It was a typical summer day, low volume and lots of price swings. Although the swings weren't as wild as we've become accustomed to, there's no doubt that light volume leads to wider spreads and more movement. As a matter of fact, it was the lowest trading volume of the year with only 820 million shares traded on the NYSE. This trend will likely continue this week with many traders taking their summer vacations. Regardless, stocks overcame rising oil prices and finished the day with solid gains across the board.

The Market got an early morning boost from an unexpected strong durable goods report. The Commerce Department's data on large-ticket manufactured products climbed 1.3-percent in July, much better than the flat reading that analysts had predicted. Although this report is prone to large revisions, today's news was remarkable considering the supposed state of the economy and business environment. The durable goods report is made up of items that are supposed to last at least three years and is considered a gauge of the business spending as well as consumer spending.

The number of failing banks is taking its toll on the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC). On Tuesday, the chairman of the FDIC reported that it might have to borrow funds from the Treasury Department in order to make it through the expected surge in bank failures. This is because the agency is mandated to reimburse bank depositors immediately after the bank fails.

The last time the FDIC had to borrow funds from the Treasury Department was in the early 1990s. Although only nine banks have failed so far this year, the closure of IndyMac Bank is expected to reach nearly $9 billion. Also on Tuesday, the FDIC revised its problem list of banks to 117 through the end of June.

Concerns of possible production disruptions in the Gulf of Mexico pushed the price of crude higher for the third straight session. With Tropical Storm Gustav closing in on the region, traders worry that an upgrade to hurricane status could cause significant production problems. After all, nearly one-half of the country's refining capacity is done in the region. The anticipation sent crude up $1.88 on the session to $118.15 a barrel. Of course, the weekly inventory data did little to counteract this trend.

According to the Energy Information Administration, supplies declined 200,000 barrels last week. This was below the anticipated 1 million barrel increase that analysts had predicted. Gasoline stockpiles also dropped by 1.18 million barrels last week, but that was better than what analysts had forecasted.

Today's Economic Reports

After a rough start on Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fought to get back some of those losses. It surged 89 points in today's trading and closed at 11,502. Today's action took the index back above its 50-day moving average (red line) on the chart. It has spent most of the month flirting with this moving average. We'll continue to see how it deals with this barrier the rest of the week.

The S&P 500 also took a beating on Monday but has bounced back since then. It advanced 10 points on Wednesday and finished the session at 1,281. Similar to the Dow, the S&P has also battled its 50-day moving average for most of the month. Although it moved back above it today, it has moved back and forth with ease over the last several weeks.

The Nasdaq Composite advanced 20 points in today's session and finished at 2,382. In Tuesday's trading, the index bounced nicely off our support level on the chart, which is just above its 50-day moving average (red line). We'll have to see if it can sustain this bounce for the remaining two sessions of the week.

The one thing about this cycle is that we haven't had any trouble getting filled in our new spreads. We seemed to catch the countertrend on the days we are trying to get into new positions, which helped us get filled fairly fast. After some months of having difficulty getting in one day, it's kind of nice to have lady luck shine on us every now and then. With five spreads going and just over 3 weeks to go in the September cycle, we'd have to say.....so far so good.

Keep in mind that since Monday is Labor Day, the Market will be closed. We love holidays that fall on a weekday. For us, it's just a paid holiday because it's one less day in this options cycle. As usual, we'll move our Sunday night newsletter back to Monday night so that we can include any significant events that might take place over the weekend or Monday. In this type of trading environment, we are becoming accustomed to world events that can push or pull the U.S. Market in either direction. But for now, let's take a look at how we're sitting in our spreads.

CURRENT SEPTEMBER SPREADS

GOOG 440-430 SEPTEMBER BULL PUT SPREAD (10 contracts entered on 08/18/08)

$60.00 per contract profit potential (put spread)

Google started this week heading the same direction that it was moving last week.....south. It spent the whole day red on Wednesday and closed down $5.58 at $468.58. This week the company has dealt with everything from rumors that it's stopping its free nightly dinner for employees to a lawsuit filed over a voicemail patent. The result is a stock that has continued to show weakness over the first three days of the week. However, the stock is closing in on a couple of key support levels on the chart that should help give Google a boost. These are the two lines that we'll be watching closely over the next two days. For now, we have a decent 28-point cushion in this spread.

MNX 180-175 SEPTEMBER BULL PUT SPREAD (15 contracts entered on 08/18/08)

$50.00 per contract profit potential (put spread)

MNX also started this week off on a tumble, but rebounded nicely today. It gained $1.40 and finished the session at $190.03. The index has found support from a key support level and its 50-day moving average (red line). We'll be watching to see if it can hold above these two areas. We currently have 10 points of breathing room in this spread.

AZO 120-115 SEPTEMBER BULL PUT SPREAD (15 contracts entered on 08/21/08)

$50.00 per contract profit potential (put spread)

AutoZone has continued to hold up relatively well this week. After taking a hit on Monday when the Market sold off hard, the stock recovered those losses yesterday and then moved up another $0.96 in today's session. This left the stock at $137.30, which is 17 points above our "short" strike price. We couldn't be sitting much better in this one.

RUT 650-640 SEPTEMBER BULL PUT SPREAD (10 contracts entered on 08/21/08)

$60.00 per contract profit potential (put spread)

After hitting a key support level at 720 on Monday, the Russell 2000 hit the brakes. It was able to move higher yesterday and then add another 9.44 points in today's session. This ate away at most of its loss on the week and leaves our put spread in pretty good shape. The small-cap index is currently sitting over 80 points above our position.

AAPL 160-155 SEPTEMBER BULL PUT SPREAD (15 contracts entered on 08/25/08)

$50.00 per contract profit potential (put spread)

Apple has continued to drift sideways on the chart ever since running up to the 180-point level. It got off to a slow start this week, but moved up $1.03 in today's trading. This leaves the stock nearly 15 points above our put spread. We also have several good support levels and its 50-day moving average (red line) in case we see any more weakness in the indices.

As always, Trade Happy and Trade Smart

The Fed propelled the Market higher on Friday with talk of holding rates steady. Despite the large rally on Friday, stocks finished the week relatively close to where they began, which isn't very surprising considering that we're in the final trading days of August. This time of year is usually light volume because traders are taking their summer vacations. When there's light volume we usually get big moves but the end result is that stocks usually avoid a prolonged direction. This week is likely to be about the same.

