Monday, April 1, 2013

It's early Sunday evening and the markets have oozed back into motion after a three-day weekend.  With higher targets outstanding in some key vehicles that we track, our trading bias will be bullish as the new week begins.  Night owls looking for 'camouflage' entry opportunities in index futures should focus on the 5-minute charts.

Facebook took a spectacular bounce (see inset) last week from within a penny of our longstanding target at 24.71.  Based on actual fills reported by subscribers and some partial profit-taking at 25.13, I had been tracking 200 shares with a cost basis of 24.93.  Since I subsequently advised stopping the position out if the stock created a bearish impulse leg on the 10-minute chart, exit on Friday would have come at 25.68, yielding a theoretical gain of $190. Since the target was prospectively a major one, my gut instinct would have been to stick with the position down to the break-even point. However, by exiting according to a pre-determined, mechanical rule, we put discipline ahead of "feelings."  I still like the stock and may recommend re-entering when it settles down some.

A degree in journalism is the worst college investment you can make, according to Salary.com.  Fresh out of college, your kid could expect to earn $37,393 working as a reporter. That would add up to a measly $2.2 million over a 30-year career, for a return on one’s college dollar of about 17%. Even social workers, pastors and dieticians do better than that. At newsroom pay, it might take one 50 years to sock away enough for retirement. Of course, that’s assuming one keels over dead at 82, before one’s savings have been depleted. Death would have to come even earlier to leave enough for a decent funeral. Actually, starting pay of $37,393 sounds pretty good to me, since my first job, working on the rewrite desk of the Atlantic City Press, paid $120 a week. That was in 1971, and I was living like a king, even though I owned a vintage BMW whose maintenance costs consumed about half of my discretionary income.  The apartment I shared was $225 a month and offered spectacular views of New Jersey’s marshlands and sunsets on the bay. I and my 20-Something cohort partied till dawn every night after the morning edition had been “put to bed.”  Gotham was just two hours north on the Garden State Parkway, and a big night on the town might have included a Broadway show, drinks at Sherry Netherland’s, and a limo ride to Lutece. Years later, after I became a family man, my big night on the town was Tuesday night.  That’s the night when kids ate free at Lyon’s. Appetite for News Undiminished My fellow reporters at the Atlantic City Press were the brightest and most talented bunch I’ve ever worked with.  Two of them, Joe Donohue and Tom Turcol, went on to win Pulitzers.