Month: February 2016

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Weekend Update – February 28, 2016

It is really amazing that as big as the United States’ economy is, everything may now simply be part of a very delicate balancing act.

“Momentum” is a simple concept in classical mechanics and is generally expressed as the product of the mass of an object and its velocity.

The term “momentum” is often used when describing stocks, but many described as having momentum can be easily pushed off their track.

Another simple concept and part of classical physics, is that of “inertia.” Inertia is the resistance of any physical object to any change in its state of motion.

When a “momentum stock” has a relatively low market capitalization it isn’t too hard for resistance to match and overcome that momentum.

Greed and fear may play roles, too, in such cases, but those aren’t terms that Isaac Newton used very often.

The US economy may often move at what seems like a glacial speed, but its easy to overlook how difficult it is to alter its path due to its huge size.

That’s what makes the job of the FOMC so difficult. 

Outcomes resulting from their actions may take a long, long time to become obvious. Sometimes the FOMC acts to increase momentum and sometimes they have to act to increase resistance.

Stock market investors prefer the former, but history suggests that the early stages of the latter may be a great time for optimism.

While both momentum and inertia may be simple concepts, when considered together that’s not so much the case. Fortunately for the FOMC, the “Irresistible Force Paradox” suggests that there can be no such thing as an unstoppable object or an irresistible force.

Something has to give over the course of time.

While I’m no apologist for the George Bush presidency, the seeds for the beginning of an improvement in the economy often cited as beginning in about February 2009 could only have been sown much earlier. Similarly the economic stress in early 2001 could only have had its roots quite a bit earlier. However, our minds make temporal associations and credit or blame is often laid at the feet of the one lucky or unlucky enough to be in charge at the time something becomes obvious.

We’re now facing two delicate balances.

The first is the one continually faced by the FOMC, but that has been on most everyone’s mind ever since Janet Yellen became Chairman of the Federal Reserve.

The balance between managing inflation and not stifling economic growth has certainly been on the minds of investors. Cursed by that habit of making temporal associations, the small interest rate hike at the end of 2015, which was feared by many, could be pointed to as having set the stage for the market’s 2016 correction.

That leaves the FOMC to ponder its next step. 

While stressing that its decisions are “data driven” they can’t be completely dismissive of events around them, just as they briefly made mention of some global economic instability a few months ago, widely believed to have been related to China.

This past week’s GDP sent mixed messages regarding the critical role of the consumer, even as the previous week showed an increase in the Consumer Price Index. Whether rising health care costs or rising rents, which were at the core of the Consumer Price Index increase could hardly be interpreted as representing consumer participation, the thought that comes to mind is that if you’re a hammer everything looks like a nail.

The FOMC has to balance the data and its meaning with whatever biases each voting member may have. At the same time investors have to balance their fear of rising rates with the realization that could be reflecting an economy poised to grow and perhaps to do so in an orderly way.

But there’s another delicate balance at hand.

While we’ve all been watching how oil prices have whipsawed the stock market, there’s been the disconnect between lower oil prices borne out of excess supply and stock market health.

For those pleased to see energy prices moving higher because the market has gone in the same direction, there has to be a realization that there will be a point that what is perceived as good news will finally be recognized as being something else.

It’s hard to imagine that a continuing rise in oil will continue to be received as something positive by investors. Hopefully, though, that realization will be slow in coming. Otherwise, we face having had the worst of all worlds. Stocks declining as oil declined and then stocks declining as oil moves higher.

Now that JP Morgan Chase (JPM) has let everyone know just how on the hook it may be on its oil loan portfolio, it’s becoming more and more clear why the market is following in the same direction as oil has gone.

If the price of oil goes too low there may be drains on the banking system if there are defaults on those loans. We could again be hearing the phrase “too big to fail,” although this time instead of over-leveraged individuals losing their homes, all of the beneficiaries from the US oil boom could be at risk.

Of course, if oil goes too high and does so without being fundamentally driven, it can put a damper on a consumer driven economy that isn’t looking very robust to start.

We’re just 3 weeks away from the next FOMC Statement release and Chairman Yellen’s press conference may tip some balances. For much of the past two weeks the stock market has been celebrating higher oil and data suggesting no immediately forthcoming interest rate increase.

Of course, the FOMC may have its own irresistible force at play, perhaps explaining the earlier interest rate hike which didn’t seem to be supported by economic data. That force may be. a pre-determined intention to see rates rise

The market is of the belief that oil price momentum higher won’t meet its match in the negating force of increased interest rates, but one person may hold the balance in her hands.

