Thursday, October 20, 2011

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!

20 comments:

  1. It's about time they caught and killed him.

    Good riddance.

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  2. Requesta de pache.

    Well, it was only time before someone killed him.

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  3. Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi-a person who has recently died or has been presumed dead.

    yeah, I googled it just now since I wanna make sure if he's dead or not. ^_^

    good info though :)

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  4. thanks for dropping@mine's btw =))

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  5. I'm not sure how to feel about this whole thing. I hate dictators but the UN's involvement in this situation really annoyed me. I suppose it's a good thing Mad Dog's gone but I don't know how I personally feel, it's weird they found him, I thought he'd always be able to hide.

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  6. He was a bad man but I'm not sure I'm ok with this just- kill- him trend that's been around lately.

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  7. I've heard it just a minute ago :P

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  8. The Hasidic Plumbers got a good idea!

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  9. HE WAS A GOOD MAN, WHY MUST THEY ALL BE TAKEN AWAY ETC.

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  10. Don't need to wait to find out, look at Iraq.

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  11. Yeah I heard about Qadaffi but just a bit, you had more details than my sources so thanks.

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  12. I hope his zombie does not come back to eat our brains!

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  13. He got what he deserved!

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  14. " 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%"

    I normally cut it at 5% (fees from broker and taxes included), but I got caught sometimes too in the "cut loses and let benefits run" sentence, holding the loss trying to recover the investment. Not a good idea as you already know, it also costed to me some money and lessons.

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  15. i think someone's death shouldn't be something we rejoyce for... ~_~

    hmm oil in libya... i bet america's already preping up to bring them 'democracy'

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  16. Well, I'm not very informed about Qadaffi, but perhaps these people have a chance to live better now.

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  17. ding dong the witch is dead the witch is dead!

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  18. Oil prices dropped? This is great news!

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