The shares of Massey Energy (MEE) have dropped substantially since April 6, when news broke of a deadly explosion at the company's Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia. As a result of this devastating development, the stock is now trading below several layers of former technical support, including its 10-week and 20-week moving averages.

However, after checking out Monday's option activity, at least one bullish bettor is banking on a short-term recovery for the commodity concern. Shortly after midday, MEE was the target of a moderately optimistic long call spread strategy.

Continue reading Bull Bets on a Short-Term Bounce for Massey Energy

Bull Bets on a Short-Term Bounce for Massey Energy originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 20 Apr 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This post is part of our Ads Gone Bad series. Share your thoughts and memories of this ad in the comments, and be sure to check out our other posts on marketing gone wrong.

Verizon made an ad this summer showing a guy scaling a junkyard fence to get his hands on an LG Dare phone, only to run into two junkyard dogs -- chained and snarling pit bulls. Pit bull lovers didn't like the casual depiction of animal neglect and cruelty. Animal rights groups have been working for a long time to stop people from chaining up dogs in their yard, abusing them and generally using them as a street weapon.

Verizon at first insisted that it would keep running the ad. Then concerned dog owners got the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals involved. PETA first tried to talk with Verizon and explain why the ad annoyed people: the dogs in the commercial had ears docked in a "fight crop" and pit bulls are the most abused breed of dogs.

Verizon refused to meet to discuss the situation, PETA says. So they put out an action alert. After Verizon got 7,000 e-mails from angry animal lovers, they took down the ad.

See other examples of Ads Gone Bad.

Ads Gone Bad: Dog lovers not so fond of Verizon ad originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 08 Sep 2008 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Fed chairman Bernanke defies gold originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 19 Sep 2007 12:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose today by 187 points, a 1.41% rise. The NASDAQ rose by 32 points, or 1.28% and the vaunted S&P 500 Index by 22 points or 1.52%. The markets were relatively benign until the details emerged from the Federal Reserve's Beige Book.

The Beige Book is released eight times per year, and is the collective wisdom of the 12 different Fed Governors. The news was better than expected, and the 10-year treasury note, which was topping out at 5.25%, began to sink and investors re-focused on the equities market.

The details from the Beige Book report was just the music the equity investor wanted -- needed -- to hear. Capital goods orders were picking up and the job market was, indeed, stabilizing. To boot, the real symphony continued when the Fed indicated there was no upward pressure on wage prices, thus stemming one of the legs of inflation. Consumer spending appears to remain in a healthy pattern, with general retail sales up a surprising 1.6%, versus the expectations of 0.8%. The consumer is still in a position to sustain economic growth.

The indicators from the Federal Reserve basically put the "R -word": Recession, back into the closet.

Continue reading Market sees biggest upswing in almost a year: Recession back in closet

Market sees biggest upswing in almost a year: Recession back in closet originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 13 Jun 2007 17:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.