George H. W. Bush 1924-2018
In my opinion, the last great leader from the WW II era passed away on Friday night. President Bush has suffered from numerous aliments for the past ten years, so it was not a shock that he finally died in a Houston last week. He definitely was a tough guy and a fighter, if he wasn’t he would never have lasted as long as he did.
Bush was a statesman and if you follow his life, you can see why. He came from Texas Oil money and had all of the gifts that go along with that. At the age of eighteen he decided to enter the Navy and after training he became an aviator that was shipped to the South Pacific. At the age of nineteen he flew 58 missions and was shot down by a Japanese fighter. Fortunately he survived the crash, but his two cohorts were killed. After the war he attended Yale where he became captain of the baseball team.
When he graduated college, Bush decided on a career in the business world. He had come from money and he knew how to make it. In 1948 he turned to the energy business and ventured to West Texas where he became a partner in the Zapata Petroleum corporation. In 1953 he left the oil business to become active in the Republican party. He showed the same commitment to politics as he had in his previous life. In 1966 he was elected to congress and served two terms before retiring to become ambassador to China. In 1972 President Nixon appointed him to represent the U.S. at the U.N.
Eventually he left that post and became the director of the CIA. In 1980 he was elected vice president on a ticket with Ronald Regan. After Regan’s term he was elected president on his own. He led the U.S. collation against Iraq after Kuwait was invaded in 1990. When he won the war, he decided not to pursue Hussain and end the dictators rule. A decision which proved controversial. In 1992 he was defeated by Democrat Bill Clinton and retired from politics. Eventually he and Clinton formed a strange relationship and raised millions for charities.
I was lucky enough to have dinner with President Bush when I was active in politics at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. I can tell you that he was just as he seemed in public. An intelligent man with a great sense of humor full of tales from his life. To prove that he skydived on his 75th and 80th birthday’s over his library at Texas A&M. That about says it all! We need more leaders like President Bush.
Ask Mr. Seifert
I am constantly asked questions about trading and how to exploit certain market factors to insure success. Each week I will answer one of those questions with a short paragraph which will cover the trading subject.
What is an Iron Condor and does it have unlimited risk or reward?
Answer: An Iron Condor is a very useful spread that has limited risk and limited reward. It is initiated by buying or selling two vertical spreads in the same serial. One of the spreads is a vertical call spread the other is a vertical put spread. Each spread is either above or below the current price of the underlying equity. If you sell both spreads you create a credit and are hoping that the price of the underlying asset will stay near the current price until expiration. If you are correct, one or both of the spreads will be winners and you will cash the trade. Your risk is limited to the difference between the strike prices minus the credit that you received when you sold the spread. If you buy both spreads you are creating a debit and you are hoping that the price will move in one direction or the other far enough allowing you to collect on one of the debit spreads that you bought. Most professional traders sell Iron Condors since one leg of the spread must be a winner mathematically and it is possible to collect on both ends of the credit spreads if the price ends in the middle.
The Wise Guy Report: The View from The Electronic Floor
Each week I talk about how the Wise Guys (floor traders) find the soft spots in the market and take advantage of price dislocation in three major commodity markets: Gold (GC), Crude Oil (CL) and Long-Term Interest Rates (ZB). On the equity side, I cover MSS which is the Mister Seifert Sez Composite Index. This is a proprietary index that I created which measures the dollar flow of the four major indexes (S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, Russell 2000 and the Dow Jones Industrials) on an unweighted basis. Let’s look at how the Equity markets are faring.
Head and Shoulders Could Signal a Turn (Congestion)
The focus in the market over the past few weeks has been on what Crude Oil is going to do next. I believe that the bottom is in for the current cycle. It may take some time to play out but with U.S. Frackers taking down rigs and Saudi Arabia cutting back on production I think that the oil market will resolve itself to the upside. On the other hand, U.S. equity markets, which have been the worldwide leader this year, now seem to be looking for a direction. The markets, particularly the DJIA are making a formation that is known as a head and shoulders pattern. This generally occurs when the markets are going to change direction. In the case of the DJIA it is a secondary pattern as the tops came in several months ago. I would look to do the following, if we can rally above the head it is definitely a buy signal and I would look for Santa Clause to come in and save the day. If we break the neckline and head south I think we could get a large move to the downside. Markets like this are tough to call but I think that we will get resolution in the next ten days. In any case the action should be good!
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The option trades and strategies offered by The Optionomics Group are very unique in that they all have limited risk while creating great leverage. Our basic BL – BR Credit Spread Strategy (and all of the others) let you control 100 shares of a $200 stock ($200*100 = $20,000) for less than $500 (the spread differential minus the credit spread) or 40:1 leverage with your risk limited to only $500. Plus our strategies produce winning transactions in four out of five possible outcomes.
The Optionomics’ strategies let you become the casino whereby you have a mathematical edge that lets you grind out consistent returns in any kind of market environment. These strategies are designed to produce good returns over a short to intermediate term time frame. It is an approach to the stock market which will be hot, cold or average over time, but the end result should be very good in any type of market environment.
I offer a FREE Two-Week trial to the various subscription services with no cost or strings attached. Each strategy is explained in a 5-7 page booklet which includes sample recommendations and model portfolios. I doubt that you have ever seen anything like this. During your FREE trial, you can paper trade the various strategies and get a feel for the deal without risking a penny. Simply click on the appropriate tab on the Optionomics’ Home page to access the informative booklets and then sign up for one or all of the weekly subscriptions.
- The 21st Century Covered Calls Strategy: A modern day alternative to the old fashioned covered call strategy.
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- The Bullish – Bearish Credit Spread Trade: The basic strategy of trading weekly credit spreads.
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Each Monday morning by 11:00 EST, the plays for the upcoming week plus updated model portfolios for each strategy are posted on the site. The prices in the reports are Monday morning’s opening prices. In addition, I have a webinar on Thursday afternoon where I discuss various option strategies, what is happening on the floor and answer any questions that you may have. Don’t worry if you miss the show. They are archived on the site. Sound Good? Good! You can subscribe to one or more of the subscriptions for only $19.95 each per month on a month to month basis with no contract or strings attached. If you subscribe to three, it is only $49.95 per month while you can subscribe to all six for only $79.95 per month, a 33% discount. I think you will agree that this is a super offer so give it a try. Click on www.optionomicsgroup.com to access the Optionomics Group web site and get started today doing what the pros do –
“Don’t Buy Them – Sell Them”.
Mr. Seifert