Thursday, March 22, 2012

NEM – Newmont Mining (Last:53.55)

– Posted in: Current Touts Rick's Picks

Judging from the way Newmont plummeted through the 'p' support of the bearish pattern shown, more weakness to at least 51.21, its 'D' sibling, appears likely. This could represent an opportunity for us in the form of a potentially low-risk entry point for a long-term position.  Accordingly, if and when Newmont  gets within 7 cents of the target, look to buy four June 52.5 calls for the best price possible. _______ UPDATE:  Newmont is in rally mode right now, so we'll set the trade aside for the time being.

More Navel-Gazing

– Posted in: Free Rick's Picks

A day of navel-gazing on Wall Street brought no changes in my immediate outlook for bullion and index futures.  Shortly before 11 p.m. EDT, those who control the markets were threatening more of the same. Unless the initial jobless claims report produces a surprise, it could be another yawner.

ESM12 – June E-Mini S&P (Last:1399.50)

– Posted in: Current Touts Rick's Picks

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz. We're still fixing to short 1412.75 via camouflage, assuming the futures ever get there.  As noted here earlier, traders should start looking for a tradable downturn if and when the futures touch 1410.50, and to initiate the trade on the first downtrending ‘X’ that meets our established criteria. If there’s an obvious fill (and corroboration thereof in the chat room), I’ll establish a tracking position for your further guidance.

An Antidote for Wall Street’s Churlish Tedium

– Posted in: Commentary for the Week of March 8 Free

[Spring has sprung, the daffodils are blooming even here in Boulder, and meteorologists are saying that Punxsutawney Phil may have erred last month when he saw his shadow. If you’ve failed to notice all of this because the churlish tedium of Wall Street has occupied your days, then perhaps it’s time for a getaway. Consider the benefits thereof, described below. I have previously run this excerpt from Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain because it holds an epiphany concerning the way in which we experience, and later recall, the passage of time.  My very favorite selection from one of Western Civilization's greatest novels,  it can be found in the “Excursus on the Sense of Time” chapter. The translation is by H.T. Lowe-Porter. RA] “There is, after all, something peculiar about the process of habituating oneself in a new place, the often laborious fitting in and getting used, which one undertakes for its own sake, and of set purpose to break it all off as soon as it is complete, or not long thereafter, and to return to one's former state. It is an interval, an interlude, inserted, with the object of recreation, into the tenor of life's main concerns; its purpose the relief of the organism, which is perpetually busy at its task of self-renewal, and which was in danger, almost in process, of being vitiated, slowed down, relaxed by the bald monotony of its daily course. But what then is the cause of this relaxation, this slowing-down that takes place when one does the same thing for too long at a time? It is not so much physical or mental fatigue or exhaustion, for if that were the case, then complete rest would be the best restorative.  It is rather something psychical; it means that the perception of time tends,