Stress Relief

On days like today, I require a good reliever of stress. I’m seeing my longs knife lower and the market trade sideways. While it’s not good, I know that I only entered the longs a few days ago, a little late to the party, especially in tech names. So it’s not entirely bad that they give back their gains from my entry, especially in the stocks that have rebounded so nicely, like ENTR, ARUN, MU, etc. At the same time, I’d prefer them to stabilize a bit more smoothly.

I also entered two small hedges this morning, TZA and SKF. While my gut is telling me to be long, I’m not impervious to the horrible economic data, the negative newsflow or the fact that we just put in four consecutive green days. Should we retrace a bit, I’ll be a bit protected. Should we sit here and consolidate nicely, I’ll take the hedges off.

I also initiated a short in CRM, my first short in a long time. I intend to build some short positions the higher we go. While my gut is telling me to be long right now, my mind disagrees. I cannot look at the necessity of five central banks rescuing the largest economic participant in the world economy as a positive. It reeks of Lehman and Bear. The EU banks know what all the banks hold, because they all hold the same shit, and no one was willing to lend to each other? Should the recently opened borrowing opportunities dry up or close completely, this market will be sub S&P 1000 in a jiffy. Not to mention that all this bank bailout business is for naught, if the economy doesn’t turn the fuck around. Seeing as how it’s all based on the job market, and the job market fucking blows, I’m not too optimistic. All that said, I wonder why my gut says to be long.