Of course, Friday's rally was also helped by one of the largest one-day declines in oil since the early nineties. Crude fell $6.59 on the session and settled at $114.59 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil was pushed lower by the continued strength in the U.S. dollar. Friday's decline in the commodity was the biggest downward move since the government tapped into its strategic oil preserves during first war in Kuwait/Iraq.

Traders also cited the Russian pullback from Georgia as a reason to hit the sell button on Friday. We are doubtful of this reasoning because of the apparent unwillingness of Russia to actually back up their words with action. Regardless of this, the fear premium seems to be dissipating. We'll have to wait to see how long this lasts. According to Blooberg.com, 16 of 29 analysts surveyed believe that prices will increase this week. Seven of the respondents said that oil will be little changed and six said there would be a drop in prices.

Troubled mortgagers Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae remained in the news on Friday as the Street continues to believe that the two will force some type of government intervention. The stocks continued to struggle because if this happens, it's likely that any shareholder value would be wiped out. But even outside of these two, banks appear to be dropping like flies. On Saturday, government regulators seized its ninth bank this year. This time, it was a bank in Topeka, Kansas that collapsed due to bad real estate loans and write-downs.

Last week's other financial concern was undoubtedly Lehman Brothers. The company has been under pressure for several months now, but had rumors swirling last week of a possible buyout from a Korean bank. With this talk now subsiding, the company is left with enormous pressure to either sell of pieces of its company or itself in whole before its next earnings release. On top of this, today there was a story by Market Watch that said CEO Richard Fuld will be forced out of the company by an internal campaign to get him to step down by the end of the year. Of course, this isn't surprising when you look at the weekly chart of LEH (below).

Friday's Economic Reports

After a couple wild days last week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished close to where it began, just off 0.3-percent over the last five sessions. On Friday, the index jumped 197 points and finished the week back above its 50-day moving average (red line) at 11,628. However, it remains down 12-percent year-to-date.

The S&P 500 also moved back above its 50-day moving average (red line) on Friday with a 14-point gain. Although it finished 0.5-percent lower over the last five trading days. On the chart, we have drawn an upward sloping channel that the index has been trading in since its July low. If it continues in this range, we should see a move to the upward end of this range next.

After starting the week with a stretch of red candles, the Nasdaq Composite was able turn things around on Friday. It jumped 34 points on the session, but closed 1.5-percent lower for the week. The tech-laden index reversed at its 20-day moving average (light blue line) on the chart. The Nasdaq remains stronger than the other two indices on the year, but still down 9-percent.

With September being a five-week options cycle, we started most of our spreads a little earlier than normal. By doing so, we were able to place our strike prices farther out of the money and still pick up a good premium for our spread. With the indices whipping around last week but finishing close to where they began, it seems like our spreads were the real winners last week. That's because we make money through the disintegrating time value (extrinsic) in the options. Keep in mind that options that are out of the money are entirely made up of extrinsic value.

While this last week was nearly picture perfect for our strategy, most of the time we only place new spreads with four weeks left until expiration. This is because usually our money is tied up in the current cycle and most cycles are four-week cycles. Although we could close out our spreads early and then get into the next options cycle, we would then have to pay commissions and also lose out on the last nickel or dime of extrinsic value that is left in the "short" options. Not to mention the difficulty in being right in our position for four weeks rather than five. A majority of the time this would not even worry us. But the trading environment over the last two months was certainly not an ideal environment. But with the VIX now dropping back below the 20-point level, this is usually our prime trading condition.

Remember, the VIX is the Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, which shows the market's expectation of 30-day volatility. It is constructed using the implied volatilities of a wide range of S&P 500 index options. This volatility is meant to be forward looking and is calculated from both calls and puts. The VIX is a widely used measure of market risk and is often referred to as the "investor fear gauge". Below is the VIX on a daily time frame. As the VIX goes down, the indices usually go up and vice versa.

On tomorrow's open, we are adding another spread for September. We are going back to one of our favorites Apple Inc. (AAPL). We have been bullish on the fundamentals and growth story behind this company for a number of years, but really like what the stock has done on the chart over the last month. It has once again gained its upward momentum. It has broken above its 50-day moving average (red line) on the chart. Since then, it has pulled back to it but held above it. This is a very good sign going forward. We are placing our strike prices at strategic levels that should help us if the Market falters over the next four weeks.

Please Note: This is a limit order and day order.

NEW TRADE ALERT (1)

Apple Inc. (AAPL)

OPENING 160-155 SEPTEMBER BULL PUT SPREAD (15 contracts)

Sell 15 September Puts at 160 strike price

Buy 15 September Puts at 155 strike price

Total Credit 0.50 per contract

Potential Profit $750.00

AAPL DAILY CHART

CURRENT SEPTEMBER SPREADS

GOOG 440-430 SEPTEMBER BULL PUT SPREAD (10 contracts entered on 08/18/08)

$60.00 per contract profit potential (put spread)

Google took a little dip on the chart just as we were entering our position. However, it made a nice reversal candle on Thursday and then gained $4.06 in Friday's session. This took the tech heavyweight up to $490.59 at the close for the week. This leaves us with a very comfortable 50-point cushion with four weeks left to go in this one.

The company received some very good news last week when it cut a deal with Verizon to provide search capabilities for its hand-held devices. According to reports, the deal would allow Google to keep information from individual cell phone searches. The company also received good news from the latest web search engine rankings for July. The latest data shows Google increasing its dominance with a 61.9-percent market share. Meanwhile, Yahoo and Microsoft continue to lose market share.

MNX 180-175 SEPTEMBER BULL PUT SPREAD (15 contracts entered on 08/18/08)

$50.00 per contract profit potential (put spread)

Similar to the Nasdaq Composite, the MNX made a nice U-turn at its 20-day moving average (light blue line) on Thursday. Then, it surged $2.48 on Friday and finished the week at $193.15. Although it finished the week lower, we're still in great shape in this spread. The index is currently trading over 13 points above our position. We also have plenty of solid support levels on the chart that should help us if we see any more weakness in the Market.

