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.
TMK & PCL & MSG closed, WMS stop tightened, PDCO added
Open Position Notes:
CAG turned lower on Monday, but today no follow through was seen. It finished higher by 6 cents, and currently is still flirting with the $25 level. I’m exercising some patience for now, sticking with my original stop while waiting to see if the recent bounce will prove to mark a lower high on the daily chart.
VMW surged nicely higher yesterday after clearing resistance, running through Target 1 where I closed out 1/2 my position. I tightened my stop last night for remaining shares, and today the stock put in some rest. That’s not entirely unexpected or unhealthy after yesterday’s move, particularly since today’s minor pullback came on far lighter volume. I would like to see it stabilize from here and resume its uptrend soon, so that’s what I’ll be watching for in the days to come.
WMS spent the day inside Monday’s trading range, unable to really build on its breakout. I’m trying to be patient with this one for now, but have gone ahead and tightened my stop a little bit just in case. If Monday’s high can be cleared, I think it will bode well for the trade.
STT showed some nice early relative strength today, but some profit-taking sent the stock back below Monday’s closing level by the end of the session. This suggests that the key level just crossed may need to be tested, so I’m going to exercise some patience here while waiting to find out. This one has plenty of room to run higher, but continuation needs to be seen in order for that to occur.
Closed Positions:
TMK edged higher for me over the past several sessions, but overall the strength simply hasn’t impressed me. Today when the market was beginning to weaken, I felt the need to lighten up on some positions, and the underperformance of this one made it among the first to go. I closed it out for a small $0.20 gain, which isn’t thrilling, but certainly isn’t bad for a trade which was failing to behave as anticipated. The stock was able to rally later in the session, so hopefully you were able to make a better exit than me.
PCL broke out but never really surged higher with momentum as I had expected, so with a small gain on the screen and a weakening market, I cut this one loose this morning. I ended up with a gain of 1.7%, which isn’t anything exciting, but it’s acceptable given the lack of continuation this one has shown. I’ve been patient with it for several days, but ultimately felt the trade should have moved higher by now, so I’m out with a modest gain.
MSG broke out on extremely light volume, and after waiting a few days for either price to gain momentum or for volume to increase, neither really happened. Today with the market showing some weakness, I felt the morning strength in the stock was worth utilizing to make an exit, so I closed out a 2% winner in this stock which has been trading too thinly for my liking. The stock trended lower for the remainder of the session, and I’m glad to be out with a gain.
