I Should Have Slept In Today

by Larry Levin


Today was another snoozer. For most of the day the S&P range from high to low was an anemic 8.00-points, while the majority of the volume traded within a smaller range of about 4.00-points. Given that, I should have slept in today.

Not even today's horrifically bad Bank of America earnings could make the market move. Pollyanna and friends didn’t say, "Well it could have been worse;" however, nobody was disturbed by it either. After posting a jaw-dropping loss of 77% of it profits, which was 50% worse than many analysts, BAC lost 2.5%. BAC should have announced its earnings last week, for if it had, its stock surely would have been bid up 20% or so.

The consensus of analysts polled by FactSet Research had been for a profit of 49-cents a share but it came in at just 23-cents a share.

"We remain concerned about the health of the consumer given the prolonged housing slump, subprime issues, employment levels and higher fuel and food prices," CEO Ken Lewis said in a news release.

Luckily the market has moved beyond this and has set sail for at least 1,400.00 in the S&P, maybe 1410.00. Who has it wrong, the market or Ken Lewis? Only time will tell.

And this isn't hardly worth mentioning any more: Crude-oil futures rose today to ANOTHER new record closing price of $117.48 a barrel, as weakness in the U.S. dollar and concerns over supply disruptions buoyed prices.

Record crude prices have been pushing gasoline prices higher. At the pump, the average of U.S. retail gasoline prices rose to a new high of $3.503 a gallon, well ahead of lat month's price of $3.266 a gallon, according to the AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report.

San Francisco is expected to become the first major city to see the price for regular gasoline hit $4 a gallon. On Monday, regular gas averaged $3.976 a gallon in the city, according to AAA.

Real Time Trading Signals*for

Trade Date: 4/21/08

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


1) VA sell @ 8:45am at 1387.25 = -.75 & b/e

2) OTF sell @ 10:15am at 1384.00 = -2.00 & -2.00

3) VA sell @ 10:55am at 1386.25 = +.25 (1 lot)

4) OTF buy @ 11:30am at 1385.00 = +1.00 (1 lot)

5) VA buy @ 12:30pm at 1386.50 = -2.00 & -2.00

6) Engf sell @ 1:20pm at 85.00 = -1.25 (1 lot)

7) Algorithm trades (2)...combined total...-10.75

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

1) Buy @ 9:02am at 718.0 = -1.3 (1 lot)

2) Sell @ 1:20pm at 715.0 = +.5 & -.9...-$170


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