AZO 120-115 SEPTEMBER BULL PUT SPREAD (15 contracts entered on 08/21/08)

$50.00 per contract profit potential (put spread)

AutoZone posted another solid week as it moved between $140 and $132 on the chart. Despite the weakness in the indices so far this year, AZO is sitting just off its 52-week high. On Friday, it advanced $2.38 and closed at $136.72. As we mentioned last week, we remain very confident in the fundamentals of this company and expect the stock price to hold up very well heading into its next earnings release in September. We currently have a safety net of just over 16 points in this spread.

RUT 650-640 SEPTEMBER BULL PUT SPREAD (10 contracts entered on 08/21/08)

$60.00 per contract profit potential (put spread)

The Russell 2000 pulled back to its 20-day moving average (light blue line) last week but then reversed sharply. It gained 12.35 points on Friday and finished the week at $737.60. Although the index remains below its last swing high on the chart, it is well above our "short" strike price. With almost 90 points of breathing room, we shouldn't have anything to worry about this week.

As always, Trade Happy and Trade Smart

It was a strong start and a strong finish with plenty of whipsawing in between. The Market got a boost from strong earnings from HP, but stocks couldn't hold onto those early gains through most of the session. Renewed concerns over the solvency of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae brought back the same old fears and cast a dark shadow over the Market. But a late day surge put most stocks back into the green on the close.

Oil pulled back this morning after the Energy Information Agency announced a surprisingly large build in inventories. The government's weekly inventory report showed a build of 9.4 million barrels last week, easily topping analysts' expectations of a 1.7 million barrel increase. The surge in supplies showed a massive cut in consumer demand. Despite this uptick in supplies, crude finished the session up $0.45 to $114.98 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

However, contrary to the increase in crude, inventories for gasoline dropped by more than analysts had predicted. Stockpiles of gasoline declined 6.2 million barrels last week.

The Street continued to be rattled by problems at Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae this week. Today, rumors continued to swirl around the two government-sponsored mortgagers and their potential bailout. Both stocks hit lows that they haven't seen since the late 1980's and early 1990's. According to a Wall Street Journal report, Freddie Mac officials are set to meet with the Treasury department to get clarity on how the government is able to help reassure investors. With the two companies holding nearly one-half of all the country's mortgages, we have no doubt that the government will continue giving aid to the two companies. Whether right or wrong, it appears that the government is backed into a corner in this case.

While many of the financials were able to finish the day in the green, that did not apply to both Fannie and Freddie. Instead, investors are dropping these equities like they are going out of style. The main reason is that a government bailout would likely wipe out all of the shareholders' value in the stocks. After all, why take on that risk if there's a good likelihood that this might happen. The two charts below show just how far they've dropped in the last six months alone. On both charts, the little rally in July came when the government announced plans to support the companies if needed. Other than a two week rally, this has done nothing to settle down investor anxiety.

Today's Economic Reports

After teetering between red and green all day long, the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished the day with a 68-point advance. The large-cap index gained 0.61-percent in today's trading and closed at 11,417. The Dow bounced off a decent support level in today's session, but we'll have to wait to see if this level will hold. On the upside, the index will probably continue to struggle with its 50-day moving average (red line).

After struggling on Monday and Tuesday, the S&P 500 was finally able to put together a positive session. It gained $7.85 on Wednesday and finished the day at 1,274. Similar to the Dow, the S&P bounced off a decent support level near 1,260 in today's session. On the upside, it will also find tough resistance from its 50-day moving average (red line) and then another barrier at 1,300.

The Nasdaq Composite turned in the weakest performance among the three major indices. It nudged up a mere 0.20-percent in today's trading and finished at 2,389. The good news is that it finished the day well off its session low. The rest of this week, we'll be watching the support level near its 50-day moving average (red line) on the chart. On the upside, the index will likely face selling pressure when it hits last week's high.

Although the moves in our two spreads for September haven't started ideally, we're still in great shape. With four and a half weeks to go in this cycle, we have plenty of time left and aren't going to be concerned with minor moves against us. In the mean time, it's time to get into a couple more positions for September.

We are going back to a couple of positions from last month. The first one is AutoZone Inc. (AZO). We been bullish on the company's fundamental for quite some time, not to mention the stock has been scorching the chart. We especially like this company in the current economic situation. With auto sales continuing to falter and the consumer remaining under pressure, we foresee this company taking advantage of the situation.

Then we are going back to the RUSSELL 2000 INDEX (RUT). We all know the strength that the index has gained over the last month and now we're going to take advantage of it from the put side. With the dollar bouncing back, small caps are the ones positioned to take advantage of the move. By placing this spread with four and a half weeks to go in the cycle, we are able to place our strike prices at very safe levels and still pick up a decent credit.

Please Note: This is a limit order and day order.

NEW TRADE ALERT (2)

AutoZone Inc. (AZO)

OPENING 120-115 SEPTEMBER BULL PUT SPREAD (15 contracts)

Sell 15 September Puts at 120 strike price

Buy 15 September Puts at 115 strike price

Total Credit 0.50 per contract

Potential Profit $750.00

RUSSELL 2000 INDEX (RUT)

OPENING 650-640 SEPTEMBER BULL PUT SPREAD (10 contracts)

Sell 10 September Puts at 650 strike price

Buy 10 September Puts at 640 strike price

Total Credit 0.60 per contract

Potential Profit $600.00

AZO DAILY CHART

RUT DAILY CHART

CURRENT SEPTEMBER SPREADS

GOOG 440-430 SEPTEMBER BULL PUT SPREAD (10 contracts entered on 08/18/08)

$60.00 per contract profit potential (put spread)

Since bumping into a resistance level at $510 last Friday, Google has struggled. It finished lower for the third straight session today when it lost $5.50. The 1.12-percent loss leaves GOOG sitting at $485. Although the action isn't ideal for our put spread, we're still sitting in good shape in this spread with a 35-point cushion. We also feel very good about all of our support levels on the chart, which should help us if the stock continues to show weakness.

MNX 180-175 SEPTEMBER BULL PUT SPREAD (15 contracts entered on 08/18/08)

$50.00 per contract profit potential (put spread)

The MNX also struggled on Monday and Tuesday with two large losses. It was able to stop the bleeding today with a $0.43 advance, finishing at $191.30. Tech across the board ran up this morning after the HP earnings release. However, this run was short-lived, which is evident by where the MNX closed compared to its trading range today. The index is now trading 11 points over our "short" strike price, which leave us in very good shape. We just would like to see MNX start to regain its upward momentum.

