Trades and observations from a British contrarian stock investor

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Friday, December 4, 2009

U.S. Non farm payrolls gives a little Friday excitment

The U.S. employment data is released today at 1 .30 pm UK which is a major piece of news. The forecast is for 10.2% unemployment for November and a 125,000 reduction in jobs. Yesterday's the U.S. markets fell late in the trading day after oscillating between positive and negative territory, driven by weak services data (which drove the Dow down some 100 points) and poor retailer data (notably Abercrombie and Fitch ANF, down 9%) which drove the DOW down 86 pts and the S&P down 9 pts. This resulted in a positive short term, short trade on the Dow, which was closed at the close.

Shorts on Freeport McMoran (FCX), Amazon (AMZN) and Caterpillar (CAT) were initiated yesterday and remain in play. All three stocks all look to have got ahead of themselves.

A short position in Blackrock (BLK) looks interesting given the astronomic rise following the announcement of the Ishares acquisition from Barclays. Holding off for now. Long Dow is a possibility for this morning.

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