What We're Reading

Great visual by CNBC but checkout the 2nd video as well as this topic is REALLY heating up.  Definitely a lot of "passion" out there on the subject of high frequency trading and the supposed level playing field.  What do you think?  Please share

Market strength in safe havens as utilities hit a new high.  Financials and oil/gas holding up but concerns will now be if tech and small cap (continued) selling will spill over into the other indexes (a la 2000).  With fewer and fewer leaders, selling begets selling.  (click image to enlarge) 

• Semiconductors are finally seeing some heavy volume this morning in $SMH.
• David Letterman (67) announced his retirement in 2015 as he has struggled in 3rd place with the much coveted 18-49 age group behind front runner Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel.  Fallon has built himself a comfortable lead and maybe Letterman saw the writing on the wall.  I'd look to buy $CBS stock at lower valuations with eager anticipation of just "who" will be his replacement.  This would be an excellent opportunity for CBS to "update" their boring image (my opinion strictly).  Come on CBS - something with zombies please.  *lol*  

Merely a thought but could the IPO of gamer $KING have been the top for the much heralded Nasdaq?  After $FB $TWTR $ZNGA and now $KING, maybe the market held out just long enough for the $KING IPO before ringing the register.  Maybe the market has decided enough is enough when Farm Heroes pulls a $20/share price and a $6 billion market cap.   Just sayin'.  It's not a "thing".  They don't produce a product.  It's.......a.......website.  

Many in the twittersphere have already commented that this strangely feels like the 2000 top and when growth names like $AMZN and $NFLX can't get any loving, maybe they're right.  Maybe the $KING IPO was the top.  If so, they'll be doomed to the OTC graveyard faster than Jimmy Johns can deliver your lunchtime fare.

This comparison chart from Quartz speaks volumes.  We knew brick and mortar was dying a slow death but man...........

(click image to enlarge)

• Schwab says HFT is a "Cancer" that must be addressed.  "The primary principle behind our markets has always  been that no one should carry an unfair advantage. That simple but fundamental principle is being broken." When big players such as Schwab begin to speak out, one must wonder if this will gain attention now.
• GT sold some AMZN 360/365 bear call spreads.  Still feel that's a HST
• Citibank $C reports$400M in fraudulent loans out of their Mexico subsidiary; lowered profit forecast. 
• Kos is calling bearish head-and-shoulder tops in a few ETFs.  Find out which in our charts section.
• Corporate profits continue to show strength - this for the long term investor Califia Beach Pundit
• Using California as a proxy, enrollment in ACA has been good with the exception of Latinos and to a lesser extent young (healthy) Americans.
• After the close, CME lowered margin rqmts. on crude oil, gold, silver and coal..  Seriously?  As if we need higher gasoline to jeopardize the recovery?  Well, inflation

• For all the worrying about weather impacting job creation, Trim Tabs say real time tax receipt data (allegedly more reliable than BLS data) suggests that the economy has been picking up steam.  24/7WallStreet
• A 8.2% magnitude earthquake overnight off the coast of Chile with a 2 meter tsunami.  Supposedly mining operations have not been affected buy you try to tell that to silver and gold this morning.  They're not buying it (so far)
• Interesting metrics from Flurry on mobile usage today.  GOOG accounts for 18% of time spent by consumers which includes YouTube, while FB is 17%.   Android web browsing is losing market share, going from 20% or usage down to 14%
• Facebook apps continue to hold strength ahead of Google according to Comscore data..  Twitter's app was only used by 22.8% of U.S. smartphone users in January. 77.6% used Facebook's core app, and 27.5% Instagram. Five different Google apps were used by over 40% of users.
• The Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) met it's targ

• A minimum wage deal appears to be forming TheConstitutionalConservatives.com
• Why MSFT should beward the $BOX IPO Stratechery
• The truth behind 420 day HuffingtonPost
• China's mfg sector, which focuses on larger state-owned enterprises, edging up to 50.3 in March from 50.2 in February. The HSBC index, which gives more weight to smaller private companies, slipped to 48 from 48.5. HSBC says that its reading confirms the weakness of domestic demand and that it implies 1Q GDP growth of below the annual goal of 7.5%.
• The FBI is now going to launch an investigation into HFT and quote stuffing (that should be interesting)
• Is it odd or disconcerting that Elon Musk said he never expected TSLA to actually succeed..........or am I the only one?
• Not everyone feels the Alibaba IPO is a good thing as companies with dual class shares and unequal voting rights simply allow bad managers to avoid accountability.

Certainly HFT (high frequency trading) takes advantage of minute price discrepancies and can fire off trades faster than your head can spin but is it "rigged"?  Is it illegal? Clearly big funds have an advantage over Joe the Plumber trying to trade his own portfolio.  They, after all, can afford all the bells and whistles, the fancy (more expensive) indicators, gain insider insight and if nothing else, insider information however can you say that's illegal or "rigged"?  Maybe it's more their presence causes concerns over stock market integrity with flash crashes occurring (it seems) on a continual basis now. 

We here at StockBuz strive to trade our ports, whether dollar cost averaging or full trades and do a darn good job at it so collaboration works.  Whether members feel "rigged" is the proper term to use is anyone's guess but right or wrong..............it certainly sells books.

Sometimes it pays to simply remove the distraction of moving averages and let the chart movement speak for itself.  What say you StockBuz?  Are those head-and-shoulders bottoms or no?  Long gold and silver (and miners) with a stop below last weeks low (to your tolerance).  Partial on a breakout, move up stops to b/e, final target equal to distance of head to breakout zone.  Call it flight to safe havens, call it massive short covering/profit taking, .  Who cares.  The risk/reward is irresistible.

