The game is changing. It's time to play defense. Two weeks ago the U.S. stock market was in a bullish trend with no end in sight. Now international events are taking center stage. How long the markets can ignore these events is the question of the day.

Brent crude oil is trading at $116 per barrel. This has serious implications for the U.S. economy. If you recall, when oil spiked in 2008, it was a major factor in the recession that followed. People simply could not afford the price of gas and slowed their driving dramatically. We must remember that many people commute 50 to 70 miles a day just to go to work. The money is coming out of the household budget. Some people spend more in gas than they do working, especially if they work part time.

Continue reading Brent Crude Hits $116 per Barrel

Brent Crude Hits $116 per Barrel originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 07 Mar 2011 11:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

It comes as no surprise to me that current investment blogger consensus is bullish on the markets. They're not bullish by an extremely wide margin, but they are optimistic nonetheless.

An ongoing investment blogger survey, conducted weekly by Ticker Sense from Birinyi Associates Inc., indicates that nearly 54% of the investment writers it surveys are holding a bullish stance for the S&P 500 for the next 30 days. Meanwhile, just over 15% of the survey respondents are bearish on the S&P 500, and approximately 30% are declaring a neutral position.

Continue reading Investment Bloggers Are Bullish and ETFs Are Hot

Investment Bloggers Are Bullish and ETFs Are Hot originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 12 Oct 2010 11:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Think This Rally Is for Real? Use ETFs to Go Long

Think This Rally Is for Real? Use ETFs to Go Long originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 27 Sep 2010 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Spain, Turkey and South Africa Outpacing the S&P 500

Spain, Turkey and South Africa Outpacing the S&P 500 originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 12 Jul 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The S&P 500 Index (SPX) has battled back from its brutal month-long sell-off, but it seems that traders aren't exactly confident in the market's fledgling rebound. According to data from the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), options players are betting on additional turbulence by purchasing calls on the CBOE Market Volatility Index (VIX).

During the past five sessions, speculators on the exchange have scooped up 142,544 calls on the VIX, along with 126,391 puts. In other words, 1.13 calls have been purchased for every put on the VIX, which is meant to reflect investors' expectations for the SPX's near-term price action.

Continue reading Traders Bet on More Volatility with VIX Calls

Traders Bet on More Volatility with VIX Calls originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 17 Jun 2010 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

• CBOE DJ Industrial Average Index (DJX) -5.2% to 22.1
• NASDAQ (NDX) -5.5% to 25.4
• Russell 2000 Index (RUT) -6.4% to 24.7
• SPDR Trust Unit (SPY) -5% to 24.8
• CBOE Russell 1000 Index (RUI) -6.5% to 25.3
• S&P 100 Index (OEX) -6.2% to 24.9

Options Update: Index Volatility Decreases as Markets Rally originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 28 May 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Standard & Poor's Depository Receipts (SPY) is recently down 42 cents to $106.24 in pre-open trading. February and March put volatility is at 28; April is at 26; above its 26-week average of 24 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price movement.

MSCI Emerging Markets Index (EEM) closed at $37.20. EEM overall option implied volatility of 34 is near its 26-week average according to Track Data, suggesting non-directional price movement.

Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com

Options Update: S&P's Depository Receipts Volatility Increases originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 08 Feb 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading S&P 500 option traders still bullish

S&P 500 option traders still bullish originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 28 Aug 2009 14:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

If you are like just about every other stock investor out there, you are asking yourself the question, "Can the market keep going up, or am I going to have to suffer through another decline?"

Well, while there is no sure fire way to know exactly if and when the stock market is going to turn around, there are some tools available -- semi-cloudy crystal balls, if you will -- that can give you a heads up when a turnaround may be just around the corner.

Let me show you one of my favorites: the NYSE Bullish Percent Index.

Continue reading Forecasting the S&P 500; Dusting off the crystal ball

Forecasting the S&P 500; Dusting off the crystal ball originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 19 Aug 2009 17:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Closing Bell: Can't run, and can't hide (AAPL, DIA, SPY, MRVL, MSFT, STP, SIRI, WMT, YHOO)

Closing Bell: Can't run, and can't hide (AAPL, DIA, SPY, MRVL, MSFT, STP, SIRI, WMT, YHOO) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 22 Jun 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading When the S & P Index is hard to borrow, is the PPT in the house?

When the S & P Index is hard to borrow, is the PPT in the house? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 23 Apr 2009 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Caution: Dangerous Week Ahead

Caution: Dangerous Week Ahead originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 13 Apr 2009 15:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This post is part of our feature on Money Winners of 2008. See all 20.