As usual, the week’s potential stock selections are classified as being in the Traditional, Double Dip Dividend, Momentum or “PEE” categories.

Speaking of momentum and being easily thrown of track, Cypress Semiconductor (CY) comes to mind.

It trades at a high beta and is prone to volatile moves in either direction. It’s most recent direction has been lower, after having spiked sharply higher on news of its proposed buyout of another company.

When they were stranded at the alter by another suitor shares started a sharp descent from which it may finally be ready to emerge.

With a market capitalization of less than $3 billion it was easily knocked off track, but could just as easily get back on.

With an ex-dividend date in the April 2016 option cycle and with earnings in the May 2016 option cycle, I’m likely to add shares this coming week and will probably sell the April 2016 options while doing so.

I do have some concern about the company being able to continue its dividend, but IU don’t imagine that most who are invested in Cypress Semiconductor are doing it for the dividend, so I don’t believe that would represent significant downside pressure.

While February’s nice turnaround has left the S&P 500 significantly less in the hole for 2016. the financial sector has been continuing to have a difficult time as expectations for rising interest rates have proved premature.

American International Group (AIG) is near a 52 week low, but it hasn’t been the worst of that group even as it approaches a 20% correction for 2016.

What the downward pressure in the financial sector has brought has been enhanced option premiums. With a now respectable dividend as part of the equation and an ex-dividend the following week, I would consider selling something other than a weekly option

Abercrombie and Fitch (ANF) is on a roll of late and has earnings announced this week. It has a habit of being explosive when it does announce earnings and also has a habit of quickly giving back gains from news perceived as being positive. However, it has not given back the gains since its gap higher in November 2015.

What may make consideration of Abercrombie interesting this week is that it is also ex-dividend on the same day as earnings are announced.

While I normally consider the sale of puts before or after earnings, the combination of earnings, an ex-dividend date and a 13.3% implied price move has me thinking a bit differently.

I’m thinking of buying shares and then selling deep in the money calls.

Based on Friday’s closing price of $28.50, the sale of a weekly $25 strike call option at a premium of $4 would result in an ROI of 1.8% if assigned early in order to capture the dividend.

Since the ex-dividend date is March 2nd, that early assignment would have to come on Tuesday, March 1st and would preclude earnings exposure.

If, however, early assignment does not occur, the potential ROI for a full week of holding could be 2.5%, but with earnings risk. The $25 strike price is within the lower boundary implied by the option market, so one has to be prepared for a price move that may require further action.

Weyerhauser (WY) is also ex-dividend this week and its 2016 YTD loss is nearly 15%. The consensus among analysts, who are so often very late to react to good or bad news, are solidly bullish on shares at these levels.

With its merger with Plum Creek Timber now complete, many expect significant cost savings and operational synergies. 

It’s dividend isn’t quite as high and its payout ratio is almost half that of Cypress Semiconductor, but still far too high to be sustained. REIT or no REIT, paying out more than 100% of your earnings may feel good for a while if you’re on the receiving end, but is only a formula for Ponzi schemers of “The Producers.”

For now, that doesn’t concern me, but with an eye toward the upcoming ex-dividend date, which is on a Friday, I would consider selling an extended weekly option and then wouldn’t mind terribly if the options were exercised early.

Finally, I’m not one to be very interested in getting in on a stock following a climb higher, nor am I one to spend too much time reading charts.

But Coach (COH) which is ex-dividend this week gives me some reason to be interested.

A one-time favorite of mine either right before an ex-dividend date or following a large earnings related price decline, I’ve been holding onto an uncovered lot of shares for quite some time. Only the dividend has made it tolerable.

Ordinarily, I wouldn’t be terribly interested in considering adding shares of Coach following a 16% climb in the past month. However, shares are now making their second run at resistance and there is an 11% gap higher if it can successfully test that resistance.

It has been a prolonged drought for Coach as it was completely made irrelevant by Kors (KORS) for quite some time. During that time Kors had momentum and was also perceived as the force to stop Coach.

Time and tastes can change lots of things. That’s another delicate balance and for now, the balance seems to be back on the side of Coach.

Traditional Stocks: American International Group

Momentum Stocks: Cypress Semiconductor

Double-Dip Dividend: Coach (3/2 $0.34), Weyerhauser (3/4 $0.31)

Premiums Enhanced by Earnings: Abercrombie and Fitch (3/2 AM)

Remember, these are just guidelines for the coming week. The above selections may become actionable — most often coupling a share purchase with call option sales or the sale of covered put contracts — in adjustment to and consideration of market movements. The overriding objective is to create a healthy income stream for the week, with reduction of trading risk.

Visits: 12

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Weekend Update – February 21, 2016

 If you can remember as far back at the 1970s and even the early part of the 1980s, it still has to be hard to understand how we could possibly live in a world where we would want to see inflation.

It’s hard to think that what we thought was bad could actually sometimes be good medicine.

But when you start thinking about the “lost decades” in Japan, it becomes clear that there may be a downside to a very prolonged period of low interest rates.

Sometimes you just have to swallow a bitter pill.

And then, of course, we’re all trying to wrap our minds around the concept of negative interest rates. What a great deal when bank depositors not only get to fund bank profits by providing the capital that can be loaned out at a higher rate of interest than is being received on those deposits, but then also get to pay banks for allowing them to lend out their money.

For savers, that could mean even more bad medicine in order to make the economy more healthy, by theoretically creating more incentive for banks to increase their lending activity.

From a saver’s perspective one dose of bad medicine could have you faced with negative interest rates in the hope that it spurs the kind of economic growth that will lead to inflation, which always outpaces the interest rates received on savings.

That is one big bitter pill.

While the Federal Reserve has had a goal of raising interest rates to what would still be a very reasonable level, given historical standards, the stock market hasn’t been entirely receptive to that notion. The belief that ultra-low interest rates have helped to spur stock investing, particularly as an alternative to fixed income securities makes it hard to accept that higher interest rates might be good for the economy, especially if your personal economy is entirely wrapped up in the health of your stocks.

In reality, it’s a good economy that typically dictates a rise in interest rates and not the other way around.

That may be what has led to some consternation as the recent increase in interest rates hasn’t appeared to actually be tied to overt economic growth, despite the repeated claims that the FOMC’s decisions would be data driven.

Oil continued to play an important role in stock prices last week and was a good example of how actions can sometimes precede rational thought, as oil prices surged on the news of an OPEC agreement to reduce production. The fact that neither Iran nor Venezuela agreed to that reduction should have been a red flag arguing against the price increase, but eventually rational thought caught up with thought free reflexes.

While oil continued to play an important role in stock prices, there may have been more to account for the recovery that has now seen February almost completely wipe out it’s  2016 DJIA loss of  5.6%.

What may have also helped is the belief, some of which came from the FOMC minutes, that the strategy that many thought would call for small, but regular interest rate increases through 2016 may have become less likely.

The stock market looked at any reason for an increase in interest rates as being bad medicine. So it may not have been too surprising that the 795 point three day rise in the DJIA came to an abrupt stop with Fridays release of the Consumer Price Index (“CPI”) which may provide the FOMC with the data to justify another interest rate increase.

Bad medicine, for sure to stock investors.

But the news contained within the CPI may be an extra dose of bad medicine, as the increase in the CPI came predominantly from increases in rents and healthcare costs.

How exactly do either of those reflect an economy chugging forward?

That may be on the mind of markets as the coming week awaits, but it may be the kind of second thought that can get the market back on track to continue moving higher, similar to the second thoughts that restored some rational action in oil markets last week.

You might believe that a rational FOMC wouldn’t increase interest rates based upon rents and healthcare costs if there is scant other data suggesting a heating up of the economy, particularly the consumer driven portion of the economy.

While rents may have some consumer driven portion, it’s hard to say the same about healthcare costs.

Ultimately, the rational thing to do is to take your medicine, but only if you’re sick and it’s the right medicine.

If the economy is sick, the right medicine doesn’t seem to be an increase in interest rates. But if the economy isn’t sick, maybe we just need to start thinking of increasing interest rates as the vitamins necessary to help our system operate more optimally.

Hold your nose or follow the song’s suggestion and take a spoonful of sugar, but sooner or later that medicine has to be taken and swallowed.

As usual, the week’s potential stock selections are classified as being in the Traditional, Double Dip Dividend, Momentum or “PEE” categories.

It’s not so easy to understand why General Motors (GM) is languishing so much these days.

As bad as the S&P 500 has been over the past 3 months, General Motors has been in bear territory, despite continuing good sales news.

What has been especially impressive about General Motors over the past few years is how under its new leadership its hasn’t succumbed or caved in as legal issues and potentially very damaging safety related stories were coming in a steady stream.

I already own some shares of General Motors, but as its ex-dividend date is approaching in the next few weeks, I’m considering adding shares, but rather than selling weekly options, would be more inclined to sell the monthly March 2016 option in an effort to pocket a more substantial premium, the generous dividend and perhaps some capital gains in those shares.

I wrote about Best Buy (BBY) last week and a potential strategy to employ as both earnings and its ex-dividend date were upcoming.

This week is the earnings event, but the ex-dividend date has yet to be announced.

The strategy, however, remains the same and still appears to have an opportunity to be employed.

With an implied move of 8% next week, there may be an opportunity to achieve a weekly 1% ROI by selling put options at a strike 10% below Friday’s closing price.

The risk is that Best Buy has had earnings related moves in the past that have surprised the seer
s
in the options market. However, if faced with assignment, with one eye fixed on any upcoming announcement of its ex-dividend date, one can either seek to rollover those puts or take ownership of shares in order to secure its dividend and subsequently some call options, as well.

Alternatively, if a little risk adverse, one can also consider the sale of puts after earnings, in the event that shares slide.

Also mentioned last week and seemingly still an opportunity is Sinclair Broadcasting (SBGI). It, too, announces earnings this week and has yet to announce its upcoming ex-dividend date.

Its share price was buoyed last week as the broader market went higher, but then finished the week up only slightly for the week.

Since the company only has monthly option contracts available, I would look at any share purchase in terms of a longer term approach, in the event that shares do go lower after earnings are announced.

Sinclair Broadcasting’s recent history is that of its shares not staying lower for very long, so the use of a longer term contract at a strike envisioning some capital appreciation of shares could give a very satisfactory return, with relatively little angst. As a reminder, Sinclair Broadcasting isn’t terribly sensitive to oil prices or currency fluctuations and can only benefit from a continued low interest rate environment.

It’s hard now to keep track of just how long the Herbalife (HLF) saga has been going on. My last lot of shares was assigned 6 months ago at $58 and I felt relieved to have gotten out of the position, thinking that some legal or regulatory decision was bound to be coming shortly.

And now here we are and the story continues, except that you don’t hear or read quite as much about it these days. Even the most prolific of Herbalife-centric writers on Seeking Alpha have withdrawn, particularly those who have long held long belief in the demise of the company.

For those having paid attention, rumors of the demise of the company had been greatly exaggerated over the past few years.

While that demise, or at least crippling blow to its business model may still yet come to be a reality, Herbalife reports earnings this week and I am once again considering the sale of put options.

With an implied move of 14.3%, based upon Friday’s closing the price, the options market believes that the lower floor on the stock’s price will be about $41.75.

A 1.4% ROI on the sale of a weekly option may possibly be obtained at a strike price that is 20.4% below Friday’s close.

For me, that seems to be a pretty fair risk – reward proposition, but the risk can’t be ignored.

Since Herbalife no longer offers a dividend, if faced with the possibility of share ownership, I would try to rollover the puts as long as possible to avoid taking possession of shares.

While doing so, I would both hold my breath and cross my fingers.

Finally, as far as stocks go, Corning (GLW) has had a good year, at least in relative terms. It’s actually about 1.5% higher, which leaves both the DJIA and S&P 500 behind in the dust.

Shares are ex-dividend this week and I’m reminded that I haven’t owned those shares in more than 5 years, even as it used to be one of my favorites.

With its recently reported earnings exceeding expectations and with the company reportedly on track with its strategic vision, despite declining LCD glass prices, it is offering an attractive enough premium to even gladly accept early assignment in a call buyer’s attempt to capture the dividend.

With the ex-dividend date on Tuesday, an early assignment would mean that the entire premium would reflect only a single day of share ownership and the opportunity to deploy the ensuing funds from the assignment into another position.

However, even if not assigned early, the premiums for the weekly options may make this a good position to consider rolling over on a serial basis if that opportunity presents itself.

Those kind of recurring income streams can offset a lot of bitterness.

Traditional Stocks:  General Motors

Momentum Stocks: none

Double-Dip Dividend:   Corning (2/23 $0.135)

Premiums Enhanced by Earnings:   BBY (2/25 AM), Herbalife (2/26 PM, Sinclair Broadcasting (2/24 AM)

 

Remember, these are just guidelines for the coming week. The above selections may become actionable – most often coupling a share purchase with call option sales or the sale of covered put contracts – in adjustment to and consideration of market movements. The overriding objective is to create a healthy income stream for the week, with reduction of trading risk.

Visits: 15

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Weekend Update – February 14, 2016

It’s not only campaigns that are going negative.

After having watched the latest in political debates on both sides of the aisle, the negative finally coming to the surface should no longer come as a surprise.

Maybe the real surprise should have been just how long the professional politicians on both sides were able to keep that negativity mostly bottled up.

There’s certainly nothing illegal about engaging in a negative political campaign and we have heard time and time again that politicians pursue that unsavory strategy because it works.

