Nothing’s Shocking

Camera got them images
camera got them all
nothing’s shocking…
showed me everybody
naked and disfigured
nothing’s shocking… – Jane’s Addiction “Ted Just Admit It”

Remember on Friday when the world was celebrating DJIA 14k and there wasn’t a worry in the market?  (Now is a better time to panic if you really want to)

“I’m going to remind you guys once again while the markets are here up in a straight line to new all-time highs that right now is the time to panic about the Endless Euro-debt Crisis and the Fiscal Cliff and Spain and Greece and spiking oil and gas and inflation and all the other things that you don’t read about right now. You and I both know that as soon as the stock markets undergo the next pullback — and there is always a next pullback — that all of those reasons to panic will suddenly dominate the headlines.”

Fast forward just past the Superbowl weekend to this morning’s headlines and you won’t believe what they are saying out there now that the markets pulled back today:

Dow loses grip on 14,000 as Europe rattles investors
U.S. stocks retreat from five-year highs and Dow industrials fall back below 14,000 after cracking the key level last Friday . Political uncertainty in Europe is hurting sentiment due to pressure in Spain and Italy.
• Italy and Spain jitters spook Europe markets | Marsh: Germany’s pulling away from euro

Nothing’s shocking.

So, as for trading, I think we need to let these worries work their way back into the markets for the near-term and I’m not looking to be aggressive one way or another for now.

Who’s more scared right now, the bulls or the bears, even with today’s pullback? I’d say the bulls are still uberconfident and I want to wait for the next great pullback/panic to set us up before getting more aggressive on the lond-side for sure. This little pullback today doesn’t count yet.

I’m still working on the FIO and you can expect a full report and analysis on what to do with it tomorrow.

Meanwhile, as Google hit new all-time highs on Friday (before pulling back with the broader markets today), our Google call options, which are some of the very few call options we have left on the sheets right now, are kicking in. Recall we bought GOOG calls back in the first trading week of the year (Trade Alert – Noogle Gibble, er Google Nibble).