Missed yesterday..

9am EST For those who are regular readers, I apologize for not getting in a post yesterday. I had some preparations to make in front of a vacation I am going on this coming week and next week. As you can imagine, posts here will be a little spotty for the next week or two.

The market has gotten significantly weaker throughout the morning since the PPI and retail sales numbers this morning. They were both worse than expected. Those who were waiting to get long might find an opportunity today at the market open.

Goldman Sachs reported numbers last night that were simply outstanding. The stock will open lower today as they will be pricing $5 Billion in new shares in a secondary offering. They are raising capital to pay back TARP funds. The question for me is simply, "Why?" They have $164 Billion in cash on their balance sheet and they made almost $10 Billion last quarter innet earnings. With a fortress-like balance sheet and huge earnings and cash flow, why dilute shareholders? $10 Billion is such a small percentage of the cash horde with huge amounts of cash coming in quarterly. The move concerns me if I were a long term investor. They have the political connections and the size to never have a long term problem with solvency, but I would be nervous with moves like this equity raise if I was a buy-and-hold-forever investor. Fortunately I am a trader, and I can make a ton of money with this stock trading in and out. The day-to-day swings make this a very profitable stock to trade.

I bought some calls and puts in front of the GS earnings announcement yesterday. I will probably be selling the puts today and holding on to the calls for the rebound. At the end of the day, they reported a fantastic number and the shares will ultimately go higher. They will just be hit short term. That will be a great time to take advantage of the puts I own.

I will be doing some research on an old IBD favorite today. That company is Intuitive Surgical (ISRG). The DaVinci maker has been rallying recently and it may be time to take a look at the shres prior to earnings. This is not a recommendation of a buy but I am certainly going to take a look today.

Keep your head up in this market. There are opportunities out there. Until next time, stay low risk..