As always, Trade Happy and Trade Smart

The strong dollar helped fight inflationary pressures and lift stocks along the way. The once beaten-down dollar hit a six-month high against the euro on Friday. The strengthening greenback is good news for the consumer while bad news for commodities.

Normally, this would have given stocks a robust move to the upside. But with economic concerns still weighing heavily on investors, it might take improving earnings and economic data before we get such a move north.

The slowing economic conditions along with the strengthening dollar helped to intensify the selling pressure in crude last week. It tumbled 1.2-percent over the last five sessions despite the escalating tensions between Russia and Georgia.

Just a month ago, rumors of such a possible disruption would have sent the price screaming higher. But now, it appears that nothing can help prop up the price of oil. On Friday, crude finished the day down $1.24 at $113.77 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.  

Oil wasn't the only commodity to take a tumble last week. Metals in general continued to falter due to the anticipation of a global slowdown. Earlier in the year, traders were using oil to hedge the falling greenback. They were also using gold for safety against the falling currency and indices. However, gold has not been able to avoid the meltdown in commodities. As a matter of fact, it has given back all of its gain on the year and settled at $786 an ounce on the Comex on Friday. This puts gold down 5.9-percent on the year, a dramatic shift in the bullish trend.

We all have seen this reversal in commodities first hand in our X spread. It peaked last cycle and then rolled over fast and furious. That's the problem with high flying trends, once they fall, they fall hard. However, X might be setting itself up for a nice call spread this month. That's the thing about trading, we want to take the lemons that the Market gives us and see if we can make lemonade.

With the price of gas easing at the pump, consumers' confidence started to improve in the Reuters-University of Michigan report on Friday. In the consumer sentiment survey, the index bumped up to a reading of 61.7 for August. Although it was slightly below the analysts' expectations of 62.0, it was higher than July's reading of 61.2. If commodity prices continue to wane, we wouldn't be surprised to see this number continue to climb.

The problem is that there is very little correlation between consumer confidence and spending. So although we'll definitely see a rebound in sentiment as food and energy costs deflate, we might not see a dramatic bounce-back in consumer spending, at least right away. The chart below shows that the current pessimism in this survey is near record lows.

Graphic from Briefing.com

Friday's Economic Reports

The Dow Jones Industrial Average held above its 50-day moving average (red line) on Friday with its 43-point gain. The 0.4-percent advance took the index up to 11,659, but left it down 0.6-percent on the week. The index struggled to make it through resistance at 11,800 last week. If it can regain some upside momentum this week, that resistance is the level that we'll be watching. On the down side, we'll look to see how the index handles last week's low and then the next support level at 11,400.

The S&P 500 also finished the week above its 50-day moving average (red line) last week. It advanced 5 points on Friday and closed at 1,298. For the week, the S&P moved up 0.1-percent. On the chart, we have a nice upward channel that the index has been trading in over the last two months. We'll be watching to see if the index breaks out of this trend, either upwards or downwards. Whichever way it goes, it's likely to be a large move. Based on the last few months, we have an upward bias.

The Nasdaq Composite posted another solid gain last week despite Friday's sub-par performance. It slipped 0.1-percent on Friday, but rose 1.6-percent on the week and is sitting at 2,452. On the chart, the index continued its upward run last week and is closing in on resistance from May and June. We'll be watching to see if these levels can slowdown the NASDAQ. On the downside, we'll be watching last week's low along with support from its 50-day moving average (red line). With the recent run in tech, it's hard to bet against the rising NASDAQ. After all, we surely remember our MNX call spread last week. Over-bought indicators mean very little to this index.

It was close, but no cigar last month. The run-up in our index spreads proved costly for our August spreads. We were able to significantly minimize the close-out cost of our MNX call spread, the RUT was another issue. In the MNX position, the close-out price was just $0.12 over the original credit on the call spread. If you factor in the put spread on MNX, the overall position was still a profit. However, the RUT close-out cost caused us a lot of pain.

We heard from many members who were able to do better than what we ended up with. But we also heard from some that rode it out longer and didn't turn out as well. We rode these two spreads out to the last week because we have numerous indicators showing that they were extremely overbought and should be retracing. While we were able to erase almost all of the time value in the options, it didn't end up mattering when the indexes moved higher. With time running out and the indexes flirting with our "short" strike prices, we determined the best choice was to limit our loss as much as possible by closing them out. Unfortunately, we all know the results. Let's go ahead and add up the results from last month.

EXPIRED AUGUST SPREADS

CLOSED AUGUST SPREADS

X 120-115 AUGUST BULL PUT SPREAD (15 contracts entered on 07/17/08)

$75.00 per contract profit (put spread)

RUT 750-760 AUGUST BEAR CALL SPREAD (15 contracts entered on 07/20/08)

RUT 650-640 AUGUST BULL PUT SPREAD (15 contracts entered on 07/24/08)

$310.00 per contract loss (call spread)

$60.00 per contract profit (put spread)

MNX 195-200 AUGUST BEAR CALL SPREAD (15 contracts entered on 07/20/08)

MNX 170-165 AUGUST BULL PUT SPREAD (15 contracts entered on 07/24/08)

$12.00 per contract loss (call spread)

$46.00 per contract potential (put spread)

AAPL 150-145 AUGUST BULL PUT SPREAD (15 contracts entered on 07/24/08)

$55.00 per contract profit potential (put spread)

AZO 115-110 AUGUST BULL PUT SPREAD (15 contracts entered on 07/27/08)

$45.00 per contract profit potential (put spread)

AUGUST TOTAL (LOSS) - $ 615.00

While it was extremely close to being a very profitable month, being close only counts in horse shoes and hand grenades. The good news is that volatility has been going down along with the fear. This improves the trading environment, which we intend to fully exploit this month. September is a five-week options cycle, giving us plenty of time to get things rolling. However, this also gives us extra premium if we enter new spreads this week.

We are going to start with a couple of our favorite stocks for this month, and take advantage of all the time in this month. By placing new spreads on Monday, we can get extra premium that will allow us to go farther out of the money and place our spreads at conservative strike prices.

Our first spread is going to be a put spread on Google Inc. (GOOG). As many of you know, we've been trading this stock for a very long time. We started trading it again on the Professional Trader side last month and easily coasted through the cycle. We have long been bulls on the fundamental of this company's fundamentals along with its business model. Because the Street was, in our mind unfairly, beating up on this stock over the last few months, we've held off on trading it until we saw a reversal. In this case, we now have a nice chart to go along with our bullish fundamentals. This just strengthens our conviction in this stock.

