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.
MON triggered & stopped, RTI & JNPR triggered, TNB & JNPR stops tightened, CVX added
Open Position Notes:
TNB held up well today with some relative strength to the market as it tacked on another 1% on strong volume. This stock continues to act well since breaking out last week, and has already reached the 1st Target. I tightened my stop tonight (beneath today’s low) for remaining shares, but I still like the action here and the new highs made today.
RTI triggered a short sale today as it undercut the rising trend line at $19.35. It was trying to make some downside progress, but the market stabilized and that likely prevented any meaningful headway from happening. This one still appears to be starting a new leg down, so I’m sticking with my existing parameters on this trade for now.
JNPR has shown relative weakness lately and today was no different as it gave up 2% and made a new pullback low from the October high. Today’s break of the rising trend line triggered a short sale for me, and the heavy-volume selloff which followed is very encouraging. This appears to be the start of a new leg down, so I tightened my stop tonight for this trade and will watch for follow through in the next couple of days. Good start.
Closed Positions:
MON triggered a short entry today as it broke the rising trend line off the recent low. This appeared to be confirmation of the bearish wedge pattern which had formed beneath former support. The stock rebounded slightly from there, but was still negative on the day. Mid-afternoon, the company reaffirmed their guidance, which sent the stock flying. I was quickly stopped out of the trade as the stock moved quickly through my stop loss and continued higher. While on the one hand this trade could have been worse (if the stock were halted or if my stop were set higher), it is certainly frustrating to have fundamental news released unexpectedly and get such an adverse reaction. My view is that unscheduled news tends to work out over time, so this adverse headline is likely to be offset by a favorable headline someday in another stock. I am out of MON with a 2.6% loss, and will leave this one alone now that it is back in rally mode after the failed breakdown and big news.
