Friday, December 28, 2007

Gold vs U.S. dollar

Gold & U.S. Dollar

Cyclic Opposition

We view the shorter daily cycle on the streetTRACKS Gold Shares (NYSE-GLD) ETF plotted above the daily cycle of the U.S. Dollar Index.

Note the current cyclic opposition - We now have a buy/gold sell/Dollar condition that could persist through mid January 2008





Sunday, December 23, 2007

Santa Claus

Technical Phenomena & Annual Events December through January in sequential order

TAX LOSS SELLING: Stocks in down trends are generally exposed to panic liquidation in the last two weeks of the tax-loss selling window. Two examples would be Celestica (CLS) and Talisman (TLM). These stocks will typically rally from Christmas through the new-year mid-January

SANTA CLAUS RALLY: It is a well-known phenomenon, first discovered by Yale Hirsch and published in his Stock Trader's Almanac. During this year-end rally, stocks tend to advance, sometimes sharply, from the day after Christmas to the first two days after New Year's Day.

Several drivers for the Santa Claus Rally:
The end of tax-loss selling.
A tendency for investors to fund IRAs (RRSPs) at the start of a new year.
Financial institutions and mutual funds seeking to be fully invested for the New Year.
Upbeat year-end stock forecasts for a good January (the January Barometer).

This year Santa arrived on Friday December 21, 2007


THE JANUARY BAROMETER: As January goes – so goes the year. Not to be confused with the January Effect that observes the performance of small cap vs. large cap stocks in January.

The "First Five Days" in January indicator holds loosely that the direction of the first five trading days of the year is a valid predictor of the direction of the market for the remainder of the year.

As proof of the indicator's effectiveness, it's proponents look at a 55-year record and state that of 35 "First Five Days" that finished up, the stock market finished up in 30 of those years - an impressive 85% win rate for the Barometer. Caution this is not a money management tool!

Friday, December 14, 2007

Fort Chicago Energy Trust

I bought Fort Chicago Energy Trust (TSX-FCE.UN) to-day for my RSP because of the

recent return of FCE.UN to a sector relative Out-Performance

The chart below is that of FCE.UN plotted above the TSX Utilities Index

The two lines below are averages of relative performance (RA)
Note also the long base

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Orphaned Stocks

On October 24, 2007 - Standard & Poor's Canadian Index Operations announces the following index changes to the large cap S&P/TSX 60 Index

Alcan will be removed from the S&P/TSX Composite and Capped Composite, the
S&P/TSX Equity and Capped Equity, the S&P/TSX 60

Cott Corporation (TSX:BCB) and Celestica Inc. (TSX:CLS) will also be removed from the S&P/TSX 60

Gildan Activewear Inc. (TSX:GIL), Inmet Mining Corporation (TSX:IMN) and Uranium One Inc. (TSX:UUU) will be removed from the S&P/TSX Completion and Equity Completion indices and placed in the S&P/TSX 60, 60 Capped and Equity 60 indices. These transactions will be effective after the close of Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Indexers and tax loss selling has killed this stock - often orphaned stocks will perform better after being booted from a benchmark index

Friday, December 7, 2007

Zarlink Stopped Out Breakwater Entered

On Thursday mid-day we bailed out of our Zarlink trade at 68 cents. On Wednesday there was a big cross of 4 million shares at 70 cents and so we decided to sell if the stock traded for two days under the cross price. Clearly this trade was not working from the moment we took on the position. We rolled the proceeds into the over-sold Breakwater at $1.75







Dec 06, 2007 Sell ZL Cdn. 10000 10000 0 0.68 Filled
Dec 06, 2007 Buy BWR Cdn. 4000 4000 0 1.75 Filled









Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Bombardier Inc. bull?

There is always a bull market somewhere, the key is to identify a long term theme and stick with it .

Aerospace and transportation is a long term theme.

Monday, December 3, 2007

Tim Horton, money maker?

Tim Horton is a wanted stock - now a component of the S&P/TSX60 this liquid stock is being discovered by nervous money managers who will lighten up on the commodity issues and have a need to stay invested