Stocks and Trading Thread - Channeling your inner Mono

[Admiral Yi]

Big drop in the market today. S&P is down 2%.

[mongers]

I should CoCo. 

[DGuller]

Tapering is priced-in. Everyone already expects it.


Yesterday's little drama was the result of tradebots parsing her words and trading off of it combined with her accidentally making a mis-statement while answering a question. The result is a mini-flashcrash. Dudes clicking buttons can't drop the market that much that fast.

This is why Benny was so crazy precise with his wording, but mini versions of this happened to him a few times too.

Anyway, we got it all back.

If I were a Federal Reserve chairman, I would deliberately fuck with all those Twitter-parsing bots.

[Phillip V]

Big drop in the market today. S&P is down 2%.

AGNC rose today, so I sold some.
SDRL dropped today, so I bought some.

[MadImmortalMan]

Stuff I have:

MSFT: up 7%

CLB: up 7%

LO: up 13%

Calls sold every month on those pulling down some free money.

PM put: down 50%

Short PM put (offset for time premium): up 40%

So I've made way more money on the LO buy than (I lost on) the PM put. They've essentially traded together and it's acting as a hedged position. I've noticed that happens a lot now that people have been using ETFs more and more. Things trade together with their sectors more than they ever did before. So my ecig theory was right but my idea that it would hurt PM was not. So far, anyway. Can't win 'em all.

Covered call strategy has been working well recently with the market going sideways.

[Phillip V]

I am hoping for a short-term pull-back in AGNC and SDRL before their June ex-dividend dates.

[MadImmortalMan]

I am hoping for a short-term pull-back in AGNC and SDRL before their June ex-dividend dates.

Well the market just bounced off the all-time highs again without quite getting there. The last four times that's happened have been great shorting opportunities, so you might get your buying opportunity in roughly a couple weeks if it holds the pattern.

Of course now that I've said that, it'll finally break through and hit a runner in the morning. 

[Admiral Yi]

I think AGNC is a countercyclical play.  If the economy does well, it increases the likelihood of Fed rate hikes, which fuck up AGNC's play.

[MadImmortalMan]

I think AGNC is a countercyclical play.  If the economy does well, it increases the likelihood of Fed rate hikes, which fuck up AGNC's play.

Yeah rate hikes would mess their valuation. I think the traders are trading on expectations there by undervaluing it. Future value reflected today, if you will.

Those guys have done a good job of getting short-term with their bonds though. I doubt they'll be wrecked by rate hikes too much.

[Phillip V]

I think AGNC is a countercyclical play.  If the economy does well, it increases the likelihood of Fed rate hikes, which fuck up AGNC's play.

That's the bet. I believe we will see low interest rates until at least late 2015.

The company is doing well now because bond yields have decreased from last year against expectations.

[Phillip V]

U.S. Economic Growth Slows To a Crawl in First Quarter

The first read of first-quarter gross domestic product, released this morning, showed growth of just 0.1%, well below expectations of a 1.2% increase and fourth-quarter growth of 2.6%.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304178104579533412969885426.html

[Alcibiades]

@ MIM


BKCC At $8.55

https://www.google.com/finance?q=NASDAQ:BKCC&ei=q19iU6iqM6SsiQK1Kw


Down 50 cents today after they lowered dividends to .21   

[Tamas]

I have modest reserves, some of which (think a few thousand pounds for now) I think I should invest for the long term via a UK ISA account.

I am thinking putting it into a fund, then as more accumulates I would either add those there or "diversify" with other funds or ETFs.

But with all the major stuff going on in my life, I have really lost track of stock market and economical happenings. Which sectors would make sense to invest in?

[Admiral Yi]

I've been pushing dividend stocks.

[Tamas]

Something like this looks nice:
https://funds.barclaysstockbrokers.co.uk/clients/barclaysstockbrokers/search_factsheet_summary.aspx?code=B2PLJJ3&profile=0&header=N&deal=N&pop=Y

I might be just eating the government propaganda but the UK seems to be on a decent enough track.