Wednesday, January 3, 2007

Automakers, the Fed and Down Goes the Market

The slump at the automakers is starting to take on the look of what's going on in housing with 13 percent drops in sales at GM and Ford. That couples well with concern generated from the Fed minutes that the housing crunch will spill into other areas of the economy. We see it in almost real time with these auto numbers. and the stock market has sold off the highs of the day.

There was no doubt from after the ISM release that you could see the rebound in the dollar coming like a freight train and that it would mean trouble for gold. I have to admit that with this bad cold I came within 20-cents of being stopped out on the futures part of my trade and have only a mental stop in mind on GLD. It is never an easy ride with gold. But I had no idea since I was napping from 10:30 until about 1:30/ The range has been extraordinary on the Feb contract, from a low print of $627.10 to a high today of 647.80. I'd say with ADP and automakers down the crapper gold will soon be bouncing back.

My Jan40 ADBE puts are back in action again and sizzling nicely. While I'm a big believer in this company's products, I'm also a believer in, "show me da' money". Lots of big product rollouts coming and the proof to take the stock even higher will be in how earnings look out into the 2nd and 3rd quarters. Even my NKE Jan 95 puts may have a fighting chance.

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