MyHappyTrading.com's  Instablog

It was a volatile morning while stocks bounced around and experienced fast swings in a tight range.  We got shaken out of a couple of trades in the morning.  But, soon, much attention turned to gold as it rallied to a new record high, trading above $1084/ounce!  Gold surged on news that the Reserve Bank of India bought 200 tons of gold from the IMF for $6.7 billion.  In our Trading Room, conversations on gold got started early:

tc924 November 3, 2009 6:41 AM
gold is on the move

HappyTrading November 3, 2009 7:36 AM
ABX
really strong; good earnings last week...

GLD
breaking out...

We went in on a couple of nice trades on GLD (gold ETF) and cashed out on intraday gains as high as +75%:

November 03, 2009
01:00 | HappyTrading GLD ($106.45) Sold to Close GCZKZ Nov 104 calls, at $3.50 +75%
12:58 | HappyTrading GLD ($106.40) Sold to Close GCZLA Dec 105 calls, at $4.05 +47%
12:26 | HappyTrading GLD ($106.33) Sold to Close GCZKZ Nov 104 calls, at $3.40 +70%
11:11 | HappyTrading AMZN ($118.90) Sold to Close QZNWC Nov 115 put, at $3.05 -22%
06:47 | HappyTrading V ($76.20) Sold to Close VKO Nov 75 calls, at $2.80 -26%

GLD ended up +2.41% for the day.  SLV (silver ETF) charged +5.2% higher.  The gold and silver miners also did very well:  ABX +7.29%, AEM +7.53%, GOLD +7%, PAAS +7.67%.  Solar stocks were active today.  CSIQ received an upgrade today and jumped +11.71%.  Chinese solar stocks also saw decent gains:  TSL +10.91%, YGE +4.64%, STP +2.67%.

Rail stocks got a big boost today from Buffet's $26 billion buy for the rest of BNI shares, paying $100 per share, a $31.5% premium to Monday's close price.  BNI vaulted +27.51% to close at exactly $97.  CSX closed +7.31% higher, while UNP added +7.9%.

The Dow ended down 17.53 points; SPX added +2.53 points; Nasdaq gained +8.12 points:

Commodity sectors bounced today, led by GDX (gold miners) with a +7.7% rise.  OIH (oil services) gained +2.55% while USO (oil) was up +1.63%.  XME (metals and mining) tacked on +3.34%.  BTK (biotechs) added +3.46% for the techs.  XLF (financials) was flat.  FXI (Chinese ADRs) slid slightly.

SPX

SPX added +2.53 points to close at 1045.41.  Its 10-day MA and MACD went lower.

Nasdaq

Nasdaq gained +8.12 points to close at 2057.32.  Its daily AMs and MACd slid.

The market managed to close in the green today, but, was basically unchanged.  It seems to be sheepishly waiting to hear what the Fed will say tomorrow.  Before the Fed, there are more new economic data in the morning:  ADP employment report, ISM Services, and Crude Inventories.  After the market, CSCO will report earnings.  So, there will be a lot of things for the market to digest tomorrow.  After two weeks of selling, the market certainly has room to rise.  Most sectors bounced today, but, semiconductors remained weak (cautious statements from Morgan Stanley).  Semiconductors are good indicators on techs; so, keep an eye on these.  Even though gold made a new record high today, the dollar managed to go slightly up.  We'll also be watching how the dollar will move to the Fed's statements tomorrow.

Good night and HappyTrading! ™