Sold CSH and AMT

Well Traders, normally you let your winners run, but this run up to the election had me concerned. If the election goes to the Dems, the market will probably take a good sized hit. So, with that in mind, I closed out of CSH and AMT for some nice profits...in only a few days.

I'll wait out today and see what tomorrow brings to the markets, then be ready to go with either stocks or Puts.

Happy Trading!

Out of CROX and BLUD

Well gang, I got out of CROX for a nice profit on Friday. It was precarious at times because after blowout, and I mean BLOW-OUT earnings, the stock was actually down after-hours on Thursday. That concerned me because I have seen stocks crush street estimates and have HUGE gap-ups on the news (see ERTS), but to see CROX beat the Street by so much and be down AH was cause for concern.

Once CROX rallied in the AM, I bailed. Let the hedge funds who are shorting naked fight it out. I made my money, I'm happy.

BLUD seems to have stalled, so I took my smaller profit and have begun to look elsewhere.

I am going to take a pause today and tomorrow until after the elections because then I will have a much clearer picture on what the market trend will be after the results. I believe if the GOP retains control (and I don't see that happening unless the Minnesota National Guard through John Kerry's blunder saves the election for them) will go up, whereas if the Dems take control of

Congress, the markets will head down because the Dems are noted for being unfriendly to business. They'll eliminate tax breaks, raise minimum wages, make health insurance a responsibility to small business. In short, the Dems will do things that will hurt the bottom line, and that is NOT good news for Wall Street.

I'll have some more trading ideas to share soon.

Happy Trading!

Patience is a virtue...

The first Rule I have when trading is "patience." It is imperative that you don't chase any plays, rather find some really good trending stocks, then lie and wait for the right time to pull the trigger. I have a stock today that may be worth lying in wait for: PCAR

Fundamentally, the stock is solid. It is trending up through a channel and it could find support right here and bounce, OR, continue down the channel to the bottom diagonal support and bounce there. We'll just have to wait and see what happens...but you may want to put this on your watch list.

I had a nice earnings EXPlosion on EXP...the stock gapped open on a better than expected earnings report and guidance, then fell with the market the rest of the day. you'll notice it came to rest right on the support line.

Remember to click on each image to enlarge it (you may have to click TWICE to get the clearest image...I don't know why but I noticed that on Firefox), then hit your "back" button to return to the blog. By the way, notice a difference in these charts from my previous ones? Well, these are the NEW charts available on INVESTools...I have access to the Beta version, but the new official toolbox should be launched very soon!

The rest of my plays I mentioned in previous posts took some hits today with the market, but mostly on light volume meaning it was a market hit, not necessarily a stock hit.

Tomorrow CROX posts earnings...stay tuned!

Happy Trading!