Trade Ideas for February 9, 2010

A little tired this morning after having the privilege to attend an Orlando Magic basketball game last night. One of the better games that I have been to in quite some time. However, the late-night, hour drive home (got home around 1am), and the rather early start to my morning (I typically get up each morning at 5am to prepare these write ups for you each day), makes for a tough beginning.

Nonetheless, the market is looking to rebound after yesterday’s losses as it should be another quiet day on the news front. At 7:45am ET we have the ICSC-Goldman Store Sales, followed by the Redbook at 8:55am, Wholesale Trade at 10am.

Currently the futures are showing the Dow up 47 points, followed by the Nasdaq up 12 points, and the S&P up 7 points.

Here are Today’s Trading Ideas…

Potential Swing Trade (Long): Charles River Labs (CRL) – A very nice bottom in place during the last quarter of ’09, this stock has, since mid-January, been pulling back to support levels, and based on recent volume patterns, could be ready to resume moving back up. Place you stop on this play at 34.09.

Click Here to See the Rest of My Trading Ideas.

Potential Swing Trade (Short): Hilltop Holdings (HTH) – This stock is putting in its fourth consecutive higher low, and shown no ability to break through the 50-day moving average in the process. As it stands now, this stock has rallied nicely of late, but couldn’t make any progress technically from a bullish perspective, and instead is quickly showing signs of giving up those gains from the past two weeks, and moving back lower again. Place you stop-loss on this play at 12.05.

Bounce Plays (Long): Microstrategy (MSTR) – A quick one day sell-off has quickly stabilized, or at least, is trying to. Yesterday it completed a very nice morning star candle formation that often tends to signal bottoms in price trends. Place your stop-loss here at 76.20.

Pullback Opportunities (Short): Lexmark Int’l (LXK) – a recent long position of mine, this stock took off earlier this month on good earnings, but has since been throwing up some caution signs with the long upper shadows on each daily candle stick. This could be a sign that the bulls are getting exasperated and may be looking to book their gains. Place your stop-loss on 33.10.