- Lets be honest. The market doesn't look very good, does it? Despite the low volume bounce, when it sells off it sells off fierce. My playbook thinks that pre-options weakness should be bought heading into options week. Staying long. Concerned about the summer swoon, but we may have had it. The question is whether enough buying power is out there and if they're remotely interested in stocks. Or if they're just on their new Nintendo Wii Fit, getting in shape for bikini season.
- Better make it flour toritillas on your next trip for Mexican food. Corn futures rose for a seventh straight day Thursday to a new record, as rain in the Midwest raised concerns that the grain's production will be reduced. Futures have jumped nearly 20% since June 3.
- Strong retail sales boosted by tax rebate checks. Cash from government stimulus checks helped push U.S. retail sales up at twice the rate expected in May but the strength could be fleeting as households contend with soaring prices and the worst housing slump in decades.
- But both Subway and Quiznos have foot-long sandwiches for $5! What inflation?
- I think a lot of folks are taking those tax rebate checks to Costco and Wal-Mart. Maybe to Best Buy today to buy their new 80 gig Playstation 3 with Metal Gear Solid 4. Maybe to the casino to bet on the Lakers at home tonight.
- The media is convinced that this is a great depression or something. I'm not seeing it anywhere in my daily travels, though. For all the recession talk the last few years, we haven't had one quarter of negative GDP. Nor have we had massive layoffs. Just remember 1981, 1991, 2001. It's not like that at all. Not even close.
- Yes, AAPL had negative divergences and seems to have had a "sell the news" reaction on their iPhone 3g news release. Stopped out, but put back on because of a gut feeling that the stock may bounce as the July 11th date approaches. Yeah, not a great chart. I know.
- I still plan on getting an iPhone. There are some other nice phones coming out that I've had my eye on. But I'm ready to try the Apple experience. Plus, since it comes out in July, it'll give me something to do in the off hours to kill time before football season!
