Folks, since today is this last day of the trading month I want to talk about one of the important fundamentals that drives market activity on days like today: synthetic positions. A synthetic position is a way that portfolio managers and traders replicate a stock position by using financial instruments such as futures, options and [...]

Folks, a few years ago I was on a plane coming back from Europe with my family, and I happened to be seated next to a man who worked as an inventor.  He was a very sharp guy, a nice guy, and he held about 20 or 30 patents for things used in the automotive [...]

Folks, Goldman Sachs announced today that they’re reducing their year-end target on the S&P 500 from 1500 to 1450. Guess what? The S&P is trading around 1315 as I write this, and the 52-week high is 1370. Even with these adjusted earnings expectations, we’re talking about a 10%+ increase over the next 6 months. Don’t [...]

Folks, last night I appeared on CNBC’s The Kudlow Report to talk about housing. With me on the panel was businessman and publishing magnate Mort Zuckerman, who took the position that we’re on the verge of a double-dip in the housing market. I believe that Mr. Zuckerman is absolutely wrong about this, just like I [...]

Folks, former house speaker and current presidential candidate Newt Gingrich was on CNBC this morning, and hearing him talk really warmed the cockles of this old supply-sider’s heart. I came up during the dark days of Jimmy Carter. If you’re my age or older, you’re painfully aware of the double-digit inflation, unemployment and interest rates [...]

Folks, today I want to talk about European capital, because I think it’s something important keep an eye on this week. Now that we’re out of expiration—when markets have a tough time breaking—I expect that we’ll see the flow of European funds really driving the U.S. markets. This morning when Europe opened, right around 2am [...]

Folks, I’ve already received a number of emails asking for the details of that wonderful trade Howard Marella, president of Index Futures Group, made around the S&P eMini contract this month. So here it is, straight from Howard himself! Original Trade Entry Risk 3.00 or less ($150.00). Objective is to make 20 point per contract, [...]

Futures Friday Folks, as I mentioned earlier this week, futures contracts expire on the 3rd Friday of every month, which makes today expiration Friday. Today is what we call a serial expiration—that’s a monthly expiration as opposed to the four big quarterly expirations that take place in March, June, September and December. Even though this [...]