This past year has been a pretty rough one for CEOs in general. The stock market has tanked since October of last year, dragging down strong companies' share prices to some extent and weak companies' even further. It has been even worse for most financial executives, who have been ousted as their stocks fall to roughly zero and their company goes bankrupt or is taken over by a stronger institution. While many of these CEOs have golden parachutes that open upon their dismissal, much of their compensation is in the form of the company's stock and when that value dwindles, they feel the pain as well. One of our other 2008 Money Winners, Alan Fishman, who walked away with more than $11 million for three weeks work at Washington Mutual, had 600K shares of WM that he saw evaporate.

James "Jamie" Dimon, CEO and chairman of JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM), has not had this kind of trouble over the past year, which places him squarely in the minority among his peers and makes him a money winner. Strictly speaking, Mr. Dimon raked in a salary for this year of "just" $1 million. His bonus allows for an additional $14.5 million, and the way things have been going for JPM, I'd wager a hefty portion of my savings that he gets the full amount. Plus on top of that, he has exercised options worth about $40.1 million this year, bringing the grand total compensation to $55.6 million.

Continue reading Money winners of 2008: JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon

Money winners of 2008: JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 14 Dec 2008 17:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Q. John, are we at the bottom yet (in equity markets) and what do you see for world markets in the next 12 months?

A. The US economy has substantially worsened in recent months; and the US and global economies are now in the early stages of a significant recession.

In early 2007, the problem was confined to the leveraged loan market as banks revealed their $300 billion in toxic loan commitments to US private equity deals. This was an isolated capital market problem, which had not materially impacted GDP. But in September 2008, the safety of money market funds came into question, seriously frightening individuals into taking cash from their bank accounts, putting all spending on hold and hoarding cash. Since then, GDP has been in serious decline.

Ironically, beginning in March 2008, the Federal Reserve's series of liquidity measures, designed to provide cash to troubled Wall Street institutions, made this situation worse. They sold Treasury bills simultaneously, withdrawing reserves from the banking system, resulting in less than a 1% annual rate of growth in bank reserves and the monetary base in the 12 months leading up to September 2008. Since the September crisis, both reserves and the monetary base have more than doubled, which will eventually solve the problem. But the Fed was very late to the party.

Continue reading Global Q&A: A rocky road, but profits ahead

Global Q&A: A rocky road, but profits ahead originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 04 Dec 2008 12:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

"While watching the Olympics, I couldn't thinking about the investment opportunities of the various countries participating in the games," says exchange-traded fund expert Carl Delfeld.

Recognizing that this is not a "scientific" approach nor a primary basis for seriously determining one's asset allocation the editor of Around the World with ETFs speculates, "While it is admittedly a stretch, let's consider what an ETF porfolio of the top ten countries in the Beijing Olympics medal count would look like."

"I hope that while watching the Olympic games many investors were also reminded at how the world is changing and why they need a global portfolio to capture value and growth around the world.

"The U.S. did remarkably well across the board underscoring its role as the world's leading investment destination. China surged to win the most gold and reach the symbolic level of 100 medals.

"Quite an achievement that punctuates China's growing heft. With the Shanghai Composite down 55% this year, it has come down to earth and is interesting from a valuation perspective.

"Next comes Russia with a performance fueled by a strong Olympian tradition and petro dollars but perhaps a bit overshadowed by the Georgian fiasco. I will take a pass on this one even though it is off 36% since just May.

Continue reading Follow the medals: An Olympic portfolio

Follow the medals: An Olympic portfolio originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 02 Sep 2008 12:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Top 5 ways to keep your financial advisor, stock broker or money manager honest

Top 5 ways to keep your financial advisor, stock broker or money manager honest originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 04 Aug 2008 15:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading ETFs every investor should know

ETFs every investor should know originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 26 Mar 2008 11:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

As of Monday's close, the S&P 500 SPDR exchange-traded fund (AMEX: SPY) was down 12.25% for the year, buffeted by continuing turbulence in global credit markets and concerns over future growth prospects.

However, the relative performance of the major sector ETFs paints a far more confusing picture.

On the one hand, strength in materials and industrial shares, and weakness in the traditionally defensive health care sector, suggests that investors are not too worried about the outlook.

In contrast, strength in the consumer staples sector and weakness in technology shares indicates they are, in fact, concerned about what will happen to the economy.

So what does it all mean?

Continue reading Tread carefully when reading the market's tea leaves

Tread carefully when reading the market's tea leaves originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 19 Mar 2008 10:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading New ETFs focused on revenues

New ETFs focused on revenues originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 11 Mar 2008 11:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Look in the Heartland for value (HRSVX)

Look in the Heartland for value (HRSVX) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 25 Jan 2008 16:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.