Trade Ideas for February 1, 2010

As January goes, so goes the rest of the year – right? Well, for the bull’s sake, that better not be true, because January had one nasty month to start the year with. Once again, the market is trying to rebound, and, as has been the case of late, Monday’s have been one of the better trading days for the bulls. Friday’s market action in my opinion was unbelievable, that despite the gains all the indices were trading with, that it still gave back everything, and went decisively into the red. If one was looking for this market pullback to be a buying opportunity, now has to think twice, because, no one is buying this dip, which makes it more likely that we are seeing a long-term trend reversal in the market.

On the economic front today, we have Personal Income and Outlays at 8:30am ET, followed by ISM Manufacturing Index and Construction Spending at 10am. Much of the market will be keeping one eye on Friday’s monthly employment number. Earnings today includes Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A) and Exxon Mobil (XOM).

Finally, futures are showing some positive momentum heading into the open, with the Dow up 42 points, the Nasdaq 5.25 and the S&P up 4.6 points. Let’s see if they can hold these gains.

Here are Today’s Trade Ideas…

Potential Swing Trade (Long): Spartan Motors Inc (SPAR) – This stock saw a significant pullback in early July that continued until it saw a base form in early October through the end of 2009. In early January, the stock broke above resistance at 6.00 to fly to 7.00 but has since pulled back to that 6.00 level once again. This stock has a high level of volatility in regards to its intraday price swings, so be sure to consider the risk prior to initiating a position. The ideal stop-loss is 5.89.

Click Here to See the Rest of My Trading Ideas

Potential Swing Trade (Short): Alcon Inc (ACL) – Hit a new high at the end of last year, has since pulled back off of those highs, and is trading with a decisively bearish tone. Also of note, is the high level of volume that has been pouring into ACL, indicating that it is in a distribution phase. My stop-loss here would be at 160.71.

Bounce Plays: Enzon Pharmaceuticals (ENZN) – Held support in the 9.60 area, and showed impressive strength despite Friday’s market sell-off. Stop-loss here should be placed at 9.68.

Pullback Opportunities: Privatebancorp Inc (PVTB) – the only stock that was filtered into my pullback screener, was this one here – and it provides a nice setup for market weakness. On Friday, it finally showed signs of some cracks in the damn. Stop-loss at 14.13 on this stock.