Hit List 6-1-2011

The Hit List is a look at our current swing trading positions. Stocks we are already in have “triggered”, while those we are considering for plays have not triggered. Click post title to view print-friendly link.

FMC stopped, KKR stop tightened

Open Position Notes:

ARBA showed some nice early relative strength this morning as it challenged last week’s high, stopping just 1 cent shy of that level.  The stock returned to the flat line by mid-day, but the selling accelerated in the afternoon and this one crossed the finish line just about 1% from my raised stop.  I’d been giving this one some room for remaining shares to fluctuate and digest the recent run if needed, so for now I’m still in and waiting to see if it can stabilize.  If it can, I may look to make another adjustment to my stop at that point.

KKR held up extremely well today in the face of nonstop selling in the broader market, actually posting a minor gain on the session.  Yesterday’s lows were tested and held, and the stock simply spent the day in a trading range, apparently oblivious to the overall market weakness.  Despite the relative strength shown today in the stock, the overall market is showing weakness here so I’ve tightened my stop for this trade in case it happens to turn lower.  This will give it some room to move, but should it start to break down I’ll close it out for a minor loss and return to the sidelines.

Closed Positions:

FMC struggled to hold its ground today, giving up the entirety of its multi-day bounce of the past few sessions to mark new correction lows.  The breach of support was what I had been looking to use as my stop, and today that was triggered to take me out of this trade with a minor 2.3% loss.  This stock now looks vulnerable to further weakness so I’ll stay away until a new pattern builds.