Not so random thoughts on the markets, ebola, IXYS and ugliness

Don’t forget to join me for this week’s Live Q&A Chat at 2pm EST at http://tradingwithcody.com/chat.

Small caps and the Russell 2000 are officially in correction territory, down 10%. Path of least resistance for the market is still mostly sideways, but the TA in me says the recent 1% daily moves in the markets are starting to wear out the bulls. Who’s more scared right now, the bulls or the bears?

For what it’s worth, if I didn’t own any or “enough” stocks or didn’t own a particular stock I’ve been waiting to buy, as I know some of you have been, I’d use today’s panicky action to scale into a tranche, maybe 1/4 or 1/3 of a full position’s worth. Don’t expect a sudden payoff, but starting to scale in now would probably work out in the mid- to longer-term.

Is the Ebola outbreak on any of your radars out on in Scutifyland? It’s in the Markets headlines as partly to blame for today’s sell-off, but I don’t hear traders (pro or retail) talking much about it. I wrote months ago: “This is already probably a factor in the current market downtrend and has the potential to become a bigger factor if not contained.”  http://blogs.marketwatch.com/c…

Prayers to all affected by the ebola outbreak, and I hope this thing gets contained asap globally and in the US. I hate to have to think about the market/economic implications of this ebola outbreak, but it should be on our radar as a possible Black Swan.

$IXYS is my smallest position, and I’ve not added to it recently, my cost-basis is just above these $10.30ish levels. I’d like to see a couple quarters of improved financial and fundamental performance from the company & we’ll just have to see how the quarterly earnings reports play out. For now I keep a toe-hold position in it. I’d probably add a small tranche if it got a 9-handle before the next report if all else remains the same.

I asked Robert Marcin, the best value investor I know, to update me on his own IXYS analysis and he’s pretty much on the same page as me:

RobertMarcin – My thoughts re $ixys are that its a very cheap company with decent assets, but poor management. as i have written before, i am very disappointed in Co’s execution past 12 months and had expected much more growth and profit margin improvement. the company is worth $25 per share in an auction today, but the ceo and president run this w/o regard to public shareholders. the stock has been $10 for 20 years and mgt doesnt care. they just keep adding to their ownership via options. very disappointing.

I’m not personally making any trades today, but I might start scaling into a few of my smaller long positions or add a new options trade here later today or tomorrow, depending on just how ugly the action gets. The uglier, the more likely I’ll do a buy or two.

Click here to listen to Latest Cody Underground podcast on SoundCloud. Or click here to listen to it and subscribe to my podcasts on iTunes.

PPS. Did I mention that you don’t ever have to leave the Scutify platform to buy or sell a stock or option.It’s awesome. Learn more –http://www.scutify.com/trade.html