The markets continued to shoot higher to start off this week after good news was released from a number of companies, and the Dow finished within 200 points of 12,000, which is the highest it has been since June 2008. Intel gave technicals a big catalyst when the company announced that they will raise their dividend. Further, the National Association for Business Economics commented that they are most optimistic about the economy and jobs coming back since December of 2007. Overall, though, the market showed great strength rebounding on bargains that have hit the market after a red finish to last week.The Dow finished up 108. The Nasdaq finished down 21. The S&P 500 finished down 1.66. Gold finished neutral.
The Oxen Group finished the day well with a solid day trade in Ethan Allen Interiors (ETH) that worked for 2.1% intraday. The stock made a nice move off of our early morning entry with earnings looming. Some investors who held the stock into earnings were given a great report, and the stock rose over 9% in after hours. We, additionally, entered into four new positions today. We took a double position in Ruth’s Hospitality (RUTH) as the stock looked poised to make a nice bounce after a two-week drop. We took another position in DryShips (DRYS) as the stock has dropped to levels it was at in November, and it looks poised for a bounce. We also entered two new plays of the week in E*Trade (ETFC) and Ryland Homes (RYL). Both stocks looked poised for big gains before earnings as we entered them today.
On the Longtem Portfolio, we were able to exit a 1/3 position in one of our holdings in Trina Solar (TSL). The Longterm Ratings Portfolio has now improved to 2% realized gains with our four exits thus far in the $46,000 Portfolio. We have 10/12 positions in the green. We, additionally, updated our Skechers story with a reiteration at Hold and dropped our price target from 28 to 24.
Moving into tomorrow, we are holding RUTH, DRYS, ETFC, and RYL. We will be hoping for some good news out of Consumer Confidence and the Housing Market Index as well as strong earnings to help keep this rally going.
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