On the first chart below, we have the Google daily chart. This shows a nice reversal from the low at the beginning of this month and a big upward thrust, taking out old resistance at $500 and now pressuring another barrier at $510. We are going in at very low strikes on the chart, which gives us plenty of cushion and numerous support levels. On the second chart (below), we have Google on a weekly chart. In the professional trader, we are always looking at things on a weekly or monthly basis. This is because the longer term charts shows the stronger trends. This adds to the probabilities and gives us an historical perspective. This adds to our sentiment in this spread. We saw a nice higher pivot on the chart a few weeks ago. Then the move last week confirms the pivot low when it took out the previous highs on the chart. The end result is a very strong conviction in this new spread.

Our second spread that we are entering tomorrow morning is on the MINI-NASDAQ 100 INDEX (MNX). With tech burning up the charts, we feel very good about coming in with another put spread on this index. After consolidating on the chart through the month of July, the MNX has broken out of its old trading range with extremely strong upside momentum. We found this out the hard way last month with our iron condor. This month we are going to take advantage of that strength by coming in with a put spread at very conservative strike prices for a decent credit.

Please Note: This is a limit order and day order.

NEW TRADE ALERT (2)

Google Inc. (GOOG)

OPENING 440-430 SEPTEMBER BULL PUT SPREAD (10 contracts)

Sell 10 September Puts at 440 strike price

Buy 10 September Puts at 430 strike price

Total Credit 0.60 per contract

Potential Profit $600.00

MINI-NASDAQ 100 INDEX (MNX)

OPENING 180-175 SEPTEMBER BULL PUT SPREAD (15 contracts)

Sell 15 September Puts at 180 strike price

Buy 15 September Puts at 175 strike price

Total Credit 0.50 per contract

Potential Profit $750.00

GOOG DAILY CHART

GOOG WEEKLY CHART

MNX DAILY CHART

As always, Trade Happy and Trade Smart

The strong dollar helped fight inflationary pressures and lift stocks along the way. The once beaten-down dollar hit a six-month high against the euro on Friday. The strengthening greenback is good news for the consumer while bad news for commodities.

Normally, this would have given stocks a robust move to the upside. But with economic concerns still weighing heavily on investors, it might take improving earnings and economic data before we get such a move north.

The slowing economic conditions along with the strengthening dollar helped to intensify the selling pressure in crude last week. It tumbled 1.2-percent over the last five sessions despite the escalating tensions between Russia and Georgia.

Just a month ago, rumors of such a possible disruption would have sent the price screaming higher. But now, it appears that nothing can help prop up the price of oil. On Friday, crude finished the day down $1.24 at $113.77 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.  

Oil wasn't the only commodity to take a tumble last week. Metals in general continued to falter due to the anticipation of a global slowdown. Earlier in the year, traders were using oil to hedge the falling greenback. They were also using gold for safety against the falling currency and indices. However, gold has not been able to avoid the meltdown in commodities. As a matter of fact, it has given back all of its gain on the year and settled at $786 an ounce on the Comex on Friday. This puts gold down 5.9-percent on the year, a dramatic shift in the bullish trend.

We all have seen this reversal in commodities first hand in our X spread. It peaked last cycle and then rolled over fast and furious. That's the problem with high flying trends, once they fall, they fall hard. However, X might be setting itself up for a nice call spread this month. That's the thing about trading, we want to take the lemons that the Market gives us and see if we can make lemonade.

With the price of gas easing at the pump, consumers' confidence started to improve in the Reuters-University of Michigan report on Friday. In the consumer sentiment survey, the index bumped up to a reading of 61.7 for August. Although it was slightly below the analysts' expectations of 62.0, it was higher than July's reading of 61.2. If commodity prices continue to wane, we wouldn't be surprised to see this number continue to climb.

The problem is that there is very little correlation between consumer confidence and spending. So although we'll definitely see a rebound in sentiment as food and energy costs deflate, we might not see a dramatic bounce-back in consumer spending, at least right away. The chart below shows that the current pessimism in this survey is near record lows.

Graphic from Briefing.com

Friday's Economic Reports

The Dow Jones Industrial Average held above its 50-day moving average (red line) on Friday with its 43-point gain. The 0.4-percent advance took the index up to 11,659, but left it down 0.6-percent on the week. The index struggled to make it through resistance at 11,800 last week. If it can regain some upside momentum this week, that resistance is the level that we'll be watching. On the down side, we'll look to see how the index handles last week's low and then the next support level at 11,400.

The S&P 500 also finished the week above its 50-day moving average (red line) last week. It advanced 5 points on Friday and closed at 1,298. For the week, the S&P moved up 0.1-percent. On the chart, we have a nice upward channel that the index has been trading in over the last two months. We'll be watching to see if the index breaks out of this trend, either upwards or downwards. Whichever way it goes, it's likely to be a large move. Based on the last few months, we have an upward bias.

The Nasdaq Composite posted another solid gain last week despite Friday's sub-par performance. It slipped 0.1-percent on Friday, but rose 1.6-percent on the week and is sitting at 2,452. On the chart, the index continued its upward run last week and is closing in on resistance from May and June. We'll be watching to see if these levels can slowdown the NASDAQ. On the downside, we'll be watching last week's low along with support from its 50-day moving average (red line). With the recent run in tech, it's hard to bet against the rising NASDAQ. After all, we surely remember our MNX call spread last week. Over-bought indicators mean very little to this index.

It was close, but no cigar last month. The run-up in our index spreads proved costly for our August spreads. We were able to significantly minimize the close-out cost of our MNX call spread, the RUT was another issue. In the MNX position, the close-out price was just $0.12 over the original credit on the call spread. If you factor in the put spread on MNX, the overall position was still a profit. However, the RUT close-out cost caused us a lot of pain.

We heard from many members who were able to do better than what we ended up with. But we also heard from some that rode it out longer and didn't turn out as well. We rode these two spreads out to the last week because we have numerous indicators showing that they were extremely overbought and should be retracing. While we were able to erase almost all of the time value in the options, it didn't end up mattering when the indexes moved higher. With time running out and the indexes flirting with our "short" strike prices, we determined the best choice was to limit our loss as much as possible by closing them out. Unfortunately, we all know the results. Let's go ahead and add up the results from last month.

