Stat Sheet Week Ending December 12th 2009

Momentum Strategy

In this Issue---

• Options--At mercy of the market maker--


• Momentum Plays - A Slow Week--


• Indicators--No plays this week


• The Economy, The Markets & Commentary--A fairly quiet week


• Today's Thought

Options---
*******************************
This week it seemed that we were at the mercy of the market maker. There were too many times when the stock price went in the direction that we wanted, only to see the market maker refuse to change the option price. Then, there is the loss of time value as we come up to the last week before options expiration on Dec. 18. This is very frustrating, as we are working in cents, and every cent counts.

We gave you the strategy of playing EBIX by writing the Puts against it and then buying the Put back to close for a profit. Since EBIX was splitting 3 for 1 this week, history says the stock would be going up. We have played this writting of the Put against this stock at least three times prior and have discussed it here in this section - giving eveyone a free tip. We have also discussed it on our Facebook page. It has worked every time. However, this play is off for now. The stock, which was suppossed to split on the 10th, did not. The company put out a short statement that it was still going to split before the 31st of December but did not give a specific date. This is not good for the company to do this and sure enough, the stock has tanked about $6 since that date. Hopefully they put out a specific new split date soon but our experience in the past is this may not be a good sign. Stay tuned.

Momentum Plays---
************************************************
We had a slow week in Momentums this week and we had two losses. The market is trading in such a way that very few plays are being produced and what plays we get, have been harder to judge. So we have been passing on most of what we get. Of course earnings season has really wound down for now so that's not producing much either. As we have said before, the last two weeks of December are basically a time of no action, but these first two weeks have been very slow too which is surprising. We'll take it day by day though and see what we can come up with. In the meantime, we cannot complain. This strategy sits on a year to day profit of 548.87% Learn More!

Indicators---
****************************
We had no plays this week, as the market moved in a very tight range, especially in the S+P 500 and the Nasdaq, as you can see by the stats above. We need a strong move in one direction in order to get a play for the Indicator, and it just wasn't there this week. We remain at a 79% win rate for the year thus far.

Feedback---
***********************************
This from member Jody. I used to do auto trading with the Basic Strategy when there were a lot of splits. I had a very good experience with that. Too bad the splits dried up. But I'm glad to hear you now have auto trading available for the Momentum Strategy. I have been following the results of this strategy with interest for a long time but have never played it as I work and don't have the time. But now that you offer auto trading on it, I am seriously considering jumping in. Please send me more info on the program. Thanks guys, Jody

The Economy, The Markets & Commentary---
*************************************************
This was a relatively quiet week for the markets and for the economy. President Obama received his Nobel Peace Prize by saying he felt there were many other people more worthy of it, but he intended to work extremely hard to carry out the meaning of the award. He also requested more troops for the war, saying that sometimes war is what has to be done to get peace.

The President also gave a speech dedicated to a plan to increase jobs. Now there is a debate going on over whether to use TARP money to create jobs, when the initial purpose was to save the financial system. It appears that we didn't have to use nearly as much money for the finance area. Some institutions want to pay back the amounts that were given to them as quickly as possible. Also, there arose the hated word for this sector--bonuses---and they are huge--again. TARP money was actually borrowed by the US, from the Fed, and there are a number of people that believe that if we didn't use it, the money should be paid back to the Fed and the deficit lowered.

Meanwhile, the jobs situation came in a bit worse than expected this week, but that didn't stop the market, as the Dow went up 66 points on Friday, the day the report was issued. The Retail Sector did better than expected, but it seems very confusing. Probably depending on who is giving the type of retail report makes the results seem better or worse. Black Friday and that weekend was reported first as being very slightly better than last year. Then it was reported that sales were not as good as last year. Now, again, the report is showing strength that is better than expected, but that is for the month, so that could be good news. Many people suspect the figures because they are all over the place. My thought is still that consumers can't spend as much if they don't have a job, or even if they worry about losing their job.

Inflation is still being reported to be practically a non-factor---and we continue to laugh at that, watching our real living costs go up and up. Commodities caught fire again, and that means consumer prices that are affected by commodities are going to go up--and we thought that meant there was inflation, but our reps in government say different. A rose by any other name smells as sweet, is the old saying and to us, bills that keep going up is inflation no matter who says differently. The one thing that did go down was Oil this week. But, we haven't seen the gas prices at the pump go down yet. That same question comes up, how come when the price of oil goes up, prices at the gas pump go up immediately but when oil goes down, price at the gas pump doesn't immediately go down? In fact sometimes they don't go down at all.

The health bill still rages on, but looks to be delayed until next year--if it is going to be passed at all. The last I knew, it was over 2,000 pages and changing daily, so I doubt that the people will know what is going to be in the final bill until after it is passed--if passed. The President wanted it on his desk by the end of the year, and if that happens, to us that will mean that it was rushed through without enough thought put into it, as if that is ever the case that they put enough thought into it, other than what the lobbyists whisper into their ears.

Coming up to the midpoint of December, the major averages are doing pretty well. The Dow is up 1.2%, the S+P 500 is up 0.8% and Nas is up 2.1%. As we get closer to Christmas, there will be a slowdown in volume and more attention will be given to family, etc., so the markets can be pretty thin. We were up to 10,517 early in Dec., on the Dow, and while it closed Friday at 10,472, we are within striking distance of the yearly high, so a gain for the first half of the month is encouraging. Chartists could say we are bumping up against a resistance point in this area of the Dow, but it is much better to be facing resistance than testing support at a low level.

Stay tuned, these are interesting times.

Today's Thought---
*****************
A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking.........Steven Wright

Mike

Published by Splitmaster.com, LLC. P.O. Box 960 San Dimas CA 91773 Copyright © 2006 All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy

To unsubscribe from our newsletter or edit your delivery address go to our Newsletter Page. To edit membership information login to the Splitmaster.com members page. For inquiries regarding this or any other Splitmaster.com Information Delivery System publication contact us at staff@splitmaster.com.