7/26/2013 Morning Blog

Markets have been very choppy lately and that is not good for option traders. Next week we have a two day Federal Reserve meeting that the markets are waiting on and today at 9:55am we have the Michigan Consumer Confidence Report. The Confidence report will be a market driver one way or the other. I go through a list of 82 stock charts every morning and to tell you the truth I could not find one that I would feature as a market mover. GOOG chart looks negative, UTX looks like a beautiful Bull Flag at the top of a current run and FSLR has a chance to get it in gear to the upside, other that nothing

Overnight  Japan's core CPI, which excludes food, rose for
the first time in 14 months in June and increased a greater-than-expected 0.4%,
a level that was also the highest for five years. However, the CPI reading that
excludes food and energy dropped 0.2%, which, along with the weak dollar and
tepid earnings, helped to send Japanese shares 3% lower.
What the country needs is rising wages so that consumers can afford the higher
prices.

China has ordered over 1,400 companies in 19 sectors to reduce excess output this year as part of the government's strategy of re-balancing the economy. The firms affected include those in the steel, ferroalloys, electrolytic aluminum, copper smelting, cement and paper industries. "This is a real move and is very specific," says ANZ economist Raymond Yeung. "They maintain the overall tone that they're not focusing on the quantity of growth but the quality of growth."

Thought for the day: The under capitalized investor: By DR Alexander Elder. Many losers think that they would be successful if only they had a bigger account. All losers get knocked out of the market by a string of losses or one abysmal loss. Often the amateur is sold out, the market reverses and moves in the direction expected. The loser is ready to kick themselves or his broker: Had they survived one more week they could have made a small fortune.

How many times does this happen to you? It is not the person is undercapitalized but rather they lack discipline in trading decisions. I talk to countless people and 98% of the time they ask me where should I set my stop loss? I ask you is that positive or negative thinking? The more appropriate question is where should I set my Limit order (positive thinking). If you believe you will lose money, your chances increase that will be fulfilled.