Trading Notes

2008-08-07T20:55:00.002+10:00

FTSE Sectors - Long

9570 - InfoTech
8530 - Insurance
4570 - Pharmacies
5330 - Food

No shorts

2008-08-06T22:24:00.003+10:00

Long (FTSE Sectors)
3720 - Household Goods
9570 - InfoTech
5550 - Media
4570 - Pharmacies
9530 - Software & Computing
3780 - Tobacco

NOTE: US Biotech Sector has been showing strength for some time, going against overall indices.

Short (FTSE Sectors)
1350 - Chemicals
0530 - Oil & Gas

Oversold/Overbough Indicatior

2008-01-14T13:29:00.000+11:00

I find Kirk Report's oversold/overbought indicator to be a very useful tool for generally getting a feel of where things are at in the markets. It's a great timing indicator. From time to time Kirk publishes this proprietary indicator from Worden on his blog. However according to Kirk it's possible to get similar readings using the following...

"...at Stockcharts.com if you use the following ticker symbols they’ll offer you similar readings: Ticker symbol: $NYA50R - NYSE Percent of Stocks Above 50 Day Moving; Ticker Symbol: $NAA50R - Nasdaq Percent of Stocks Above 50 Day Moving Average. For what it is worth, both of these are showing a bit more “oversold” than the current T2108 which is normal. "

How the markets finished for 2007

2008-01-01T22:12:00.000+11:00

Here's a summary of how the markets ended for the year...

Dow
Thanks to a big first-half advance, it managed to finish 2007 with a respectable increase of 6.43% -- not as large as the 16.29% jump in 2006, but a better performance than the modest loss in 2005.

S&P 500
The S&P 500 index end the year by falling 10.13, or 0.69 percent, to 1,468.36, to end 2007 with a gain of 3.53%. It had reached a record close of 1,565.15 on Oct. 9. Shares of the iPod Apple, surged almost 134%, making it the second-best gainer in the S&P 500. Blackberry's stock RIMM skyrocketed 166% for the year.

Nasdaq
The Nasdaq finished the year with a 9.81% gain. Despite the market's volatility, this was the best performance for the Nasdaq, still well below its tech boom highs, since 2003.

FTSE
Advanced 3.8% in 2007, compared with a nearly 11% gain in 2006, making 2007 its weakest year since 2002.

DAX
Germany's DAX index was a star performer, up 22 percent, matching last year's gains.

Nikkei
Japan's Nikkei ends down 11%, its first loss in 5 years.

Hang Seng
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose about 40%.

Oil
Oil surged this year with a gain of about 60% to nearly $100 a barrel

Gold
The metal has risen more than 30 percent this year -- the biggest annual gain since 1979.

US Dollar
The dollar capped off a bad year as it has fallen 11.5% against the Euro, 16% versus the Canadian dollar and 5.9% percent to the Yen.

Happy New Year for 2008!

2008-01-01T14:16:00.000+11:00

Welcome to my personal blog on my life and the world as I see it as well as market trading. May you be truly blessed in every way for the year 2008!!!

Here's an interesting excerpt I read recently from an article written by David Round, a Canterbury Uni lecturer and and columnist for the The Press (local Christchurch newspaper in N.Z). With the start of the new year upon us, I thought it would be timely to do a bit of self reflection on life and how we can call make the most of this short time we have on planet earth.

...The monsters we all wrestle with are our own creations. Most often, anyway, they are not random misfortunes haphazardly visited on us by fickle or capricious fate. As I occasionally say to my students about exam time, "I don't fail you; you fail yourselves."

In our national life and our personal life, many misfortunes - physical, emotional, financial, environmental - arise from our own weaknesses. God does not send disaster up us; we bring them upon ourselves.

As long as we are weak and fallible humans, our word will be imperfect. To make it better and stronger we have to start with ourselves.