This week was dominated by the US and European central bankers speeches. They both confirmed their accommodative monetary policy. However the FED just confirmed its commitment to the bond buying program until the economy would have showed sign of improvement. The ECB, on the other side, decided to take really Read more…
The trade idea that we recommended on Abbott is still sitting on a near-to-zero P&L because the stock has realized less volatility than we expected. While given the protective nature of the trade keeping the position open until option expiration would not lead to much risk, we still recommend to Read more…
Last week we suggested to leverage on our quant models to play out the cointegration existing between Apple and Amazon by shorting roughly 2 Amazon stocks for each Apple stock bought. The idea, which benefited from both a fundamental and quantitative edge has returned a profit of roughly 5.5%, assuming Read more…
After a long ride south, investors are now given the highly debated Q1 results, which did not seem to bring enough surprise to trigger a turnaround in the stock. However, what we see is indecisive investors frenetically buying and selling the stock on expectations of a short-lived rebound, hindered by Read more…
Abbott has endured a strong rally that took out $35 level, leaving the stock set to benefit from the momentum that is being built up following the positive Q1 results. The overall sector is becoming more popular in the screens of traders as Life Technologies Corp. it is set to Read more…
Gold’s fall coupled with worrying macroeconomic data ignited a risk-off sentiment this week, turning investors far more pessimistic. If we add the UK downgrade, usual May sell-in and the weak momentum across markets of last week, we can imagine a bearish scenario for the coming days. In particular, we believe Read more…
After having come very close to the 100 peak, this week the USD lost some ground to the JPY trading close to the 98 level. We believe that the next target is obviously the breaking out of the 100 line. On the one hand we have updates from BOJ governor Read more…
We believe that in case of a strong distress the Nikkei index can suffer the most. Why not European equities? We believe that European equities have already suffered from the recent turmoil while the Japanese index has been heavily unaffected and has recently rallied dramatically, completely diverging from fundamentals whose Read more…
We believe that the strong fundamentals of the US economy will further push the USD that recently has underperformed its counterparties. However we believe that in the long run the currency will appreciate. We suggest two ways to take advantage of this outlook: First by selling put options on the Read more…
Trade idea: take advantage of the low-volatility environment with a butterfly strategy After breaking several all-time highs the US indices are now poised to move higher with less and less volatility. Good news coming from the job market and retail sales is welcome with a sudden decrease in implied volatility Read more…
Herbalife LTD. is a small cap company, by every measure. It sells weight management, nutritional supplement, energy, sports & fitness products and personal care products. It was founded in 1980 by Mark Hughes, who is still the president. It has a market capitalization of $4.27bn and some growing net sales. Read more…
HSBC Holdings, Plc Market Cap (as of 8/03/13): $203.55bn Newcastle Investment Corporation Market Cap (as of 8/03/13): $2.83bn On March the 5th HSBC Finance Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of HSBC Holdings Plc, agreed to sell a portfolio of unsecured and homeowner loans to Newcastle Investment Corporation and SpringLeaf Finance, Read more…
Trade idea: exploit the autocorrelation of all-time highs The US is growing, unemployment is back to 2008 level and confidence has increased. Stocks followed through and set an all-time high. The situation we are in puts many investors out of their comfort zone. Many seek to get back into stocks, Read more…
Technical analysis: Facebook has been out of favour for a while, following a disappointing IPO that pushed into negative territory the P&L of the new shareholders. However, during the downturn a bullish pattern has formed. The stock trajectory has created a cup-and-handle that historically predicts a surge in price. The Read more…
Trade idea: Long Eurostoxx 50 We believe that the current bullish sentiment can continue in the short term so we suggest to take a long position in the risky assets that have been underperforming during the recent weeks and that did not break out their recent highs. Scanning the markets Read more…