Quiet Days

The market was down across all three indexes. I ended up doing little in the way of trading. I tried to sell over fifteen contracts but only sold six - bought back two contracts and sold four. I could have closed more but today was a bit of a wait and see day. The market is still very high and since Bitcoin topped $100,000 today it feels a little more speculative than I am comfortable with. Plus tomorrow morning at 8:30 the jobs number will come out - economic news like this could shake the market.

The Fed is expected to cut interest rates later this month. If the jobs number is strong it may decide to hold off. Reducing interest rates in a strong economy may lead to overheating. This is not considered a good thing as overheating can lead to more inflation, asset bubbles (Bitcoin?), labor shortages, and unsustainable growth. It usually ends in sharp market corrections and recessions. But not doing what the market is expecting, the Fed risks upsetting the market and that may lead to a market drop.

It is likely the number will be slightly off consensus, but given that last month’s figures were apparently impacted by the hurricanes in Florida and the Carolinas, this months could be off as well. So today it was all about wait and see.

I am cautious and will trade more tomorrow. I did not waste the day as I spent time looking for new companies to potentially invest in or trade options on. I listened to traders on CNBC and ready some articles and came up with the following list: JCI, FERG, NET, MAR,KMB,DAL, NTRA, EQIX, RCL, VISA, META, WMB and KMI. Tomorrow I will look at all of them more closely, checking for interest (how frequently they are getting mentioned), momentum (driven by interest), volume of trades and the premiums they command. I will let you know if any of them make my list of good investments or option trades. (3.3)