FANG Goes Bang and Boom

• President Trump news from NATO paying more to defense reduced trade issues and drove everything up. Amazon opened above it's all time high and ran further along with other FANG except Netflix which got a downgrade. Credit card companies ran along with defense stocks. Retail stocks were down for the most part.
• Facebook and Microsoft moved to new highs, but if you follow me you know I enjoy trading options on Alphabet (GOOGL) and it ran and ran today. The one minute chart indicated that it was going higher, but everything else indicated that FANG was over bought. I waited for a turn down and never got it  but I did take advantage of what upside was left since I got in so late. I was very leery and took profits and as soon as I saw it was going higher I bought back in. 
  
• I am expecting more upside on Friday  but will be ready to sell to take profit as soon as I see it turn down. When you have lost money waiting on it to continue in your direction you will take profits and buy back in. Don't fall in love with this style as this happens about once every other week. You just want to make sure you are on the right side. 

Exciting Start to the Week in the Market

• Apple is holding its annual developers conference starting today and this time the stock didn't drop. It actually hit a new high again. Amazon hit a new all time high as it was up the whole day. Alphabet was up for most of the day also. Facebook didn't lose too much after the new report on the sharing of user data.
• Microsoft hit a new high with news of their purchase of Github.
• Nvidia hit an all time high also today. Netflix was up, but Micron was not. 
• Almost all retail stocks were up today including Macy's hitting a 52 week high, Home Depot gained 4 points, Walmart and Best Buy were up too. 
• Boeing was up with positive news before market open which appears to be a reoccurring theme, but it struggles to hold on to its gains.
• Verizon, the bank stocks and oil stocks were down today. 
• Tuesday is setting up to be a day of retraction and I am sure Trump will have something to say for Wednesday to create a drop. The market is going up as the Nasdaq hit a new all time high today, but there appears  to be a reason every week for a drop.

Monday Ups and Downs

• The market opened Monday up and peaked around 10am. It went down, back up, then down... it finished the day on the upside although at its lowest levels of the day. It sets up for a great week at Home Depot reports earning Tuesday morning before the market open and HD has a history of beating expectations for over 13 quarters so we expect the same tomorrow. 
• Home Depot pulled Walmart along with them to the upside as they report earnings on Thursday before the market opens. I would look to buy Walmart options Tuesday morning if the market has a positive reaction to HD earnings. If the reaction is negative, I would wait until the afternoon to buy those options and I would look for 2 weeks out at the money.
• Tech stocks including the FANG stocks were mixed today. Microsoft appeared to be a winner today. 
• Another boring rainy day watching the stock market in Orlando today. Hopefully tomorrow will be more exciting.

Amazon to Splat!

• Amazon ran up so far yesterday that it ran too far and went down today along with all of technology stocks. Google, Apple, Intel, Netflix,... everything went down after open. There was very little upwards movement, but the downward movement was not dramatic. Everything ran up with positive earnings this week made Friday a day to breathe. Even through earnings I have noticed that Google has shown resistance on Friday of each week where it has a nice move upwards. 
• In political news, Trump appeared to be mending fences with Germany. He basically said that Iran needs to put up money to fight Isis and they are not allowed to be nuclear armed. The investigation of Russian involvement with Trump's presidential campaign ended with no proof of collusion as Trump stated before. Korea appears to be uniting. So all appears to be getting better in the world today. Surprisingly the stock market didn't appear to notice.
• Everything went down before recovering to finish the day flat including Home Depot and Verizon. Good money could have been made buying calls at the early drop and selling about 30 minutes later.
• After the market closed it was announced that the merger of Sprint and T-Mobile will be completed. Given the 2 worst reception cell phone companies are merging, their new name should be Splat. I thing that is a better name than Worst Mobil, Hopeful Mobil or Almost Good Enough Mobile. WTF (WiFi Telephone is Fine).

Amazon, Chipotle Crazy Good!!!

• Chipotle's big earnings report was rewarded by doubling last night's gain today. They were the biggest winner until Amazon reported earnings after the market close on today. Not only did they beat their numbers, they announced that Prime Membership cost is increasing from $99 to $119 a year. Amazon's stock price jumped $100 in after hours.
• Microsoft and Intel had great earning reports after market close today also. I enjoyed trading Google options today as they started off lower from 1035 down to 1020 which is where I bought my 2 Call Options with a Strike Price of 1030 and sold them when Google hit 1040. I was done for the day, but Google wasn't done running up as it hit 1052 before closing at 1043. I expect similar movement on Friday on the heels of Amazon's huge day.
• Home Depot was up huge. HD has been in the cross hairs of professional investors for over a month looking for a break out. I didn't see anything new about them today so I hope to see they maintain the gain on Friday. 
• JP Morgan had a hard time getting out of the red today, but did end higher. Now that the tech companies are blowing away their earning reports, the banks look less exciting even with a rising interest rate environment. Apple was up and then down today. Boeing fell early, came up quickly, didn't come down to the morning low and by the late afternoon past the day's high above 345.
• Verizon was hampered by AT&T's weak earnings, but still finished the day close to even.

IBM Pain, Market News

• IBM opened down and leveled off 4 more points down after a disappointing earnings report yesterday afternoon despite beating estimates from what I have read. Funny think is that while IBM is down, Microsoft (MSFT) and Intel (INTC) were up to the point Microsoft is within half a dollar of its all time high and Intel made a new all time high today. 
• Spotify is expected to report earnings after close today and I expect it to be positive since they just went public with their stock a couple of weeks ago. This should drive Netflix in the same direction tomorrow. So if it is good, Netflix will hit a new high tomorrow. If it is not, expect a day like today. Spotify was up during today's trading which has shown to be a set up to drop after earnings are announced after the market close.
• Netflix and Google came down but traded within a predictable range all day. GOOGL opened at 1079, down to 1072, up to 1077, down to 1070, up to 1079, down to 1072, up to 1080, down to 1073, up to 1080, down to float around 1076 near close. I like this trading range from a day trading prospective as you have a clear defined trading range that it didn't break out of. This was held down because of the large run up yesterday and cautious reaction to IBM's call.
• Home Depot went straight up to 180 as they reports an increased technology presence very soon.
• Best Buy (BBY) and Amazon moved sharply up today on news that they will enter a partnership for selling televisions. This is very positive as Best Buy has matched Amazon on pricing for a couple of years which has given Best Buy a leg up with their ability to demonstrate features and have a great return policy. ROKU traded down on this news which makes no sense to me as ROKU devices are sold in Best Buy as well as integrated in many televisions sold today. I see this as being positive and possibly presents an opportunity to ROKU to incorporate Alexa into their devices with their own partnership with Amazon.
• JP Morgan and the banks were up quickly and dropped drastically after the first half an hour. Sharply is a dollar! The earnings reports from the banks have given temporary gains only being taken back and dropping lower although the percentage changes are not that substantial and I think you are wasting money if you are buying options to make money. American Express reported after market close today beating estimates, having a spike up and I would expect a drop in the first half hour of the market open tomorrow. That would be a great time to buy some PUT options on American Express at 9:45am on Thursday.