It’s also a strategy that’s not unique to the United States. The last unicorn was apparently spotted in Canada and ex-Prime Minister of Great Britain, Tony Blair, was frequently called “Tony Bliar.”

Maybe the fact that such an approach works is why central banks around the world are increasingly giving some thought to going negative.

Negative interest rates are now all the rage after the Bank of Japan had already gone in that direction a few weeks ago.

This week there was at least some suggestion that particular strategy wasn’t entirely off the table in the United States as some are beginning to question just what arrows the Federal Reserve has left in its quiver in the event of an economic slowdown.

Janet Yellen, during her two day mandated session in front of Congressional committees this week said that she didn’t even know whether the Federal Reserve had the legal authority to implement negative interest rates in the United States, but that didn’t stop the worries over what such a scenario would mean with regard to the economy that drove it there.

While oil continued to be the major stock market mover for 2016, this week had some diversification as precious metals began to soar and interest rates continued to plunge.

Who would have predicted this just a couple of months ago when the FOMC saw it fit to begin a slow increase in interest rates?

But just as the week was looking as if it would create a February 2016 that would have us pining for the good old days of January 2016, oil rebounded and Jamie Dimon came to the rescue with a $26 million expression of confidence in the banking system.

Even in the economy of Djibouti, $26 million isn’t that big of a deal, but when Dimon elected to purchase shares in the open market for only the 3rd time in his tenure at JP Morgan Chase, it may have been the first vote of confidence in anything in 2016.

Fortunately, we have a holiday shortened trading week ahead to help us digest the gains seen on Friday that left the S&P 500 only 0.9% lower on the week.

While we’ve had a recent run of strong week ending trading sessions, there hasn’t been much in the way of staying power. Maybe a long weekend will help.

What the day off will also do is to give us a chance to actually try to understand the significance of negative interest rates even as the market seemed concerned just a couple of days earlier that a March 2016 interest rate hike wasn’t off the table.

Last week’s reactions by the market to interest rates was akin to being both afraid of the dark and the light as the market understandably went back and forth in spasms of fear and relief.

Going negative usually reflects some sort of fear and a concern that more conventional approaches aren’t going to deliver the hoped for results.

It may also reflect some desperation as there comes a perception that there is nothing really to lose.

I can understand a Presidential candidate using a profanity during a public appearance and I can even understand one Presidential candidate referring to another as “a jerk.”

That kind of negativity I get, but I’m having a really hard time understanding the concept of negative interest rates.

While I understand relative negative rates during periods of high inflation, the very idea that paying to keep your money in the bank would become similar to paying someone to store your cache of gold bars is confusing to me.

Why would you do that? Why would I want to pay money to a bank just so they could make even more money by putting my money to use?

I know that it’s not quite that simple, but I would be happy if I could get a bank to lend money to me at a negative interest rate, but somehow I don’t envision the APR on credit cards reflecting that kind of environment anytime soon.

Now, if you really wanted to spur consumer spending, that may be just the way to do it. Why not apply a monthly negative interest rate to a credit card balance and the longer you keep the balance open the more likely it will disappear as the negative interest accumulates and works down your debt.

The money you don’t spend on your monthly payments could easily then be used to spur even more consumer spending.

If that isn’t a win – win, then I just don’t know what would be.

I suppose I understand the theory behind how negative interest rates may prompt banks, such as Dimon’s JP Morgan Chase (JPM) to put deposits to work by increasing their lending activity, but I wonder how the lending risk is managed as thoughts of recession are coming to the surface.

As I recall, it wasn’t that long ago that poor management of lending risk put us all at risk.

The coming week will have the release of some FOMC meeting minutes and we may get to see whether there was even the slightest consideration given to going negative.

It’s not too likely that will have come up, but as we may now be witnessing, it is possible that the FOMC’s crystal ball is no better than those owned by the least informed of us.

What was clear, however, as the market began to sink back to a “bad news is good news” kind of mentality is that negative rates weren’t the kind of bad news that anyone could embrace.

As usual, the week’s potential stock selections are classified as being in the Traditional, Double Dip Dividend, Momentum or “PEE” categories.

Among many stocks that fared well on Friday as the market found a reason to mount some rebound from the onslaught earlier in the week was Best Buy (BBY).

Best Buy’s performance was especially impressive as it opened the d

ay 6% lower following a downgrade, they ended the day more than 1% higher.

I generally don’t want to add positions after a sharp climb higher, but as Best Buy is set to report earnings during the first week of the March 2016 option cycle, I am willing to consider the sale of puts in the week prior to those earnings, as the recent volatility has its rewards reflected in the available premiums.

