lagged with a .6% gain. The IBD 100 finally did something two weeks in a row that it has not done for months–lead the market. The IBD 100 gained 1.2% for the week, outpacing the DJIA by a tiny amount. However, that is not nearly as impressive as the fact that the DJIA is up 23 out of the past 26 sessions (I have not checked but I think I got that wrong yesterday) and has hit record highs in seven of the last eight sessions. The current streak of 23 up days out of 26 is one short of the record set in 1927 when it was 24 for 27. Get your “24 for 27″ rally hats on (not really–there is no need to cheer).

I have to admit, last week was one of the more exciting weeks I have been a part of in a while. I am not sure why but I believe it has to deal with the fact how confused everyone seems to be about this market. I have to admit I am not a genius to know why we are rallying. But I am smart enough to know that that is all I really need to know. While I continue to go long stocks, I still see a lot of people hesitant to buy stocks here.

I have to admit, I am, in my IRA. But in my regular accounts I am not afraid at all. There were only two stocks that I am going to have to completely sell-off yesterday due to breakdowns. One was E** (4% loss) and the other was I*** (8% loss). I scaled into INXI so that position did not hurt me and then EDS was bought so close to the 50 dma that that did not hurt me. It is hard for me to be bearish on that. But what I can take away as bearish is the fact that both of these stocks had BEAUTIFUL charts and had strong fundamentals. I have not seen such pretty charts with strong fundies breakdown like that since late February.

So how does that prove the crowd is bearish? It doesn’t. This does: The AAII survey came in with 55% bears this week which was the number seen at the July lows. There were only 29% bulls in the survey. Even though this survey is very fickle it still shows how bearish the crowd is still. If that doesn’t convince you the crowd is bearish let’s take a look at their actions.

The put/call ratio is still above the .6 area at .75. Until the number is below .6 it is hard to say that the crowd is not making bearish bets. And the biggest piece of interesting figures I could find on how investors are actually investing came from AMG. They report that mutual funds had outflows of $5.41 billion for the week ending on May 2. First quarter mutual fund inflows are down 30% from last year!! You do NOT see mutual fund outflows at the top of a market. So when people remind you that this market feels like 1999–it may in fact feel that way, but in 1999 mutual fund inflows were pouring in. It wasn’t until well after the market top that the trend reversed.

Rolling with this theme it also becomes clear that many market pundits are nervous with the rally (I am slightly in the boat–but I still go with the trend). Don Hays, Al Goldman, David Peroni, Dick Arms, James DePorre, Cody Willard, and a few others are issuing either cautious outlooks and in a few cases are starting short positions and/or taking longs off the table. This along with Seeking Alpha’s data showing that sell-side analyst have SP 500 stocks as buys at the lowest level in over ten years!!! Did you get that. The sell-siders are not telling you to buy stocks yet. When they start issuing buys and strong buys, then we probably should be worried. For now it seems everyone is doing the worrying for us.

The other incredibly bullish working thesis this market has going for it is earnings. Earnings are now coming in at a 12% YOY increase, KILLING estimates of 3.2%. This was supposed to be the first quarter in fourteen quarters that earnings grew under 10%. Well have now erased that possibility and now it is 15 quarters in-a-row of stocks showing 10% or higher YOY EPS gains. This is the greatest economic story ever and it gets absolutely NO attention paid to it by the biased media. It is shameful and disturbing that people do not even understand how incredible it is that we are about ready to have 10% gains 15 quarters in-a-row. One more quarter like this and it would be a full four years of 10% gains. INCREDIBLE to say the least.

There can be no doubt about it, last week was an eventful wild week. What a week it was with all the M&A announcements and speculations, great earnings reports, record high closes, and economic data. Of course the big story of the week was the NWS bid for DJ. That clearly showed the bears that this market is for bulls only. Anyone short any stock should take a look at a giant stock like DJ, see how it acted on the news, and then reevaluate why you are short.

A pullback would be very nice here to help setup some nice proper green bases so that stocks can blast out of them when the rally starts again. But if there is no pullback, still demand that you buy stocks coming out of great bases or are bouncing right off of the 50 dma on big volume. The longer we go without a pullback the harder it is to find a lot of perfect stocks setting up in perfect bases.

The one thing you must not do here, unless you are very experienced, is to chase momentum. That game is for the daytraders who can use leverage and get in and out of positions at lightning speed and still make a ton of money. Unless you have mastered the smooth style of a CANSLIM based system, I doubt it is worthwhile for you to try daytrading the highflyers. And the absolute thing you MUST NOT do is short the market or go short stocks in uptrends. AMZN, DNDN, DJ, and RTRSY are all good reason to not short this market.

Have a great weekend. Let’s hope that next week isn’t as jam packed with so much market moving news. I need a break. Aloha and enjoy your weekend! I will see you in the chat room. Aloha!!

Market Commentary At Big Wave Trading Bronze Level One

New Swing Longs: Silver Level Two

New Swing Shorts: Silver Level Two

Stocks On My Watchlist: Gold Level Three

Complete Profits/Losses: Gold Level Three

Partial Profits/Losses: Gold Level Three

MauiTrader Forums: Gold Level Three

MauiTrader Chat Room: Gold Level Three

Longs Up On The Day: Gold Level Three

Shorts Up On The Day: Gold Level Three

Top Holdings - Date Of Purchase

KNOL 393% - 1/12/06
TRCR 282% - 1/12
PTT 282% - 11/16
TNH 178% - 10/26
MA 171% - 8/2
TTEC 167% - 8/25
JSDA 136% - 12/20
IGLD 123% - 10/26
ANO 116% - 2/14
ULTR 111% - 10/27
HRZ 108% - 9/27
CPA 104% - 9/15
MFW 103% - 1/29
ONT 102% - 12/21
PAE 101% - 3/22
EVEP 99% - 11/16
BAM 99% - 11/17/05
HURN 79% - 9/13
KHDH 77% - 5/30
CXW 77% - 5/19
DECK 71% - 9/13
IMMU 69% - 12/19
VDSI 66% - 1/4
CNH 64% - 11/2
IMKTA 54% - 8/28
CLRT 54% - 11/30
NSH 54% - 12/19
CKSW 53% - 10/11
MNTG 52% - 11/9
LFL 52% - 12/13