Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) Gambles On Changing Its Black Friday Strategy Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) isn't interested in going overboard to win the Black Friday war this year, and judging from the stock's response to the announcement last week, investors are none too happy about it. And, given a couple of quarters of lackluster earnings and the subsequent 32% year-to-date pullback from...
Candlestick Trading Patterns: Shooting Star While a stock's or index's momentum can be compelling to a trader, unexpected reversals can quickly wreak havoc on what appeared to be a smart decision. One effective way to spot potential reversals is by careful review of the shape of the bars of that trend. Specifically, one can glean a great deal of subtle...
Relative Strength Index (RSI) The relative strength index, often abbreviated as RSI, is a straightforward technical analysis tool designed to indicate what's it name would suggest… the strength (or weakness) of a stock's or index's recent performance in relation to its average, longer-term performance. It should not be confused with a technical tool simply called relative strength, which compares a...
Credit Spreads Credit spreads are a relatively simple option-trading strategy, made attractive by the fact that they generate income right at the trade's initiation, have a defined maximum loss, and can benefit from time decay rather than be adversely impacted by it. Conversely, credit spreads have a defined maximum gain – the initial credit. Credit spreads use two options per...
Credit Spreads Credit spreads are a relatively simple option-trading strategy, made attractive by the fact that they generate income right at the trade's initiation, have a defined maximum loss, and can benefit from time decay rather than be adversely impacted by it. Conversely, credit spreads have a defined maximum gain – the initial credit. Credit spreads use two options per...
J.C. Penney (JCP) Shares Remains Stuck in Rut Despite Clear Sales, Earnings Progress Retailer J.C. Penney (JCP) fared measurably better than expected last quarter, in terms of earnings as well as sales. But, the company's unwillingness to raise its same-store sales-growth forecast for the full year torpedoed the stock. In its third fiscal quarter of 2015, J.C. Penney posted a...
Cisco's (CSCO) Post-Earnings Tumble Can't Be a Complete Surprise Networking giant Cisco (CSCO) may have topped last quarter's earnings and revenue projections, as well as reported top and bottom line growth compared to year-ago levels. But, the outlook for the current quarter wasn't good enough, sending CSCO shares lower in after-hours trading Thursday and on Friday. In the third quarter...
Macy's (M) Disappointing Outlook Isn't an Industry-wide Omen Macy's (M) may have managed to top its third quarter earnings estimates, but between its revenue shortfall and a dialed-back earnings outlook, spooked investors sent the stock down a hefty 12% on Wednesday. All told, the department store chain posted a profit of 56 cents per share on $5.87 billion worth of...
Apple (AAPL) Hitting a Rarely-Experienced Headwind Apple (AAPL) shareholders are having a tough week so far, though for understandable reasons. The stock fell nearly 3% on Tuesday alone after a lethargic Monday session, largely spurred by concerns that the once red-hot iPhone 6s has seen a surprisingly sharp dropoff in demand. Fans and followers of AAPL might try to argue...
Iron Condors Iron condors are a type of limited risk option trading strategy that involve multiple spread trades, prompted by an assumption that the underlying stock or index will see little to no net movement through the options' expiration, with the ultimate goal of seeing all the options expire worthless which will allow a trader to retain the entire net-credit...
