Category: Online Stock Trading Software

There is news from London this morning of US retailers’ stock futures taking a downturn in anticipation of lower than expected earnings. Many retailers will release their first quarter earnings today and experts are saying the results could be tepid because of a colder than normal April.

In article “US Productivity Down – Temp Staffing Up – Kforce (KFRC)” we scoped out the temporary staffing industry and zeroed in on Kforce (KFRC). With the economy in kind of a limbo state we decided temporary staffing companies might be attractive for investing in covered calls positions. The position we selected for KFRC was fully profitable returning 5.2%.

In the article “John Bogle Says Modest Returns Over Next Decade – Dividends & Covered Calls” we pondered John Bogle’s prediction of modest stock market returns over the next decade. Mr. Bogle predicted annual stock market returns in the 7% range over the next decade. In the event Mr. Bogle’s prediction is on target, we considered a potential strategy for investors to consider for making the most of the situation.

In article, “China – Hot, Cold or Lukewarm – Covered Calls”, we scoped out investing in covered calls for Chinese companies. The Chinese covered calls strategy returned a juicy +7% return for April of 2007. Nineteen of the twenty positions were profitable and sixteen of the twenty positions were fully profitable. The lone negative returning position was SINA, which got caught up in the recent Chinese stock market pullback. SINA’s rate of growth has slowed in the last few months but not significantly.

In article, “Canadian Investing Eh? – Covered Calls”, we considered investing in Canadian covered calls stock options positions. The selected positions returned an average of 2.1%, in only 23 days. Fourteen of the seventeen positions were profitable, and nine of the seventeen positions were fully profitable. The biggest loser of the selections was NRMX with a return of -13.5%, but the loss was not nearly as large as if the position had been a straight long position, which would have returned a very ugly -23.8%. Neurochem’s (NRMX) stock slipped after the FDA extended an action date for one of the company’s potential pharmaceuticals. Investing in biotechnology companies is one of the more risky investment strategies available.

Joe Nacchio, a former AT&T (T) executive, was hired by Qwest Communications in 1996 to evolve the company into a major telecommunications competitor. However his monomaniacal pursuit, a Colorado jury found yesterday, led Nacchio to participate in illegal insider trades. He also, in the company’s relentless drive to meet revenue projections, did not appropriately inform investors of the financial risks the company was taking.

Moore’s Law is an observation made by Intel (INTC) co-founder Gordon Moore about the number of transistors manufacturers are able to fit on a given area of a circuit board. He said the density of transistors would double every 24 months. This, subsequently, would reduce the size of electronics and increase memory.

US Airways Group (LCC) is expecting to earn a small profit for the first quarter despite disruptions due to the weather and temporarily nation-wide shut down of the airline’s check-in kiosks due to a computer malfunction.

Wouldn’t it be nice to make money from income taxes instead of just paying income taxes? Obviously, we could all become CPA’s and make money from preparing tax returns, but maybe adding up receipts and digging through the tax code just doesn’t sound too interesting.

Has the shaky market got investors worried? The housing slump leaves investors with little to cheer about and the news stream is littered with countless vignettes of a stagnating and declining US market. Today, the PowerOptions weblog will take a look at gold and a few stocks in the gold sector and vet them for solid covered call opportunities.