Hi heenalu,
Sorry, for the delay but I was gone all day at a conference. Part of the reason I got flat on Friday, as I knew I wouldn't be around to keep an eye on things, and I didn't like the way the positions were looking. Reviewing things this evening, I'm glad I did. I did leave some buy orders in place with mostly outrageous prices. None of the wild ones filled, however I did get a first serving of a trading position in STEM again at 4.1. The Bush promise of a decision before Congress returns in Sep plus the chart on Fri convinced me to nibble, even if gone. Orders for ASTM and lower buy for STEM didn't fill. Ditto for short on NVLS at 54 and KLAC at 60. Didn't really expect them to fill but if they did, I thought they'd be safe.
If you entered HLIT > 16 you should be OK. If it takes out 15 tomorrow, then watch the 13 =/- .12 area for support. I had planned to go long a couple times in July, but missed it. Over the weekend I decided a short @16.75 would be safe, even tho I wouldn't be around to watch today, however again my order was too far from the market. I had expected a bit of a pop up in the AM and then a sell off all day - oh well. If I'd been here, I'd have joined you. Another one to look at is XICO - getting shares to short may be an issue, however, I've had trouble before. In general, my experience is not good getting shorts on stocks that trade <250K, and I generally avoid them. Ditto stocks at 10 or less.
I can't give you much encouragement for EPNY. The 34 day Bollinger bands are starting to squeeze, but otherwise it looks like a basing pattern. For the past 5 weeks the volume has been steadily dropping, the MAs drift lower and nothing else is signaling a move up. On a weekly chart it looks like it could be completing its bottom, but could also break lower. If we got a good market rally based on the belief that the economy is recovering, it could start back up and work on the overhead between here and 10. If we get another downdraft (which I think likely) then you may revisit the April lows.
I'm thinning things out now in anticipation of leaving this next weekend for vacation. Don't feel comfortable leaving much in the market that I don't own from well below here, though I'll probably leave some buy orders in at "bargain basement" prices, just in case things go south while I'm gone.
Please leave something out for the Menehune from me; I recall visiting Kauai'i as a child and loving it - had to go by inter-island boat. My family lived in Honolulu in the late 40s and early 50s - a wonderful time before tourists as there were only a couple prop flights a week from the mainland. Our house was on the Waikiki side of Diamond Head and you could look all the way to Pearl Harbor without seeing a building taller than 3 stories. Mahalo, for reviving those memories.
Peace and Justice --- Patrick |
