Qaddafi is dead!

     I don't know if you all have heard yet but Moammar Qadaffi has been captured and killed.  The Misrata Military Council led an attack on Qadaffi's hometown of Sirte where the ex-dictator was hiding.  Not all the details are out yet but it seems Qadaffi was shot in the head and the legs whilst trying to escape rebel fighters in Sirte.  More details to come later on.

     Libya is the largest oil producing country in Africa and oil prices dropped on this news.

     In other news, markets are quiet today trading in a 70 point range in the early going.  There has not been much news to catalyze the markets today although new claims for unemployment benefits dropped to 403,000 which was slightly higher than economists had forecast.  More importantly the four week moving average of new claims for unemployment benefits dropped to 403,000.  This shows that even though the economy seems troubled, employers are not laying off people like crazy.

Market Recap

     Well today was a rollercoaster ride in the markets.  The Dow traded in an almost 200 point range but at the end of the day finished 37 points higher.  Good economic news was offset by mixed messages from Europe.  After being down 100 points earlier in the day, the markets turned around on more news out of Europe.  This is such a headline driven market, it is tough to trade.

     I made the mistake of trying play AAPL's earnings and I paid the price for it.  I went ahead and bailed out of my AAPL position with a 6% loss.  You got to have discipline when you are trading and I don't like to take losses more than 6-7%.  Could AAPL go up from here?  Sure, it could but it will have to go up without me.  I don't want my 6% loss to turn into a 15% loss so I'll bail here.

     I did end up buying some gold today.  After setting my limit order yesterday for IAU at 15.80, it triggered early this morning on the open.  Gold has not been trading well lately and I believe it is related to US dollar strength.  Gold will be under pressure as long as the dollar is strengthening.  My buy thesis is that we are at long term bull market trendline support.  I believe gold's bullish fundamentals are intact and I am willing to take a shot that gold bounces off support here but I set a 5% stop just in case it doesn't. 

     I have not been trading well recently, I think I have lost my last 5 trades but hopefully we can turn things around.  The good thing is I have kept my losses small and so am only down about 3 pct this year.  I really need a winning trade.

Disclaimer: Nothing in this blog should be construed as a recommendation to buy or sell any securities! Please do your own due dilligence before buying any stocks or bonds!