GS

Commodities are a TAX. They are the worst kind of tax because they flatly (not progressively) charge every man woman and child in this country more money for the same food, fuel, shelter and clothing that they had to have last week in order to live.

The markets continue to move higher as I had predicted, after the bottoming tail on February 5th, 2010, I start to look for new leadership. That leadership may come from financial stocks that have b

57% of our trade ideas made money this week despite the chop.

We have plenty of time to be right on the rest and it's an opportunity for you to review the week, see the logic behind the trades and possibly pick up some of these positions for better prices than we entered them ourselves.

The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE: SHW) announced diluted earnings per share were $.71 compared with $.42 last year. analysts average $0.52. SHW beats by $0.19.

Net sales in the Paint Stores Group decreased 11.4% in the quarter to $920.2 million and 12.9% in the year to $4.21 billion due primarily to decreased paint volume sales.

What a day in the market! This morning Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson will be on the hot seat regarding the bailout of American International Group (NYSE:AIG). The members on Capital Hill are wondering and asking why AIG was bailed out? The perception from many

The volatility last week was wild with earnings that just did not cut it. However, the real shock came when President Obama, due to a republican win in MA and the super majority gone in the senate, was forced to talk of tightening the noose on bank and the future risk they wish to take. Considering these banks like Goldman Sachs Grp. (NYSE: GS) made half their revenue from tradin

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE: GS) reported diluted earnings per common share were $8.20 compared with a diluted loss per common share of $4.97 for the fourth quarter ended November 28, 2008. analysts average $5.20. GS beats by $3.

Fourth quarter net revenues were $9.62 billion and net earnings were $4.95 billion.

One concept to keep in mind is whether the market is too bullish or too bearish. As I write this article, there are predominantly bullish articles posted on the financial websites. This gets me worried that the market might be changing direction to take a turn down. I would’ve used the opposite direction if the opportunity was available.

80% of our trades (60) were successful in the past 2 volatile weeks because we identified and played a range.

BAC announced they would be paying back the TARP funds by raising money in an offering next Monday. The stock gapped higher today and pushed up only to reverse hard and sell into the 20/50/200 moving average area of support.

Today is Wednesday November 25, 2009 and I am in a selling mood, not because I am extremely bearish but because I see a potential profit play. I am looking to sell covered calls on some of my holdings. If you're thinking about selling covered calls like me, today may be the day to do it!

In a previous OptionMaestro.com post, I outlined 30 stocks which I wouldn't mind going long at these levels. I wrote about getting long the stocks by using the buy-write option strategy. This is an updated post to that one, adjusting the strikes and prices accordingly for options expiration today.

With the November options expiration approaching us Friday, I thought I would outline some trade ideas on stocks I wouldn't mind going long on, that would return good percentages by Friday (as of market close Friday November 13, 2009). When using the buy/write option strategy, it is important that you are willing to hold the security in case it is below the strike price at options expiration.

As of today the top ten most active stock option contracts traded were:

1. BP (BP) November 55 Call Options
2. BP January 50 Call Options
3. BP January 40 Call Options
4. Eli Lilly (LLY) January 30 Call Options
5. S&P 500 SPDR (SPY) November 107 Put Options
6. BP January 45 Call Options
7. Bank of America (BAC) November 16 Call Options

Public Storage (NYSE: PSA) announced funds from operations ("FFO") increased to $1.44 per common share as compared to $1.08 per common share for the same period in 2008, representing an increase of $0.36 per common share. analysts average 1.25. PSA beats by $0.19.