Happy Options Expiration Friday!
There's never a dull moment in the stock market.
Stocks ended the week on a high note on October options expiration.
This is after another rocky week as bond prices continue to free fall, pushing rates higher.
Even though it's not abnormal to see indexes increase around options expiration, the source of the sudden buying was a Wall Street Journal report.
The speculation is that after the projected 75-basis-point rate hike in November, Federal Reserve policy could pivot.
Additionally, today San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly warned against over-tightening, furthering the dovish sentiment among investors.
It sounds like the FOMC is are trying to hedge themselves as they continue to be aggressive with rate hikes.
Even though we're only halfway through October, next week is going to be exciting because the majority of companies in the S&P 500 Index will release earnings reports for the third quarter.
Unfortunately, I didn't see any great signals this week amidst all the noise, so we'll continue to be patient.
The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) closed this week at 29.
Even though it's a 3 point decrease from last week, uncertainty still remains elevated.
And that means we will continue to see those 100 point swings in S&P 500.
Now let’s talk shop.
Today, this position will expire.
Unfortunately, we don’t have more time for this to play out.
Although you don't need to do anything, it will be taken off your account by the weekend.
Taking losses isn’t fun, (especially when they were winners) but without the bitter, the sweet isn’t as sweet.
Here’s a recap of what we did this week.
Monday-Friday:
We sat on our hands and did not enter any new trades.
Right now, we’re holding:
Have a great weekend and it's time to enjoy a ice cold spicy margarita - TGIF!
Joshua M. Belanger