What a day for us yesterday in the Oxen Report. Second day in a row that we were able to make money off both of our buy pick of the day and the short sale. For our buy pick of the day, we went with ERY. We wanted to play the commodities market and buy the Direxion Daily Energy ETF that corresponded with the crude inventories. If inventories were rising, then it was bad for the price of oil, and we would want to buy ERY. Crude inventories rose by over 2 million in the past week, and this sent the price of oil plummeting. We picked up ERY right as the news came out for a price of 13.86 and get out at 14.26 for a 3% gain. On the short sale side in the post, we decided to short Hercules Offshore Inc. (HERO). We picked this stock because the company had gotten a severe downgrade that havled its target price and was technically ready for a drop. I recommended in the entry/exit of the stock to wait for it to bounce up to 6.60 before buying into the stock. We were able to get into it there and exit at 6.31 for 3%. The stock got as low as 6.15, so much more money could have been made. We still were 2/2 with 3% gains on both selections.
And now, it is time for Thursday.
Buy Pick of the Day: Direxion Daily Real Estate ETF Bull or Bear (DRN or DRV)
Today, the market has some pertinent economic data that will really influence where it is going. At 8:30 AM, the initial jobless claims data is to be released. Last week, the numbers came in much lower than expected at 545,000 claims filed. This week, analysts are expecting the same number. Anything higher will hurt the market, but anything lower could help to restart the rally that faltered yesterday. The real gem, though, comes at 10:00 AM, when the market will be presented with existing home sales for the month of August. Existing home sales, which is the annualized rate of how many residential buildings will be sold during the year, will be adjusted to the number of sold in August. The rate last month was 5.24 million homes, but this month the Natl Assc. of Realtors is expected to announce the rate has increased to 5.40 million.
With the market being exactly flat (Dow up…