When opportunity knocks as loudly as it did yesterday, we should always check the peephole before opening the door. The opportunity I am alluding to is a stock market once again seemingly energetically on the rise. The Dow Industrials gained nearly a hundred points, and other broad indices rose along with it, making just about any stock that we might have been eager to short a day earlier an even juicier play now. There was eBay, for one. We've been itching to lay out shares near $30, having recently projected their eventual collapse to below $20. But if stock in the world's biggest flea market looked like a fetching short on Wednesday, take a gander at the succulent little temptress it has become now! eBay opened on a gap of almost $3, drew a few shallow breaths and then took off again, ending the day almost $4 above the previous day's close. (Click on chart to enlarge) And let's not overlook Citi, another feisty stock that I have all but promised you will eventually trade for less than $10 a share. A few more days like yesterday and the banking giant's shares will be on the new highs list, trading above $50 and beckoning pessimists with the pungency of carrion baking on a rock in Buzzard Canyon. It is at times like this that we want to be extra careful about what we wish for. Granted, there are probably a dozen good reasons to believe one could not possibly go wrong wagering that the stock market is about to plummet. But we strain to recall an instance in which a genuine opportunity arrived in such a tempting package. While this one could be the real thing, it could also turn out to be a nasty surprise from the Unabomber. Although
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