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Politics : Idea Of The Day -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: IQBAL LATIF who wrote (29446)	10/22/1999 10:07:00 AM
From: Jerry Olson	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50167

I am cautious too Ike...don't think were out of the woods just yet.... in fact i still have all my put plays, and will hold for the final?? test of the lows coming..soon... watching everything like a hawk...<g>

To: IQBAL LATIF who wrote (29446)	10/22/1999 8:26:00 PM
From: the options strategist	Respond to of 50167

From Schaeffer's Investment Research- The total short interest of an equity represents the total number of shares that have been shorted (borrowed and sold) by investors and not closed out at the time of reporting. These shorted shares that must be repurchased, or covered, at some future date. The larger the total short interest, the more potential buying power that is sitting on the sidelines. In the event that the share's price starts to appreciate very rapidly, traders may be forced to cover their short positions because of margin requirements or to prevent losses from getting out of control. In turn, this creates more upward price pressure, which forces even more short positions to be covered. This phenomenon is called a short-covering rally and will sometimes happen to stocks with a large amount of short interest. The current short interest for Standard and Poor's Depositary Reciepts (SPY - 129.00), a security that allows investor to go long or short the S&P 500 Index (SPX - 1283.61), has reached approximately 29,000,000 contracts from 21,000,000 contracts last month. This means that investors have reached a pinnacle of pessimism for the outlook of the SPX. This record level of short interest is the highest seen since October 1998, which is just before the market began to rally. This combination of investor pessimism and potential for a short-covering rally are healthy signs for the market. jj