If faced with assignment the premiums are enhanced due to earnings and there may be good opportunity to roll the short put position over, although if doing so, some thought has to be given to the upcoming ex-dividend date likely sometime before the beginning of the April 2016 option cycle.

If faced with assignment of shares just prior to that ex-dividend date, I’d be inclined to accept that assignment in order to have both the chance to sell calls and to possibly collect the dividend, as well.

While its options are less liquid than those of Best Buy, I would consider doing the same with Weyerhauser (WY), although earnings don’t have to be contended with until the May 2016 option cycle.

With an upcoming merger expected to close sometime in the first or second quarters of 2016, Weyerhauser has badly trailed the S&P 500 since the announcement was made 3 months ago.

That is despite the belief by many that the proposed merger with Plum Creek Timber (PCL) represents a good strategic fit and offers immediate financial synergy.

At this point, I just like the low price, the relatively high option premium and the potential to take ownership of shares in order to also try and collect the generous dividend just a few weeks away.

Due to the lesser liquidity of the options, there can also be some consideration to simply doing a buy/write and perhaps selecting an out of the money strike price with an expiration after the ex-dividend date.

Sinclair Broadcasting (SBGI) is another that hasn’t fared terribly well in the past few months and has also under-performed the S&P 500 of late.

It is a stock that I often purchase right before an ex-dividend date, as long as its price is reasonable by its historical standards.

For me, that reasonable price is around $29. It failed to break through resistance at $33 and has fallen about 18% in February, bringing the price to where I like to consider entry.

Share price hasn’t been helped by a recent downgrade on earnings warnings and the announced buyout of The Tennis Channel.

In the meantime, Sinclair Broadcasting remains the most potent play in local television in the nation and is increasingly diversifying its assets.

With earnings and an ex-dividend date both due early in the March 2016 option cycle and with only monthly options available, this is a position that I would consider selling longer term and out of the money contracts upon, such as the $30 June 2016 contract.

Sinclair Broadcasting’s stock price history suggests that it tends not to stay depressed for more than a couple of months after having approached a near term low. Hopefully, it’s current level is that near term low, but by using a June 2016 option expiration there may be sufficient time to ride out any further decline.

Following an even stronger gain than the S&P 500’s 1.9% advance to close the week, General Electric (GE) is now almost even with the S&P 500 for 2016.

That’s not a great selling point.

General Electric seems to have just successfully tested an important support level, but that risk does remain, particularly if the overall market takes another leg down.

In that case, there may be some significant risk, as there could be another 15% downside in an effort to find some support.

Thus far, the moves in 2016 have been fairly violent, both lower and higher, with an overall net downward bias. There isn’t too much reason to believe that pattern will soon reverse itself and for that reason option premiums, such as for General Electric are higher than they have been for quite some time.

While numerous stocks can make a case that their current prices represent an attractive entry level, General Electric can certainly pick up the pieces even if there is further downside.

The worst case scenario in the event of further price declines is that the General Electric position becomes a longer term one while you collect a nice dividend and maybe some additional option premiums along the way.

T-Mobile (TMUS) reports earnings this week.

I’m struck by two things as that event approaches.

The first is what seems to be an even increasing number of T-Mobile television ads and the increasing financial burden that must be accruing as it continues to seek and woo subscribers away from its competitors.

The second comes from the option market.

I generally look at the “implied move” predicted by the option market when a company is about to report earnings. For most companies, the option premiums near the strike price are very similar for both puts and calls, particularly if the current price is very close to the strike price. However, in the case of T-Mobile, there is considerable bias on the call side.

The implied move is about 8.1%, but about 5.4% of that is from the very high call premium. The clear message is that the option market expects T-Mobile to move higher next week. It’s unusual to see that much of a declaration of faith as is being demonstrated at the moment.

When I see something like that, the oppositional side of me even thinks about buying puts if I didn’t mind the almost all or none proposition involved with that kind of a trade.

However, rational though pushes that oppositional piece of me to the side and while I generally like the idea of selling puts ahead of earnings, in this case, there may be good reason to consider the purchase of shares and the sale of calls, perhaps even deep in the money calls, depending upon the balance of risk and reward that one can tolerate.

Finally, if you’ve been following the news, you know that it wasn’t a particularly good week to have been a cruise line or perhaps to have been a cruise line passenger. While there may be lots of great things about being a passenger, it seems that we hear more and more about how either a virus or the rough seas will take its toll.

With an upcoming ex-dividend date this week and a severe price descent, Carnival (CCL) is finally looking attractive to me again after nearly 18 months of not having owned shares.

With earnings early in the April 2016 cycle th

ere are a number of different approaches in the coming week to the shares.

One approach may simply be the purchase of shares and the concomitant sale of in the money February 2016 call options, which are the equivalent of a weekly option, as expiration is this Friday. In such as case, whether using the at the money or in the money strike, the intent is to at least generate option premium and perhaps the dividend, as well, while having the position exercised.

Alternatively, a larger premium can be exacted by selling a March 2016 out of the money option and more predictably ensuring the capture of the premium. With earnings coming early in the April 2016 option cycle, the more daring investor can also consider the use of even longer dated out of the money options in the hopes of getting an more substantive share gains in addition to the dividend and an earnings enhanced option premium.

I’m more inclined to go for the full journey on this one and extend my stay even if there may be some bumpiness ahead. 

Traditional Stocks: General Electric, Sinclair Broadcasting, Weyerhauser

Momentum Stocks: Best Buy

Double-Dip Dividend: Carnival (2/17 $0.30)

Premiums Enhanced by Earnings: T-Mobile (2/17 AM)

Remember, these are just guidelines for the coming week. The above selections may become actionable – most often coupling a share purchase with call option sales or the sale of covered put contracts – in adjustment to and consideration of market movements. The overriding objective is to create a healthy income stream for the week, with reduction of trading risk.

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Weekend Update – February 7, 2016

If the recently deceased Harlem Globetrotters’ great player, Meadowlark Lemon had been alive today and helping the equally great band, The Byrds, re-write their classic song, it would likely get a new title.

The title would perfectly describe what this past week was a all about.

“Spin, Spin, Spin.”

Whether it was post-Iowa Caucus result speeches by the candidates or President Obama’s comments in the aftermath of Friday’s disappointing Employment Situation Report and downward revision to the previous month, it’s easy to see the spin going around and around.

No wonder the stock market is getting dizzy and dizzier, despite its heights getting lower and lower.

With confusion coming from Iowa regarding the definition of “winning” from both sides of the aisle you could easily be excused for shaking your head as the week started.

Then, when a picture of decreasing employment numbers alongside increasing jobless claims numbers was painted as reflecting an increasingly robust economy you could have been further excused for shaking your head into the week’s end.

Politicians who want an opportunity to create a legacy, as well as lame duck politicians who want to cement a legacy are very adept at spin and the ability to portray everything in terms of black and white.

The other side is always wrong and the facts are as portrayed and not as fact.

For stock investors life was much easier when only having to deal with the paradoxical association between oil and stocks.

You simply awoke in the morning and saw where West Texas Intermediate was trading and knew that the stock market would go in the same direction.

Now they’re back into having to decide whether news they hear is good or bad and whether to react appropriately to that news or paradoxically.

Of course, that would be easier if news was really presented on a factual basis and not so quickly subjected to overwhelmingly sanctimonious spin.

With the notion that evidence of a slow down in the economy would make the likelihood of further Federal Reserve rate hikes less, bad news was once again being taken as good news. The predominance of oil, however, as a factor in the market’s direction may have been obscuring some of that newly rediscovered fractured thought process.

With the market having spent the week going back and forth with numerous large intra-day moves and some large daily moves, it all came down to Friday’s trading to determine the fate of the DJIA for the week, as it had only been 34 points lower heading into the final day of trading. That week included one day with a loss of 290 points and the following day with a gain of 193 points.

If you were among those for whom confidence could have been inspired by those kind of movements, then any kind of upcoming spin could have led you in any direction.

Of course, the direction also depended on whether you are now of the increasing frame of mind that good news is bad news.

While we awaited Friday morning’s Employment Situation Report release and the DJIA had been down only 0.2%, the broader indexes weren’t faring quite as well.

The S&P 500 had already been 1.3% lower on the week and the NASDAQ 100 was down 2.6%.

With Friday morning’s release, the data, while disappointing was likely not weak enough to give cause for much celebration for those looking for good reason to dismiss the possibility of future interest rate hikes in 2016.

What may have cast a pall on the market was the Presidential spin that focused on the 4.9% jobless rate and wage growth.

If you were among those interpreting bad news as being good, you had to interpret that kind of spin as being good news.

And that can only be bad as the FOMC had certainly not closed the door on further interest rate increases in its recent statement.

While the DJIA lost an additional 1.3% to end the week, the NASDAQ 100 tacked on an additional 3.4% to its already sizable loss for the week, while the S&P 500 lost an additional 1.9%.

Good luck trying to spin that as we begin to prepare for the coming week.

