Boring!

by Larry Levin


After a long day of trading in the pits, I must confess I enjoy the boob-tube's IQ-challenged shows once in a while. Who can't use a laugh form time to time, right? And the guy who has been making millions of people laugh for decades is Homer Simpson. Homer has many catchphrases and one of them is when he shouts - "BORING!" in his special way...usually at inappropriate times. And whether I was trading in the pit today or on the screen, the markets made me keep hearing Homer over and over again. Good grief, the total S&P range was a miniscule 10.00-points, "BORING!" indeed.

Surprise! Wachovia shares fell 10% today after the firm reported a larger than expected loss and said it will raise sell about $7 billion of preferred shares and cut its dividend to boost capital levels. The firm posted a $350 million first-quarter net loss and a higher loan-loss provision.

The precipitous decline in housing-market conditions and unprecedented changes in consumer behavior prompted us to update our credit-reserve modeling and rely less heavily on historical trends to forecast losses. As a result, we have substantially increased our reserves," said Ken Thompson, Wachovia's chief executive officer, in a statement. I guess Ken didn't get the memo: All is well - the bottom of the markets and housing are in...no need to adjust reserves.

The only other thing of interest today was the potential buy out of Circuit City by Blockbuster. This sounds like a terrible idea, like looking for attention for the wrong reasons. Does "Jumping the Shark" ring a bell?

Real Time Trading Signals*for

Trade Date: 4/14/08

E-Mini S&P Trades*
(before fees and commissions):

1) B/away sell @ 8:35am at 1332.00 = -2.50 (1 lot)

2) IDVA sell @ 9:35am at 1332.50 = b/e (1 lot)

3) IDVA buy @ 10:10am at 1331.25 = -1.50 (1 lot)

4) FT buy @ 12:00pm at 1335.00 = +1.75 & b/e

5) OTF buy @ 12:25pm at 1333.75 = b/e (1 lot)

6) FT buy @ 12:45pm at 1331.75 = b/e (1 lot)

7) Engf sell @ 1:05pm at 1331.50 = +1.00 & -1.00

8) OTF sell @ 1:30pm at 1332.25 = +2.00 (1 lot)...-.25

E-Mini Russell Trades*
(before fees and commissions):

1) Buy @ 9:09am at 686.4 = -1.0 (1 lot)

2) Buy @ 9:48am at 686.6 = +1.7 (1 lot)

3) Sell @ 10:43am at 687.4 = b/e (1 lot)

4) Sell @ 1:32pm at 690.2 = b/e (1 lot)...+$70


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