I have moved up to #1047 out of 1,438,436 contestants, putting me in the top 0.08%, but have suffered a couple of small disappointments since Friday’s update. The first disappointment was the inability of NetLogic Microsystems (NETL) to hold their early gains on Friday. The stock was up 14% in the early going, bet ended the day with only a 3.5% advance. The second disappointment was entirely of my own doing. I had expected that Wright Medical Group (WMGI) would report before the close today and it now looks like I jumped the gun there. This was my screw-up, as I failed to confirm the anticipated timing of the earnings announcement before placing the trade. It is possible that this Texas-based company may report before the bell and give me some much needed volatility, but that is looking increasingly unlikely as the day wears on.
The silver lining, if there is one, is that the WMGI trade, which is down about 1.5% at the moment, may have saved me from jumping in to ICICI Bank (IBN), which is down over 7% at the moment. IBN, an Indian bank, and Kookmin Bank (KB), a South Korean bank up 2% so far today, were the other two finalists in my daily search for earnings volatility.
Getting back to horns, J. J. Johnson (pictured above) is probably the greatest jazz trombonist who has ever lived. His collaborations with fellow trombonist Jay Winding are legendary and would be an excellent first stop for anyone interested in checking out Johnson’s talents.
The recent VIX strength may be related to relative FXI weakness in addition to the fact that the Federal Reserve reduced free reserves by about 1/3 in the 2 weeks prior to last Wednesday (in line with the VIX divergence). These are, of course, technical reasons for a pullback but not fundamental reasons (at least yet) to cause a real correction.
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