Permabulls always say everyone’s bearish. And permabears always say everyone’s bullish. Neither side provides evidence for their views. So let’s see how traders are feeling after what may have been a change in complexion yesterday. With hot momentum stocks like NVIDIA (NVDA) and Tesla (TSLA) taking beatings, let’s measure the market’s mood for insights on where things may go: 1) VIX Spread – Bullish The VIX is ticking up, but the 3-month VIX spread is at +3.83, which indicates traders are still not concerned with volatility. This is a bullish reading. 2) CNN Fear & Greed Index – Bullish The Fear & Greed Index is at 75. F&G operates on a 1-100 scale, and 75 is in extreme greed territory. 3) AAII Sentiment – Neutral The latest AAII Sentiment Survey shows that 38.5% of individual investors are bullish, which is right in-line with the long-term average of 38.5%. This is Neutral. 4) CBOE Equity Put-Call – Bullish The CBOE Equity-Put Call ratio is at 0.62 with a 3-day moving average of 0.61. This indicates higher-than-average bullishness. 5) ISE Sentiment – Bearish The ISE Sentiment Index is at just 92 (92 calls for every 100 puts) this afternoon – which is a bearish reading. And the 10-day moving average is 81.3. This also indicates bearish sentiment. Conclusion Out of 5 sentiment indicators, we have 3 bullish, 1 neutral, and 1 bearish. Plus, keep in mind that the ISE Sentiment Index seems to always read bearish no matter what’s going on in the market. So that 1 bearish indicator doesn’t count for much. So just as a broken clock is right twice a day, the permabears are now right: traders are indeed very bullish right now. And when bullish sentiment meets stretched technicals, the bears tend to have a better chance at mounting successful attacks.
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Traders are loving them some Apple (AAPL) today. The stock is ripping up 3.9% on a perfect storm of good news. First, one of the new iPhone 7’s biggest rivals — the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 — has been recalled due to exploding batteries. Yesterday, T-Mobile (TMUS) and Sprint (S) reported huge pre-order numbers, and now there is chatter about strong pre-order activity. Today, CEO Tim Cook appeared on Good Morning America and discussed “augmented reality,” which he believes is more commercially viable than virtual reality. That’s a clear nod towards a major new product category. Plus, the new iPhone 7 and Watch Series 2 are getting very positive reviews. But while the stock is ripping, the real action is in the options. 843K call options have traded today. This is 2.5X the average daily volume over the past 10 days. And it’s not even lunch time yet! The put-call ratio ratio for Apple options today is 0.29. The 10-day average is 0.65. So normally, about 1.5 Apple calls trade for each put. Today, 3.4 calls have traded for each put. We could be setting up one heck of a “sell the news” reaction but for now the ride is pretty nice!
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