Summary – Tuesday, 2008.III.04.

Personally, I’m getting a little tired of Gasparino’s parlor trick; and even more tired of the markets’ response to it. I am starting to wonder how much [[ABK]] is paying that man to spread the same rumour over and over. But whatever, the late-day rally, possibly extending to tomorrow, gives yet another opportunity to get short.

One thing to keep an eye out for, however, is potential strength in tech, following Cisco CEO John Chambers’ upbeat outlook on his company’s and the overall economy’s prospects. His negative comments back in early November correctly signaled the current downtrend. Could his positive comments now turn the tide the other way? Many have partially credited today’s rally to his comments.

Anyway…kind of a slow trading day, personally. I was looking to get some cash working, but I gaged the market wrong last night when I thought it had a decent chance to go up. I was not fast enough in the morning to flip things around, thus only initiated 2 new positions:

• March 25. Puts in [[BWLD]] – had strong support at $23. My initial bet was long, but the short side risk could be managed just as well.
• March 270. Puts in [[BIDU]] – identified the ideal entry at $245. Instead of sticking to the plan, I bought early, at $240. Even after today’s gain (putting me at -10%), it’s still in a downtrend, so I’m holding, with the standard 30% trailing stop.

My other open positions fared well, although [[LM]] is looking a bit ‘stronger’, so those puts may have to be sold tomorrow.

Oh…and does anybody know what happened to Yahoo‘s charts between 11am-12pm today? It’s like they took a lunch break a la Hong Kong.