EXPIRED AUGUST SPREADS

CLOSED AUGUST SPREADS

X 120-115 AUGUST BULL PUT SPREAD (15 contracts entered on 07/17/08)

$75.00 per contract profit (put spread)

RUT 750-760 AUGUST BEAR CALL SPREAD (15 contracts entered on 07/20/08)

RUT 650-640 AUGUST BULL PUT SPREAD (15 contracts entered on 07/24/08)

$310.00 per contract loss (call spread)

$60.00 per contract profit (put spread)

MNX 195-200 AUGUST BEAR CALL SPREAD (15 contracts entered on 07/20/08)

MNX 170-165 AUGUST BULL PUT SPREAD (15 contracts entered on 07/24/08)

$12.00 per contract loss (call spread)

$46.00 per contract potential (put spread)

AAPL 150-145 AUGUST BULL PUT SPREAD (15 contracts entered on 07/24/08)

$55.00 per contract profit potential (put spread)

AZO 115-110 AUGUST BULL PUT SPREAD (15 contracts entered on 07/27/08)

$45.00 per contract profit potential (put spread)

AUGUST TOTAL (LOSS) - $ 615.00

While it was extremely close to being a very profitable month, being close only counts in horse shoes and hand grenades. The good news is that volatility has been going down along with the fear. This improves the trading environment, which we intend to fully exploit this month. September is a five-week options cycle, giving us plenty of time to get things rolling. However, this also gives us extra premium if we enter new spreads this week.

We are going to start with a couple of our favorite stocks for this month, and take advantage of all the time in this month. By placing new spreads on Monday, we can get extra premium that will allow us to go farther out of the money and place our spreads at conservative strike prices.

Our first spread is going to be a put spread on Google Inc. (GOOG). As many of you know, we've been trading this stock for a very long time. We started trading it again on the Professional Trader side last month and easily coasted through the cycle. We have long been bulls on the fundamental of this company's fundamentals along with its business model. Because the Street was, in our mind unfairly, beating up on this stock over the last few months, we've held off on trading it until we saw a reversal. In this case, we now have a nice chart to go along with our bullish fundamentals. This just strengthens our conviction in this stock.

On the first chart below, we have the Google daily chart. This shows a nice reversal from the low at the beginning of this month and a big upward thrust, taking out old resistance at $500 and now pressuring another barrier at $510. We are going in at very low strikes on the chart, which gives us plenty of cushion and numerous support levels. On the second chart (below), we have Google on a weekly chart. In the professional trader, we are always looking at things on a weekly or monthly basis. This is because the longer term charts shows the stronger trends. This adds to the probabilities and gives us an historical perspective. This adds to our sentiment in this spread. We saw a nice higher pivot on the chart a few weeks ago. Then the move last week confirms the pivot low when it took out the previous highs on the chart. The end result is a very strong conviction in this new spread.

Our second spread that we are entering tomorrow morning is on the MINI-NASDAQ 100 INDEX (MNX). With tech burning up the charts, we feel very good about coming in with another put spread on this index. After consolidating on the chart through the month of July, the MNX has broken out of its old trading range with extremely strong upside momentum. We found this out the hard way last month with our iron condor. This month we are going to take advantage of that strength by coming in with a put spread at very conservative strike prices for a decent credit.

Please Note: This is a limit order and day order.

NEW TRADE ALERT (2)

Google Inc. (GOOG)

OPENING 440-430 SEPTEMBER BULL PUT SPREAD (10 contracts)

Sell 10 September Puts at 440 strike price

Buy 10 September Puts at 430 strike price

Total Credit 0.60 per contract

Potential Profit $600.00

MINI-NASDAQ 100 INDEX (MNX)

OPENING 180-175 SEPTEMBER BULL PUT SPREAD (15 contracts)

Sell 15 September Puts at 180 strike price

Buy 15 September Puts at 175 strike price

Total Credit 0.50 per contract

Potential Profit $750.00

GOOG DAILY CHART

GOOG WEEKLY CHART

MNX DAILY CHART

As always, Trade Happy and Trade Smart

With time running out in this cycle, we are going to close out our RUT call spread and take the risk off the table.

Please Note: This only applies to those members in this spread.

TRADE ALERT (1)

RUSSELL 2000 INDEX (RUT)

CLOSING 750-760 AUGUST BEAR CALL SPREAD (15 contracts)

Buy 15 August Calls at 750 strike price (calls we previously sold)

Sell 15 August Calls at 760 strike price (calls we previously bought)

We suggest using a Market Order to get filled quickly

With time running out in this cycle, we are going to close out our MNX call spread and take the risk off the table.

Please Note: This only applies to those members in this spread.

TRADE ALERT (1)

MINI-NASDAQ 100 INDEX (MNX)

CLOSING 195-200 AUGUST BEAR CALL SPREAD (15 contracts)

Buy 15 August Calls at 195 strike price (calls we previously sold)

Sell 15 August Calls at 200 strike price (calls we previously bought)

We suggest using a Market Order to get filled quickly

It was another roller coaster session with stocks finishing mixed. After spending most of the morning deep in the red, stocks made an afternoon move into green territory despite climbing oil and more concerns in the financial sector. However, selling in the last hour took the three major indices into the red while commodities rose.

The main catalyst on today's session was the price of crude. After continuing its downward trend earlier this week, oil took a U-turn in today's trading after a weaker-than-expected inventory report. U.S. stockpiles declined by 400,000 barrels last week; according to the Energy Information Agency. Ahead of the report, analysts had forecasted a 500,000-barrel increase in inventories. At the same time, gasoline inventories fell by 6.4 million barrels, drastically higher than the 2.2 million barrels that the Street was expecting. The cutback in supplies suggests that the recent decline in demand has not been as drastic as the economists had thought. On the session, oil gained $2.99 and finished the day at $116 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

This morning's report on retail sales set a negative tone early on. For the month of July, retail sales slipped 0.1-percent as shoppers cut back on purchasing autos. This number was slightly worse than the unchanged reading that analysts were expecting. Meanwhile, the government did revise June's number up to a gain of 0.3-percent (from previous 0.1-percent reading). When we look into the data, July's number would have been an increase of 0.4-percent if it weren't for the troubles with auto sales.

