Apr 25 Options Trades Update

Japan's Nikkei benchmark rose 2.4 percent to hit a two-month closing high on Friday. This is after Wall Street's see-saw performance on Thu which saw selling pressure initially keeping the stock market in negative territory for the majority of the morning, but sentiment turned positive when buyers returned to the fold to lift stocks into the green for a healthy gain. I wrote additional but limited N225 Jul 16500 Call Options for 25 pts. The covered calls plays which I wrote for May against UBS, HPQ, C appears that they will turn out alright....since this strategy works for sideways to up market conditions & this appears to be what the market is exhibiting right now.

Apr 24 Options Trades Update

U.S. stocks ended Wednesday's session in positive territory but off session highs, which tempered the Asian equity markets, where Tokyo's Nikkei eased 0.2 percent. The Shanghai index, China's most-watched stock index surged 9.3 percent Thursday, its biggest percentage gain ever, after the government cut tax on stock transactions in a move widely seen as an effort to boost slumping markets. I wrote limited N225 Jul 16500 call options for 20 pts.

Apr 23 Options Trades Update

Although the Nikkei ended overall higher last week as with other major indices, the 1st 3 days of trading this week suggests that the bearish to at most cautiously optimistic undertone remains. I am looking to shore up on N225 Jul's calls & Jun's puts when opportunity arises this week. You probably noticed that I am taking my time especially on the Jul calls & the reason is because my Jun calls position are currently trading at higher premiums Vs when they were sold, against me. I need to watch those closely for stop-loss triggers. Usually by now, I would have sold the Jul options had it not been for the recent stronger than expected surge.

Apr 17 Options Trades Update

Following Wednesday's Wall Street surged after investor sentiment was lifted by positive earnings surprises from several major corporations, Asian markets also rosed to a one week high. Having a bearish to at most cautiously bullish bias, I am eyeing the N225 Jul 17000 Calls next to add to the positions. Of course I can be wrong with my market reading & thats why I do what I do....sell options.

Apr 16 Options Trades Update

Wall Street managed to end on a positive note. Some earning reports that surpassed analyst's expectation provided the positive bias against a backdrop of negtive inflationary data but perhaps met with relief by traders that it wasn't worse. Has the market bottom out? Something interesting to note is that Lehman Bros's CEO made a remark that the worst of the crdit market crises is behind us. Is it time to get back into Financials? In any case, I am activating some selective purchase of Unit-Trusts buy from my SRS account. After the close of trading, Intel announced 1Q earnings there were in line with forecasts on higher than expected sales. It also provided positve guidance for Q2 higer than current expectations, leading to a jump in the share price in after hours trading. This bodes well for Technology sector for sure. Anyway, more earning announcements to come for the rest of the week with the likes of Coca-Cola, JPMorgan, Wells Fargo. CPI report will also be out Wednesday & will be closely watched.

Apr 15 Options Trades Update

Following last night's lackluster performance on Wall Street, Asian markets are trading upwards perhaps due to a technical rebound or that Wall Street Monday's performance was not too bad or as some chartist has indicated, stock markets have found a bottom & are poise to go up from here. Who knows? As option sellers, we don't have to be 100% correct which way the market will go and no one can consistently time the market. For that matter, we can be wrong & still end up make money. Tuesday is poised to be an interesting day as major companies are set to report earnings. In addition, the market will get the latest read on inflation with the release of March's Producer Price Index (PPI). FTSE is trading up some 0.8% as we speak, snapping a 5 session losing run.

Apr 14 Options Trades Update

Shares across Asia fell sharply following last Friday's slump on Wall Street. The Japan Nikkei fell 3.1%. I was queing to write limited N225 May 10000 Puts for 20 points but never got filled. Highest was 15 pts towards the close. The market has been extremely volatile & we have seen it turned on the dime. So anything can happen although the general bias is still bearish to at most cautiously bullish. Being an option seller, we are looking at where the market won't go rather than where the market will go & selling far out-of-the-money Call or Put options 2-3 mths out, allowing for greater margin of error with certain strict cut loss rules which pretty much sums up the strategy.

Apr 13 Options Trades Update

Next week is set to be a busy one on Wall Street, as earnings season will kick into full gear, with 200 companies set to report. Financial firms will be in focus, with reports coming from US Bancorp (USB), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Wells Fargo (WFC), Merrill Lynch (MER) and Citigroup (C) to name a few.
There will be several market moving economic reports. Traders will be taking note of the latest read on inflation with the release of the March PPI and CPI indexes. March retail sales, and March housing starts & building permits will also garner added attention from the market.

Apr 12 Options Trades Update

Due to General Electric’s (GE 32.05, -4.70) massive 2.8% S&P 500 weighting and wide-range of businesses, the market pays attention when it provides a disappointing outlook. Then it should come as no surprise that stocks got clipped on Friday after GE--the second largest U.S. company by market cap behind Exxon Mobil (XOM 88.62, -0.93)--reported earnings that missed estimates and provided a disappointing outlook. I am expecting some -ve impact to Asian markets in the week ahead given the intertwiness of the economies . I am eyeing the N225 May Puts options (10000 & lower) to add to the write positions.

Apr 11 Option Trades Update

Japanese stocks snapped a 3 day losing streak to close up 2.92% Friday after last night's better than expected performance on Wall Street. I wrote additional but limited N225 Jun 16000 calls for 15-20 pts.
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