For all the political yammering about raising the Federal minimum wage, it would seem that almost 1/2 of the country is already above the Federal level with Connecticut being the first to jump to $10.10 per hour just yesterday.

For all the fear mongering that raising the minimum wage would lead to job loss, the results don't match the scary bedtime story being spread.  To be honest, who really over staffs anyway (unless it's the holidays)?  In my opinion, businesses hire what employees they need to service their customer flow and keep down their bottom line but don't take my word for it. 

Examine San Jose, who raised their minimum wage to $10 an hour a year ago.  The results after one year have not been massive job loss and small business failure.  Rather San Jose has enjoyed a jump in small business creation, job growth and a drop in their unemployment rate.  With more money in the citizens pockets, it definitely seems to be translating into money flowing into local businesses and t

For better or for worse, it doesn't appear that the Affordable Care Act "Obamacare" is going anywhere but will have to be "fixed" with Amendments down the road.  In the meantime, how are the STATES actually doing in terms of enrollment?  You might be surprised.

Note:  If this video does not display, blame Bloomberg for their (once again) broken code and view the video HERE

• Tesla $TSLA cuts deal with Cuomo allowing them to retain their five stores (as long as they don't open more)  Full Disclosure Kos is long TSLA
• Putin calls Obama stating he has no plans to invade Ukraine further.  Bloomberg
• The S&P lowered it's credit rating on Target $TGT to A from A+ following its weak Q4.  With Spring crawling (albeit slowly) across the nation, will warmer temps finally boost retailers?  Full disclosure Kos is long TGT.
• Drag your kids kicking and screaming if you must, to school  47% of jobs are at high risk of becoming computerized over the next few decades, says a new Oxford University study..  (Do you really want them living with you for the rest of your life?)

Many eyes are watching the VIX as it has not decayed recently and made another new low.  This holding pattern could be due to concerns over Russia possibly invading the Ukraine (who believes them when they say "nyet"), concerns over lackluster earnings, the dreaded "taper", fear of rising rates and a long-in-the-tooth bull run. 

Looking back over recent history, the VIX did a similar basing in the Spring/Summer of 2013 when each month, there seemed to be a "fear" the Fed would announce removing their foot from the QE gas pedal during their FOMC meeting.  18 Italian banks being downgraded just poured more fuel on that short term fire spiking it even higher.  Of course, the market recovered but there seems to be much more going on behind the curtain at this point.

To quote Marvin Zonis from last weeks CBOE Risk Management Conference, "“We are in the age of major, major political risk.”  Not only is taper on people's minds, but larger geo-political concerns are out there as well such as

• Just goes to show you, when it's hated, it can outperform.  Who was the outperformer for your money in Q1?  Bonds baby! Bespoke
• Today is Option Expiration for some weekly options.  Monday will be end of month and end of quarter.  Redemption selling has been pretty vicious but orderly.  Some feel this is the beginning of a larger correction and that reaction rallies should be sold at the higher level.  Clear rotation out of tech and small caps into fixed income, financials and oil/gas. Kos picked up slivers of her favorites names last night looking for some window dressing.  Keep an eye on USD/JPY for proxy for risk appetite.  To those not so brave, let the market show it's direction before pulling the trigger and even then, be nimble and prepared to bail.
• 60 minutes will be doing a spot on Elon Musk and TSLA Sunday evening.
• Early on, there's been market chatter of further easing coming out of Japan and Fed's Evans talking to reporters that he feels rates won't be increased unt

• Life intervenes today so I'm limited on my reading time but will add a few as I can
• The bearish $2 BILLION dollar bet that spooked the market.
• Work vs. Welfare.  In some states, you're better off being on Welfare, which is tax free by the way, than working.  While to many, this is an argument to lower Welfare benefits, to me it screams that the minimum wage should be raised and tied to the cost of living.  Welfare wasn't designed to be a "living wage" but Corporations like MCD and WEN take advantage of the system; thus boosting their bottom line (yes, which we love) BUT it costs the taxpayer unnecessary millions each year.  Something has to give.
• Glenn Beck is out with a new pos video, touting that we are approaching the brink of World War III (it couldn't be more fear mongering to boost his ratings, could it?  After all, he doesn't have to be accurate to ruffle feathers.  For example he says that Russia and China are NOW trading in the Yuan in a dastardly plot (yes it's new!  No, it'

If you were a Branch Manager as I was and your Branch continuously lost money, you'd be talked to and given stiff warning.  Eventually demotion was in order, if not completely being fired.

If you run a department and it's wasting thousands, tens of thousands, would you keep your job?

If you're a General, do you ever lose your stars?  Are they ever slapped down to a Sergeant Major or Lieutenant for looking the other way as BILLIONS fly by?

What if there are Millions, no, Billions being wasted every year?  Is no one held accountable?  Does no one have the power to say "that's enough - no more"?  The bookkeepers must be a total joke.  We have the time and manpower to investigate Benghazi and by all means, let's introduce a Bill that would prevent a custodial parent from dating or having sex without a Court order until a divorce is final (honest to God) yet no Congressional hearing on the enormous waste in Military spending.  No one slapped.  No one demoted.  No one fired.  Everyone loo

• Variant Perceptions has been warning clients to beware of small caps as liquidity is withdrawn.  Large caps should become more in favor for many reasons, including cash on their balance sheets.

• French car maker Peugot announces collaboration with IBM.  StockBuz had originally advised accumulation on the lows in IBM September 2013 in what has turned into a triple bottom.