Graphic from Briefing.com

In other economic data this morning, business inventories jumped to its highest level in five months. According to the Commerce Department, inventories rose 0.7-percent in June, which was up dramatically higher than the 0.4-percent gain the month prior. Coming into the release, analysts had forecasted a rise of 0.5-percent.

Today's Economic Reports

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was all over the place today but ended the session down 109 points at 11,532. It fell back below its 50-day moving average (red line) but did finish off its low of the session.

The S&P 500 also fell back below its 50-day moving average (red line) in today's trading. It traded in a wide range in today's session but finished down just 3.76 points at the closing bell. The index finished the session at 1,285. On the chart, we have drawn an upward channel that the index has been trading in since making its bottom on the chart in mid-July. We'll be watching to see if the S&P breaks out of this range on either the upside or downside. If it does, it's likely to be a strong move.

The NASDAQ Composite fell below its 200-day moving average (black line) in today's 1.99-point loss. This resistance is the strongest barrier to the index getting back to this summer's high on the chart. On the downside, its 50-day moving average (red line) should be support on the chart.

We've been holding firm in our two call-spreads (RUT & MNX) this week even though it feels like the heat has cranked up. As we mentioned in Monday's Position Update, we felt that we only needed a solid down day in order to make it to the finish line in these spreads. The problem is that although the Dow has been obliging us, the RUT and MNX have been marching to the beat of their own drums.

Despite these two indexes having no consideration for our positions, we've still benefited by holding these spreads intact over the last few sessions. At the same time, we realize that it's been difficult mentally because of the pain we took last month in our X and PCLN spreads. In this business you need to have a short memory because you need to treat every spread separately because of the unique circumstances. In this case, we feel strongly that both of these indexes are due to pullback very soon. The problem for us is whether we can hold on long enough to benefit from the pullback.

Tomorrow's session is going to be affected by the pre-market CPI report. The Street is looking for a drop in the headline inflation number to 0.4-percent from the prior reading of 1.1-percent. On the more important Core CPI number, analysts are forecasting a reading of 0.2-percent in tomorrow's report. If we get a surprisingly low reading in the CPI report, we'll probably need to exit our two call spreads because the indices will be racing higher. Regardless, keep a close eye on your emails tomorrow in case we need to make adjustments to these two positions. For now, let's take a look at all of our spreads in more detail.

CURRENT AUGUST SPREADS

X 120-115 AUGUST BULL PUT SPREAD (15 contracts entered on 07/17/08)

$75.00 per contract profit potential (put spread)

After dropping below its 200-day moving average (black line) earlier in the week, X broke back above it today. With the stock crumbling over the last several weeks, we've kept a very close watch on this spread. But today's 8.06-point gain should help us put this one on ice. The stock is now sitting at $137.92 and nearly 18 points above our "short" strike price.

The company announced today that it reached a tentative four-year deal with an important labor union. The contract will replace its current contract that was set to expire September 1.

RUT 750-760 AUGUST BEAR CALL SPREAD (15 contracts entered on 07/20/08)

RUT 650-640 AUGUST BULL PUT SPREAD (15 contracts entered on 07/24/08)

$80.00 per contract profit potential (call spread)

$60.00 per contract profit potential (put spread)

The small-cap index continued to show amazing resilience this week. Unfortunately for us, it has outpaced the major indices and refused to falter on the chart. The question on the chart is whether Monday's high was close enough to June's high. If so, the index could have made a double top. This might be a stretch because usually you would like to see it come closer to the previous high to form this pattern.

In today's trading, the RUT finished the session $2.75 higher at $747.69. This leaves the index in a very uncomfortable position for our call spread with only one full day of trading left in this position. Keep in mind that this spread settles on Friday's opening print. As we said earlier in the Newsletter, we are going to monitor this spread very closely in tomorrow's session. Make sure you keep a close eye on your email for an intraday trading alert.

MNX 195-200 AUGUST BEAR CALL SPREAD (15 contracts entered on 07/20/08)

MNX 170-165 AUGUST BULL PUT SPREAD (15 contracts entered on 07/24/08)

$70.00 per contract profit potential (call spread)

$46.00 per contract profit potential (put spread)

The MNX finally started to go our way early this afternoon. But then a rally wiped out most of its loss on the day and actually pushed the index into positive territory at the closing bell. It gained $0.09 on the session and closed just below our "short" strike price at $194.20. The MNX is certainly struggling with resistance at $195, but is also finding support from its 200-day moving average (black line). As we mentioned above, keep a close eye for any alerts pertaining to the call spread in this one.

AAPL 150-145 AUGUST BULL PUT SPREAD (15 contracts entered on 07/24/08)

$55.00 per contract profit potential (put spread)

Apple got a nice bump this morning after it was reported that the new iPhone 3G will be sold at Best Buy. This is the first retail outlet for the product, other than the Apple stores or AT&T locations. The stock continued to set the chart on fire with its steep angle. In today's session, it gained $2.57 and finished the day at $179.30. Based on the stretch of consecutive green candles on the chart, we expect the stock to take a breather very soon. Sitting with almost a 30-point cushion in this spread, we shouldn't have anything to worry about in this one.

AZO 115-110 AUGUST BULL PUT SPREAD (15 contracts entered on 07/27/08)

$45.00 per contract profit potential (put spread)

AZO finally hit some profit taking in this spread over the last two sessions. It shed $2.31 today and closed at $134.30. It wasn't too surprising to see this when you consider the problems that retailers faced today. We couldn't feel much better about our put spread with the stock sitting around 20 points above our position.

As always, Trade Happy and Trade Smart

Today's trading turned up the heat on our two call spreads. We held steady in today's rally because we felt like RUT and MNX were due for a pullback. Late in the session, they started to falter but still finished the session with decent gains.

The RUT closed just over a point into our bear call spread while the MNX finished almost a point below our "short" strike price. Although we all still have the X spread fresh in our mind from last month, it's important to not let this fear rush an adjustment in these two spreads. We are going to hold off on releasing an adjustment tonight because we want to take into account tomorrow's pre-market sentiment.

With only a few sessions left, we only need one down day to make it to the finish line in these spreads. However, we realize the importance of keeping the losses small if there's another push to the upside. For now, sit tight and keep a close eye on your email tomorrow for any adjustment. Let's see if we can get paid for using our patience in these spreads.

