Steckler's Star Studded Stock Picks

test test test

I've got the last four quarters as -.27, .04, .68, -.05.

[Rob]

Wmg

WMG. Symmetrical triangle and daily volume flow indicator turned bullish yesterday. A negative is a very high (70) P/E ratio.

Dave, according to businessweek.com, WMG's EPS for the last four quarters are: -1.41, -0.21, 0.46, -0.05, which total -1.21. Where does that 70 number come from? Just curious.

One to watch

WMG. Symmetrical triangle and daily volume flow indicator turned bullish yesterday. A negative is a very high (70) P/E ratio.

LIFC. Symmetrical triangle but the rise the past few days has been on punk volume.

Down 6.5% today on increased volume, breaking through the support line of the triangle. Also closed below the 20-day EMA.

Strains to the system

Copper trade losses spark fear of defaults
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard (Filed: 18/05/2006)
London Telegraph

The risk of defaults was hanging over the London Metal Exchange last night after a clutch of clients failed to meet margin calls on losing copper trades, leaving brokers struggling frantically to match their books.

The liquidity crunch follows another day of wild gyrations at the exchange, where copper, aluminium, zinc and lead all tumbled on bad US inflation data after failing to conquer new highs.

Copper fell 3.3pc to $8,080 a tonne in late trading. "The hedge books of the banks are seriously underwater on copper, but apart from that there are now brokers in trouble because clients can't meet the margin payments," said a market source.

LME brokers are liable for the margin calls of their clients, who are given 24 hours to stump up the cash. "Some of the wire cable manufacturers and industrial users can't meet payments because of cash flow problems, so the brokers are left holding the bag," he said.

He added that the banks were bleeding heavily because of a mismatch between their short-term and long-term futures contracts.

The market reached fever point late last week with all-time highs across the spectrum of base metals, led by an explosive spike in copper to almost $8,900 a tonne - up 170pc in a year.

Speculation by hedge funds prompted LCH.Clearnet to raise margin calls 71pc to $25,000 per 25-tonne lot earlier this week, after doubling them just eight days earlier.

LCH.Clearnet said that none of its 39 LME members had missed payments, but it is not responsible for monitoring defaults by broker clients. Moreover, many smaller players are outside the Clearnet system.

The LME said all its members were meeting obligations and are in "good standing". "There is no chance of a member defaulting because systemic risk is managed through very sophisticated mechanisms," it said.

Worth watching

LIFC. Symmetrical triangle but the rise the past few days has been on punk volume.

Worth watching today

BCO. Orderly pullback the past two weeks. Estimates for the upcoming quarter are +138% but -13% for the following quarter. Earnings for the March quarter beat estimates by 40%.

Sold HOM at 12

20% in one day was too good to pass up.

[Rob]

Diebold, My 2¢

DBD. Symmetrical triangle pattern and it's been trending higher since October.

When I look at that chart, I get the sense that it will drop back to the 50-day MA some time in the next month or so, at which time it will be somewhere between 42.50 and 43. It appears to be trading in a fairly well-defined channel since the huge dive in Sept. and the bottom in Oct.

A few to watch

DBD. Symmetrical triangle pattern and it's been trending higher since October.

DIS. Broke outof a cup with low right handle two weeks ago.

PCLN. Falling flag action after a huge up day last week.

Got out of UFPT for a 20 cent profit. Jeezalou...and after being up more than a $1 on the stock! Glad I got out when I did, though.

[Lyehopper]

Now up only 2%. Talk about being all over the place!

Gonna be hard to keep a rally going in this mess dude.

Up 13% on very heavy volume.

Now up only 2%. Talk about being all over the place!

AOB is trying hard to followthrough on Friday's breakout.

It has been a bit of time since I looked into AOB.