Protege, I too, have been looking at the brokerage firms to short. At the hospital where I work, one of the anesthesiologist's sons is a broker for Merrill Lynch. This guy was telling me his son was asking to borrow money back in early December because the market was so bad, none of his big customers were buying and none wanted to sell either. I was dumbfounded when they all came out with "great numbers" first part of Jan. and their stock prices shot up. Looking back, I see MER was under distrib. since the first part of Dec. and the "numbers" thing was probably a screen... as usual. When things don't seem to make sense, something ain't right! MER is just about at its resist. of 55, but other indicators show it just may break through this to downside. I looked at your GS call and that, too, looks weak and probably heading towards 87, then 82. Much support there, though.
I used to be very active trading with Schwab and I don't know if you heard about all the flack with them forcing some employees to work part-time to decrease their costs... pretty funny, though, cuz they've been courting me lately with telephone calls trying to get me back. Hmmm. Times is tough, all round. I'm like most of these guys and going mostly to cash nitely and haven't had a losing day now in a while and sleep much better.
I am still seeing a bit more selling ahead, but agree with Greenlaw that there's probably now more money betting on the upside. My ss list is still the heavy weight though and am trying to pick and choose the weakest of the heard to attack, even if it's just for a point or two. Retailers are still in line to get hurt: KSS, BEBE, RBK are the ones I have starred now for a fall. My OXHP call, too, still has a bit farther to fall.
Good luck with the week ahead.
D |