As usual, the week’s potential stock selections are classified as being in the Traditional, Double Dip Dividend, Momentum or “PEE” categories.

Having suffered the direct blow from decrease oil prices and the indirect blow from what those decreasing prices have wrought upon the market, it’s not easy to consider adding another energy position.

Who can begin to count the number of times over the past 15 months that it didn’t look as if we had hit a once in a generation kind of rock bottom bargain price for a barrel of oil?

With ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) having just slashed its dividend, you do have to wonder whether British Petroleum (NYSE:BP) could be next.

WHile its dividend this week is presumably safe, it’s harder to make that case for the remainder of 2016 if rude prices continue to test lows. In its defense, British Petroleum is better diversified than ConocoPhillips is after having spun off its refining assets a few years ago, but the risk of insufficient cash flow is still there.

What is also there is a very nice option premium in reflection of further risk.

Looking at the option premiums, I am inclined to look at more than a weekly option contract, as is normally my approach for positions going ex-dividend during the week.

The exaggerated volatility of the past 2 weeks is really enhancing the premium and the dividend is extraordinary, while likely having more safety than the option market may be surmising.

Also ex-dividend this week are DuPont (NYSE:DD) and International Paper (NYSE:IP).

While DuPont has gone considerably higher in the past two weeks, I believe that in the absence of general market weakness it can recapture much of what had been lost following the announcement of a complex deal with Dow Chemical (NYSE:DOW).

With some strength also seen in Dow Chemical recently, I took the opportunity to sell calls on uncovered shares and is a portion of the strategic theme for this week, I used an out of the money strike price and a longer term time frame than I would normally consider in an effort to lock in some higher volatility driven option premiums and to regain lost share value.

The same approach holds for if considering a purchase of International Paper.

While it’s recent earnings report exceeded expectations and met whisper numbers, its stock price trend for the past year has been decidedly lower and lower, even in the absence of structural or operating issues.

While its payout ratio is getting uncomfortably high, the generous premium should continue to be safe and I might consider locking in the premium for a longer term, perhaps to even encompass an additional ex-dividend date in May 2016, although upcoming earnings would also have to be considered if doing so.

For that reason, I might even consider going out to a July 2016 expiration in the anticipation that some of that lost luster in its price will be regained by then,

Although not ex-dividend this week, EMC Corporation (NYSE:EMC) is among some of those fallen angels in the technology sector and which are beginning to celebrate their newly found volatility with some enhanced option premiums.

Somehow lost in the story with EMC is that there is a buyout offer that appears to be on track for completion and at a price that is substantially higher than Friday’s closing price.

I’m not one to play in the same arena with those expert in the science and art of arbitrage, but this one seems to offer some opportunity, even as the deal isn’t expected to close until the end of the year.

While there may still be regulatory hurdles head, EMC appears to be a willing partner and while awaiting a decision, there are still some dividends to be had.

For that reason, I might consider buying shares and selling a longer term and significantly out of the money option contract. Since I also already have existing shares at $30, I might consider combining lots and selling calls at a strike below the cost of the original lot, not counting accumulated premiums and dividends.

Finally, I just don’t think that I can any longer resist buying shares of eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) at this level.

eBay was one of my more frequent holdings until the announcement of its definitive plan to spin off its profitable PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) unit.

What could be more appropriate when talking about the week’s spin than to look at a post-spin eBay?

For years I loved holding eBay as it made little net movement, even as it had occasional spikes and plunges usually earnings related. All that meant was that it had an attractive option premium, with relatively little risk associated with it, as long as you didn’t mind those occasional plunges that were inevitably reversed.

WIth no real challenge ahead of it other than market risk in general, eBay is now at its post spin-off low and is offering a great option premium for what I perceive to be low risk.

WIth those premiums so attractive, but mindful that there may be near term market risk, I would probably think in terms of selling longer term and out of the money call contracts on any shares that I purchased.

While the market could continue to be further dragged down by declining oil prices and while games are still being played with what economic data really means and how it should be interpreted, you do have to wonder how any of that impacts eBay.

I know that I do.

Traditional Stocks: eBay, EMC Corporation

Momentum Stocks: none

Double-Dip Dividend: British Petroleum (2/10 $0.59), DuPont (2/10 $0.38), International Paper (2/11 $0.38)

Premiums Enhanced by Earnings:

Remember, these are just guidelines for the coming week. The above selections may become actionable – most often coupling a share purchase with call option sales or the sale of covered put contracts – in adjustment to and consideration of market movements. The overriding objective is to create a healthy income stream for the week, with reduction of trading risk.

Visits: 12