Did Somebody Say "Buy the Dip"?

The Dow gapped down around 80 points on the open and traded lower for the morning until President Obama presented his speech to Wall Street on financial reform. Buyers stepped in after the speech rallying the market for the rest of the day closing in positive territory. Obama's most poignant moment came with his quoting an article from Time Magazine:

Through the great banking houses of Manhattan last week ran wild-eyed alarm. Big bankers stared at one another in anger and astonishment. A bill just passed by both houses of Congress would rivet upon their institutions what they considered a monstrous system of guaranteeing bank deposits. Such a system, they felt, would not only rob them of their pride of profession but would reduce all U. S. banking to its lowest level. They saw their deposits which they had spent a lifetime to build up and protect with their good names confiscated by the Government to pay for the mistakes and dishonesty of every smalltown bankster.

This article referred to the creation of the FDIC in 1933, typically seen as one of the most successful evolutions in the financial system.

Amazon (AMZN) and Microsoft (MSFT) reported after the bell and were both trading lower after hours. We'll see how the market reacts to them tomorrow.

My highlight of the day was watching Obama's helicopters fly over my building and out across the New York Bay. That was pretty cool. My plan this morning was to buy FAS and GS at the bottom of their ranges thinking it is unlikely that they significantly break lower without more consolidation. Yet, foolishly, I decided to buy them early on and get stopped out just before Obama's speech. Subsequently, they both rallied for the rest of the day. Oops. It's always tough to hold stocks into unknown catalysts like a speech with an unknown reaction.

Nike (NKE) finally gave me some extension today putting me nicely in the money. I took a little bit of the trade off into the strength but will hold over half. I will also consider adding on a pull-in. NKE is very tough to time correctly though so we'll see how it goes. What's with the weakness in JP Morgan (JPM)? Perhaps the Volcker Rule is affecting GS and JPM because of their large hedge funds.

Apple (AAPL) on a tear today launching through $260 and closing at $266.47. AAPL is now a $241 billion company. Wow!

Bought an initial position in GLD again. Let's see how it acts in the next couple days, just testing the waters after a few months out of the shiny metal.

Yuna Kim Wins Gold! Oh Yeah, Market Rebounded

A nice afternoon rally yesterday in the market took back 2/3rds of the days losses to end down a mere 53 points after being down almost 190 midday. A rumor hit the trading desks that Apple had plans to enact a 4-for-1 stocks split and shares, and the Nasdaq, exploded higher. Even after rumors were debunked, investors began discussing what Apple can potentially do with its $40 billion cash position. Jobs dismissed the idea of a dividend or stock buybacks and hinted at the possibility of aggressive acquisitions. This idea even further excited investors who trust Jobs' ability to see value and take the company in the right direction. Apple, trading down about 2% early yesterday, ended up 1.3%. We see follow-through today in AAPL shares trading up another $2 off the open.

Yuna Kim won the gold medal in Olympic figure skating! Damn, that girl is incredible and truly the pride of South Korea. A few nights ago she shattered her old short program record to set a new world record of 78.5. Then, last night in the free skate Yuna did the unthinkable demolishing her own previous world record scoring the highest ever total of 150.06. Pundits believe this record could last decades. Her closest competitor and the silver winner, Mao Asada, scored 131.72. I'm not that big on figure skating really but having a Korean girlfriend helps. I'm just impressed with excellence in any field or sport, she is well worth watching along with the short program, too.

Obama's ol' health care summit does not appear to accomplishing much. From what I watched, it seemed like democrats presenting the crucial pieces of legislation they want in a bill and republicans telling Obama they need to scrap the current 2,400-page bill. Republicans are just not going to be non-political having stacked up copies of the bill on their desks for show and saying that it is 2,400 pages about 7,000 times. I generally don't support the bill either and it does not seem republicans are going to cooperate much. I think Obama largely lost his chance to garner bipartisanship when he let Congress loose to form its own bill.

The GDP reading were revised up slightly to 5.9% from 5.7%. But, who really cares about that? The unknown is how the economy handles reductions in fiscal spending and a tightening monetary policy.

Market Recovers From Bernanke Reaction, Close Down Slightly

Another see-saw day ends slightly lower with the Dow losing 20 points (0.2%). Ben Bernanke's written testimony was presented today outlining a moderate exit plan from the extraordinary stimulus actions taken throughout 2008. While stocks initially sold off falling to 96 points on the downside, they recovered throughout the day.

I was quoted in the International Business Finance newspaper today!

We're still waiting on Europe's plan for Greece. Germany and France are leading talks currently demanding that Greece reduce its budget deficit which stands as the largest in the Eurozone. The problem with distinct economies using the same currency is that individual countries lose the power of monetary policy. So, Greece has been forced to rely solely on fiscal policy for government intervention in times of economic hardship.

Obama doesn't `begrudge' Blankfein and Dimon's bonuses. So much for all that "fat cat bankers" talk!

The snow is really coming down now! At least a foot now.