Stock Watch-Lisit for January 25, 2010

It’s great to finally be back writing my daily articles – last week was awful – trying to restore SharePlanner, while at the same time the market was dropping like a rock. The market has a lot working against it such as extreme overbought conditions that has to wear off, a not so great earnings season, and with the healthcare vote in shambles, the President and Congress are now re-focusing their efforts on the financial markets which is never a good thing, especially when words like “financial overhaul” and “new bank regulations” are being used.

At the moment, the markets are rocking with Futures showing the Dow up 47 points, the Nasdaq up 7 points and the S&P up 6.5 points. Not much in terms of economic reports today, with only the Existing Homes Sales due out at 10am ET. However, we do have some significant earnings reports due out with Apple (AAPL), as well as Halliburton (HAL), and Texas Instruments (TXN).

I’ve added a new feature to the website, over to the right hand side of the screen, (you may have to scroll down some) where you can see what my current long and short positions are as well as my recently closed out positions. As you can see, I am completely cash as last week’s pullback took me out of all my positions – the good thing is that it was all with gains.

Here are Today’s Trade Ideas…

Potential Swing Trade (Long): Finish Line Inc (FINL) – This stock used to be one of my favorites for shorting back in 2008. However the same can’t be said now, as this stock has worked off its overbought conditions very nicely in an orderly and controlled manner, unlike the general markets. Also the fact that this stock rallied the past two days is a huge testimony to the underlying strength this stock is showing. If you are looking at this market sell-off as a buying opportunity, than FINL provides a very nice setup, and would encourage a stop-loss of 10.95.

Potential Swing Trade (Short): Nbt Bancorp Inc (NBTB) – This stock has been trending against the general market since August of last year. The rally of late has been on Obama talking about overhauling the banking system which has caused some excitement in the regional banks. Should the market be priming itself for a trend reversal, NBTB would be a stock that would provide a great risk-reward setup as it continues to put in lower-lows and lower highs. My stop-loss on this trade would be 21.33.

Stocks Ready to Bounce: Yamana Gold Inc. (AUY) – Commodities have taken a beating lately and so has Yamana (not your momma!). AUY showed some strength on Friday, and is resting up against a minor support level. I wouldn’t get in this stock right away, since the stock market is poised to open up big, I’d instead let some of the morning euphoria wear off before considering initating a new position.

Stocks Ready to Pullback: Ruddick Corp (RDK) – a regional grocery store chain has made a very nice move upwards, but is butting its head against resistance on a head & shoulders pattern. There is a nice doji pattern from Friday, but I wouldn’t just jump into RDK right away, watch to see what it does with a potential market bounce that we look like we are getting today, and if it underperforms or shows some weakness then short it. I’d put a stop at 27.35.