Why Worry Wednesday – Same Problems No Longer Bothering Markets

Nice and bouncy!

Check out our Big Chart.  Check our our bounce levels, which I posted on Monday and still are: 

• Dow 12,720 weak, 12,950 strong. 
• S&P 1,375 weak, 1,400 strong.  
• Nasdaq 2,900 weak, 3,000 strong. 
• NYSE 8,000 weak, 8,100 strong.
• Russell 790 weak, 805 strong. 

Just two days later we're right in the zone and – most importantly, our weak bounce lines held on yesterday's dip – that's a very good sign.  

The best thing about re-establishing trading ranges is that it lets us take advantage of channel bets like yesterday's USO trade from the morning post, where we caught a nice 50% gain for the day and we took that money and ran as oil tested the $86 line – just $1 off our target without all that tedious waiting…  Of course the Futures bet on /CL was well-timed and a $3 move in the Futures pays $3,000 per contract so thanks to the oil crooks for being so predictable.  We got our cease-fire rumor in the Gaza and that was all it took to knock oil back 3% but it was a rumor only – which is why we quickly got out and now, maybe, we'll be able to do it all again on a new set-up (oil currently back at $87.50).  

Unfortunately, the HPQ Jan $12 puts we also talked about in the morning post only made it to $1.17 at the open but, as expected, they have already fallen back to .90 for a 23% gain on the day.  Trades like that simply follow PSW's Rule #1 (and there are only 2): "ALWAYS sell into the initial excitement."  Our job is to sell premium – so…