I'm MTA: Missing the Action

The market is getting a little juiced here... I totally missed this run because I've been occupied with more important things (my Blockbuster queue for one). The only plays I've seen in the futures have been a couple of short scalps, which were OK, but not great.

It will be good when I concentrate on the futures alone, because most of the obvious stock trades I see are in things that are just too thin. You need two things to day trade: liquidity and volatility, and liquidity is the much more important of the two. (AMAT is nice and liquid but it just hasn't triggered.)

Now that I look at the Naz chart closer, there was a decent spot to get long around 1 o'clock, but I missed it. Wasn't paying attention. Just shoot me. Looks like it could run to 1443ish.

Mini-Dow futures (YM), 5-min. Chart

Bring Me a Bucket

This month I've been free-trialing Blockbuster's Unlimited DVD Rental thing, a Netflix copycat service, and everything was going along fine until I got a notice that they "couldn't find any titles in your rental list to send to you." I had 20 movies in my queue, so I added another 40 and got filled immediately (already had two out).

Now the amusing thing is this bit from the message:

Auto choose, hmmm. I expect they'd send me an endless stream of movies with Madonna only interrupted by selections from the Porky's Trilogy. What does it say about our culture that "Auto Choose" exists at all? What can explain that kind of mindless consumption?

Presidential Tax Returns

It's great to be able to review these tax returns (Dubya, Cheney, Clinton, GHW Bush, Reagan, Carter, Nixon, FD Roosevelt... and John Kerry and John Edwards), though a lot of the photocopies are poor. Fascinating!

Early Movers for Tuesday, October 12

Today's "Hammer" Play

Applied Materials (AMAT) has been bumbling around the $16 level for the last couple of months and yesterday she finally put in a good looking hammer. Looks like the reward to risk is better than 2 to 1 if she can get up to that last swing high. Keep an eye on her.

AMAT, Daily Chart

Best and Worst Performing Stocks (last twelve weeks)

I scanned my universe of stocks for the best and worst performers over the last twelve weeks.

Best:

• CryoLife Inc (CRY)
  {human tissues for cardiovascular, vascular and orthopedic transplant applications}
• Dupont Photomasks Inc (DPMI)
  {acquired by Toppan}
• Building Materials Holding Corp (BMHC)
  {specializes in providing construction services}
• Cree Inc (CREE)
  {develops and manufactures semiconductor materials and devices}
• Agilysys Inc (AGYS)
  {distributor and reseller focused on servers, storage and software}

Worst:

• Tower Automotive Inc (TWR)
  {designer and producer of automotive components and assemblies}
• Allete Inc (ALE)
  {Energy Services, Automotive Services}
• Possis Medical Inc (POSS)
  {developer, manufacturer and marketer of medical devices}
• Delta Air Lines Inc (DAL)
  {airline}
• Winn-Dixie Stores Inc (WIN)
  {food and drug retailer}

'Leg the spread' is woman's view of Chicago's trading pits, by Jonathan Hoenig:

Clever title. ;-)

Schwab CEO reaches out to individual investors, by Mark Calvey

The embarrassing backpedaling continues... as I've said before, Schwab's attempt to move upmarket was not a bad idea, it was just miserably ill-timed. Now they need to dump the managers who are responsible for the convoluted account and fee structures. "Chuck" the clueless MBAs and those grossly overpaid fools from Bain.

Value Investor Bill Miller Bought 12% of the Stock Sold in the Recent Google IPO

I didn't know that! Here's Bill Miller on hedge funds: