Friday, December 21, 2012

ESH13 – March E-Mini S&P (Last:1420.25)

– Posted in: Current Touts Free Rick's Picks

Assuming the 1391.25 low is a valid print, tonight's shakedown ranks as one of the more brazen in the sordid annals of U.S. markets. Notice, however, that the scumbuckets who orchestrated this crime used a 1390.50 low from a couple of weeks ago to apply the brakes.  Because the dive stopped three ticks shy of that low, it failed to achieve the status of bearish impulsive leg on the daily chart. This distinction could prove to be academic if Congress actually pushes our already doomed economy over the cliff.  For now, though, we'll assume that lower lows are most unlikely in the weeks ahead unless the proposed tax increases and spending cuts are allowed by Congressional inaction to hit full-force. That would be a far cry from the kick-the-can outcome we've been expecting, but perhaps we should not have underestimated Obama's radical zeal for deliberately creating the kind of crisis that only Big Government can "solve".  Click here to sample Rick's Picks, the chat room, daily trading 'touts' and impromptu online trading sessions for free.

DaBoyz Celebrate Mayan Doomsday

– Posted in: Free Rick's Picks

In after-hours trading Thursday night, S&P Index futures have plummeted the equivalent of 400 Dow points on news that Republicans canceled a vote on Plan B.  This shakeout is so pathetically stupid and sick -- not to mention criminally opportunistic -- that we'll do best to ignore it.  If the low print in the E-Mini at 1391.25 is to be believed, the scumballs who pulled the plug have already recouped half of the decline with a whoopee-cushion bounce to 1423.50. Since all things connected to fiscal-cliff posturing and politicking have zero consequences for the real world, we might infer that DaBoyz have put a floor below the market with the creation of a low so horrific as to discount, not merely the fiscal cliff, but Mayan doomsday.

GCG13 – February Gold (Last:1649.10)

– Posted in: Current Touts Rick's Picks

A so-far $13 bounce has turned the February contract higher from 1636.00, but the 1631.80 downside target given here earlier still looks too compelling to avoid. Under the circumstances, we should expect the futures to relapse down to that Hidden Pivot today or Monday. The good news is that the support can be bottom-fished via camouflage or with a straight bid tied to a stop-loss as tight as six ticks.

Gun Control Isn’t the Answer

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

“The  only response to a child’s grave is to lie down before it and play dead.” – Bill Knott, poet. [This commentary has elicited more responses than anything previously published on the site. I'll leave it up over the weekend to accommodate final thoughts and summations. RA] The shooting rampage in Connecticut makes any other topic seem trivial at the moment. When America gets back to business on Monday it will be with a heavy heart and the bewildering feeling that we are powerless to do anything about such violence, now or in the future. Those who advocate gun control undoubtedly believe their cause is just.  But they might as well be talking about banning automobiles to save what remains of the world’s coral reefs and glaciers. For even if it could be done, and even if carbon emissions were the undisputed cause of the problem, it is already too late.  Better to adapt than to tilt at windmills.  To suggest that gun control is the cure for rampages like the one that occurred on Friday is to avoid confronting the real problem: civilization itself is mentally ill. And for that, there are no easy cures -- certainly not outlawing certain types of weapons. Could it get any worse than the mass murder of twenty first-graders?  Unfortunately, and tragically for humanity, it conceivably could. We shudder to imagine what horrific event will eventually overshadow the unspeakable carnage that took place at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Twenty children, none older than seven, were murdered where they sat, each shot repeatedly by a high-powered rifle. Six adults were slain by that weapon as well, some of them in the heroic act of shielding the children. Arm All Adults Better that all of the adults should have been packing heat. Many of you,