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Daily Market Update – December 10, 2015 (Close) For anyone who thought that last Friday’s nearly 400 point gain was going to herald in a new age, one that was able to transcend the first interest rate hike in nearly 10 years, the first 3 days of this week begged to differ. All three of the previous trading days of this week had something to disappoint. It wasn’t just that the market went lower, but it was also in how it had done so. All 3 days had failed attempts to rally, but maybe yesterday’s action was the most disappointing. The fuel that should have come from the announcement of a merger between DuPont and Dow Chemical, one of which is a DJIA component and the other of which could easily also have qualified, did little to give markets a reason to sustain a reverse course. The early rise of the market yesterday was quickly reversed and in a big way. Also, the large differential in performance between the DJIA and the S&P 500 indicated that the gains weren’t very broadly spread. The DJIA would have been down about 50 points had it not been for DuPont’s performance. This morning, the early futures trading was higher, but those numbers had been deteriorating as the opening bell was approaching. With no new positions opened this week, it wasn’t too likely that any would be forthcoming in the final 2 day of the week. Even with yesterday’s short term rally, there still hadn’t been a “Welcome” sign hanging out in front of the market and I haven’t seen any good reason to wander in more deeply. Today’s rally was nice, but it, too, finished well off of its highs and makes me wonder what’s next. With all of this week’s dividends I’d have been content to let that serve as the week’s income flow, although I really very much wanted to see something good happen with the expiring positions this week. While they haven’t fared as poorly as the rest of the market this week, and while I would have preferred to have seen them all get assigned, at this point I was of a mind to take whatever I could get in that regard. With the rally seen in the earlier part of the day, I decided not to take any chances with a give back tomorrow and rolled over 3 of the four positions a little earlier than I would ordinarily have done. As the afternoon progressed that seemed to be a good idea, but we’ll see tomorrow. I’d have like to see those assignments, but getting some rollovers instead, still left me happy, as we get ready to enter the final week of the December 2016 option cycle and we get ready for the market’s reaction to next week’s FOMC decision and the press conference that will follow. |
