SONC (Sonic Corp.)
FFIV (F5 Networks, Inc.)
CHRW (C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc.)
Good morning beta group,
Yesterday was interesting…one choice fairly flat and then off by 4% after an initial small gain (LLY) and we still like this company. The other choice, TUP, was up huge…big gainer. Someone asked, when do we come out of beta, by the way? Well, we have, as of this morning eight months of data compiled, for each and every trading day in the U.S. markets since February 19. Every day. Every. Day. Which means mornings; early mornings for your humble author. And we have done very, very well indeed. Thanks to all you that have provided help and input…invaluable. There’s fifty of you, by the way, that get the alert each morning. And gang, it’s valuable data. So, to answer the question about the end of the beta group. Soon. Stay tuned; I won’t (try to) cut you off completely and we’ll figure it out as we go forward. I’m going to continue on for at least another month as is. We have audited performance data now. I’m very happy with the numbers as we are consistently beating the major indexes, and our peer competitors, by 40%. Our choices are averaging a daily gain of 2.23% from “open” to “daily high.” So, the realistic number of daily average achievable gain is 2.001%. Daily. For eight straight months. I’m stunned, and frankly, humbled too. As we move on to the natural progression of our business model, these data are the supporting cast we need. As an aside, the three firms, law and accounting, that have measured these results actually display our success higher than we do. We know what’s obtainable and doable. I was going to be happy with a number of 1.33% daily. Again, stunned and humbled. Thanks again to those that have helped. Truthfully, I get much joy hearing from the new traders in the group that are actually making real money each and every day; most are using my trading strategy and that’s a bonus emotional benefit too.
Now today, jobless claims and earnings are the foci. Gang, obscure as it is, I’m not alone with a potential deflationary spiral…anyway. Jobless claims is a key; we need something well below 525,000 to please me. We’ll see at 8:30 AM. Dollar is still getting smacked around by the mighty Euro but is fighting back against all others. Truthfully, it’s ok. So, when we talk about the dollar, we usually chat about commodities and oil is now above $80 a barrel. Gold? $1057.23; wow! Four Dow components reported so far and all beat estimates. Super love 3M as a company, by the way. Talk of “pay czar” (just can’t in good conscience capitalize those two words…) activity weighs on the markets. Horrible, horrible idea. But, yes, if you owe the government money, you need to follow their rules. Ugh. Overseas, Asia sold off a bit overnight and in the early Europe trading day, they too are selling a bit. No drama. Ok, here’s jobless numbers…not great… initial claims for jobless benefits rose 11,000 to 531,000 in the week ended Oct. 17. The median estimate of economists was for claims to be 510,000. Futures should react negatively to this and they are, now signaling a lower open after having treading neutral ground all morning. Five for five on the Dow components now. Now a mixed open prediction…who really knows?!
So, with that, I say, thanks and happy trading.
Wes for the guys