As always, Trade Happy and Trade Smart

The whipsaw trading continued at a dizzying pace last week. Tumbling oil prices helped the Market rebound on Friday with energized buying. Despite problems in the financial sector, stocks were able to surge higher on the week as the dollar strengthened and commodities crumbled.

The greenback enjoyed a strong week. It had a nice run-up early in the week because of the anticipation that the FOMC would hike interest rates on Tuesday. However, it continued to surge higher after the policymakers left the key interest rate unchanged due to the faltering economy in Europe.

The newfound support in the dollar helped to bring down the prices of commodities, which should help on the inflation front. It's too early to tell if this trend will continue, but last week's shift in momentum was good news for equities. It also could take the pressure off the Fed to raise rates to counteract high inflation. Instead, it could let the committee focus its attention on a weak economy.

The price of crude continued its downward spiral on Friday when it shed $4.82 and settled at $115.20 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The 4-percent drop on the session took oil down to a three month low. Over the last five trading days, crude fell nearly 8-percent with demand appearing to cool off.

With oil now cooling off, some hedge funds are starting to unwind hedges in the dollar. Recently, institutional money bought oil as a way to protect them against the falling dollar. But with crude now tumbling and the dollar surging, these hedges are being unwound. Sometimes, this means more powerful moves because of the magnitude of traders all in the same hedges.

Perhaps a big impact on the oil market took place after the U.S. Market closed on Friday. The conflict between Russia and Georgia escalated, which has oil traders sitting up to take notice. The Russian offensive is taking place near pipelines that carry oil from the Caspian Sea. It'll be interesting to see what kind of fear premium gets padded into the price of oil on Monday. This is obviously a very tense situation that we'll be monitoring closely.

Traders overlooked a weak report on workers' productivity on Friday morning. The Labor Department data showed that U.S. workers' efficiency grew at a slightly slower pace in the second quarter. On an annual rate, productivity grew at a rate of 2.2-percent. The Street had been looking for a number of 2.5-percent ahead of the release.

Today's Economic Reports

The Dow Jones Industrial Average bounced back with a 302-point surge on Friday. The 2.65-percent gain took the index to 11,734. Friday's move took the Dow above the low from last January and back above its 50-day moving average. It closed near resistance from the March low and is also sitting below resistance at 12,000. However, the index has certainly gained some upside momentum by making higher pivot lows on the chart.

The S&P 500 rose 30 points on Friday and finished the week at 1,296. The 2.39-percent rally helped the index move 36 points higher on the week. But it remains down 11.7-percent on the year. On the chart, we'll be watching this week to see how the index handles resistance from its 50-day moving average (red line).

The NASDAQ Composite broke above its 50-day moving average (red line) on Friday's 58-point gain. The tech-heavy index gained 103 points on the week and is only off 9-percent on the year. The NASDAQ remains the strongest of the indices on the chart.

Thursday's big sell-off actually was music to our ears. It took the pressure off our RUT and MNX call spreads with just a week to go in the spreads. But Friday's monster rally put the heat back on these spreads heading into the last week in the August cycle. The good news is that the gains last week should help our put spreads expire worthless this week. However, we're going to have to closely monitor the call sides to make sure that we don't let one of them eat into our large profit potential. If the indexes continue to rally this week, don't be surprised if we shut them down early to lock in some solid profits this month. But let's not pull the trigger before we have to. For now, let's take a look at all of our positions in more detail.

CURRENT AUGUST SPREADS

X 120-115 AUGUST BULL PUT SPREAD (15 contracts entered on 07/17/08)

$75.00 per contract profit potential (put spread)

The commodity bubble continued to burst last week, which was trouble for our X spread. The stock shed another $5.81 on Friday, taking the stock down to $137.70. The good news is that it closed off its low of the session and left us with almost an 18-point cushion in our put spread. We also have several good support levels and a 200-day moving average (black line) that should help us if the stock continues to show weakness. For now, let's sit tight and see what unfolds this week.

RUT 750-760 AUGUST BEAR CALL SPREAD (15 contracts entered on 07/20/08)

RUT 650-640 AUGUST BULL PUT SPREAD (15 contracts entered on 07/24/08)

$80.00 per contract profit potential (call spread)

$60.00 per contract profit potential (put spread)

The small-cap index shot up 20 points on Friday and broke through its 200-day moving average on the chart. The RUT gained 2.1-percent on the week and is only down 4.1-percent on the year, easily outpacing the other major indices. The problem is that its renewed strength is not causing problems for our call spread. On the chart, we have another decent resistance level at $740 that could slow down the index. We are going to keep a close eye on it this week, but are going to hold the line for now. If it starts to close in on our call spread, keep a close eye on your email for a position adjustment in this one.

MNX 195-200 AUGUST BEAR CALL SPREAD (15 contracts entered on 07/20/08)

MNX 170-165 AUGUST BULL PUT SPREAD (15 contracts entered on 07/24/08)

$70.00 per contract profit potential (call spread)

$46.00 per contract profit potential (put spread)

The MNX is our second problem child this month. After Thursday's sell-off, we were hoping that the index might give us a little pullback on the chart. Obviously, this didn't happen. Friday's $4.61 rally did just the opposite. It turned the heat up on our call spread and reduced our breathing room to only $2.38, similar to our RUT spread. Keep a close eye on your email if this one starts to move higher this week. On the put side, we shouldn't have anything to worry about.

AAPL 150-145 AUGUST BULL PUT SPREAD (15 contracts entered on 07/24/08)

$55.00 per contract profit potential (put spread)

Apple finally started to move back up the chart last week. It was helped on Friday by an upgrade by Credit Suisse, who gave the stock a price target of $200. The end result was a gain of $5.98 on the session, which put the stock at $169.55. This gives us almost 20 points between the stock and our "short" strike price. With five sessions remaining in this spread, we should be able to coast to the finish line.

AZO 115-110 AUGUST BULL PUT SPREAD (15 contracts entered on 07/27/08)

$45.00 per contract profit potential (put spread)

AZO continued to scorch the charts last week, making new 52-week highs with ease. It surged another $4.42 on Friday and closed the week at $138.35. This places the stock well above our 115-110 spread with only five trading days left in the cycle. With a solid 23-point cushion in this spread, we shouldn't have anything to worry about in this position. Too bad they all couldn't be this easy.

As always, Trade Happy and Trade Smart