SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - VIX Jumps a Bit As Financials Weigh on Stocks

It is hard to tell if this is the debt ceiling uncertainty weighing today on equities or if punters just took their FOMC profits ahead of another uncertain government confrontation. This is a short term oriented market which means light on fundamentals and heavy on the technical trade.

Not much in the way of economic news this week. Stevie Cohen floated an offer of a settlement on criminal charges for insider trading today, with a billion dollar fine being bandied about, a cost of doing business for Steve who is no stranger to billion dollar paydays.

Blackberry (BBRY) finally got an offer for their troubled business which is $4.7 Billion, a premium of 3% over Friday's close.

"BlackBerry said on Monday that it had reached an agreement to be taken private by a group led by Fairfax Financial Holdings.

The company signed a letter of intent that would pay shareholders $9 a share in cash, a deal that values the faltering smartphone maker at about $4.7 billion, according to a press release. Fairfax already owns 10 percent of BlackBerry."

The company has hit the wall, with a legacy set of users accustomed to its face keeping it afloat but barely. I suspect this private equity company will likely carve the company up, and perhaps retain a small portion of it. Or just rip and strip it, to mark the end of an era.

Have a pleasant evening.

Moyers: Inequality For All with Robert Reich

This study of the decline of the middle class and the failure of upward mobility in the US is worth watching.

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Triple Witching Hit on GLD and SLV, COMEX Next Week

All those happy momentum buyers of paper gold and silver, GLD and SLV, got a stiff gut check today, especially if they were playing the miners and ETFs with options, because gold and silver took a determined bear raid selloff in honor of the September triple witching expiration today. It happens four times per year.

The front month in SP 500 and NDX stock futures is now December. Can you believe it? Where has the summer gone?

Next week is the COMEX futures option expiration on the 25th which is Wednesday. So we might see the usual up and down action around that time.

Paper metals are a speculative trade, and playing them with options is gambling. And I think 'the house' cheats.

So take it for what it is worth.  If you do it, you may look forward to many days like today.

As you may recall, September is not a big delivery month and there has been a lack of serious movement of bullion in and out of COMEX warehouses the past week.  It could pick up a bit as the month closes next week, but I would look forward moreso to October and December for possible test of inventory levels.

I am already watching December gold and silver futures, which is more of a personal quirk, since they do not follow the same pattern as stocks.

As you know I have said that the empire of the precious metals cartels will fall apart from the edges first, with the core of it in London and New York to go at the last. It could happen differently, but that is what I think.

Have a pleasant weekend.

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - Antics on the Triple Witch Option Expiration

Today was the triple witch options expiration in stocks.

I should have given you all a heads up on this, but the week has been full of personal distractions.  I assume that anyone who trades stocks and options would know this, but I forget that there are gold and silver people who can become alarmed at these sorts of technical shenanigans.

"An event that occurs when the contracts for stock index futures, stock index options and stock options all expire on the same day. Triple witching days happen four times a year on the third Friday of March, June, September and December."

It is important to precious metal traders because of the big option interest in the paper gold and silver trades in GLD and SLV.  

As you know I think all amateurs should be out of these markets from a short term trading stance, given the low stock volume and even lower level of regulatory oversight.  We're not in Kansas anymore, Toto, this is Crooklyn.

Have a pleasant weekend.