By Steve Papale Yo-yo – an object consisting of an axle connected to two disks and a length of string looped around the axle. The player holds the free end of the string allowing gravity or force of a throw to spin the yo-yo and unwind along the string and…
It was a wild week for the markets. Wednesday was the biggest up day of the year for the Dow Jones Industrial Average – up 275, while Thursday was the biggest down day of the year – down 335.The major indexes fell to 8-week lows with fears fueled by slowing…
It is a short trading week so I will keep these initial few sentence short as well. Happy Easter. Unfortunately there is no magic option strategy that works perfectly in all market conditions. The strategies need to be evaluated based on risk and reward and once placed, managed according to…
The equity markets were essentially unchanged for the week. A rally on Friday erased poor market performance the previous four trading days. Cyprus trumped all else this week – FOMC announcement, weaker earnings from market leaders FedEx and Oracle, stronger earnings from Nike, and resilience in the US equity markets.…
I used to worry every time Big Ben started talking. It seemed like every time he talked, markets sold off. Well how times have changed. On Wednesday Bernanke held a news conference following the Fed Committee meeting and the markets seemed to like his brand of Fed Speak. Ben and…
It’s that time of year again. Flowers or chocolates. Pink or white or red. Dark or milk. Valentine’s Day is what I like to call the “Hallmark Holiday”. I have never checked into it but I have to think Valentine’s Day is one of the biggest revenue times for the…
Last week allowed market pundits to use their full range of superlatives – both positive and negative. Equities were up for the eighth straight session – the longest streak since December 2004. The year-to date performance of the Dow Jones Industrials (+6%) is the best start to a market year…
Ok, maybe there is something to this global warming after all. I read that last year was the warmest year on record in the Chicago area. And now this weekend they are predicting 60 degrees. That’s 60 in January. In Chicago. My 11 year old is not too happy though. …
This graphic is from the website “Friends of the US Chamber.” It is not unique. Similar countdowns are present on numerous other websites and as a constant on numerous financial TV broadcasts. Fellow mentor Steve Papale’s latest blog entry on “At the Margin Decisions” (http://blog.discoveroptions.com/2012/12/papale-at-margin-decisions/) is a very good look…
The indexes, with the exception of the tech heavy NDX, hovered around unchanged for the week. Current market sentiment was colored by the largest daily downturn in the markets since June. An accumulation of earnings disappointments was blamed for the sell-off. The list of disappointments was led by Google (GOOG).…
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