Month: November 2012

Homebuilder D. .

Bargain hunters are wise to pay careful attention to insider buying, because although there are many various reasons for an insider to sell a stock, presumably the only reason they would use their hard-earned dollars to make a purchase, is that they expect to make money. Today we look at two noteworthy recent insider buys.

In trading on Monday, biotechnology shares were relative leaders, up on the day by about 1.4%. Leading the group were shares of Myrexis (MYRX), up about 16.2% and shares of Gilead Sciences (GILD) up about 11% on the day.

The first trading day of the trading week will have investors keeping a close eye on political events in the US to see if the President and the Congress will be able to negotiate the fiscal cliff being faced by the country. Good morning, this is Kristin Bianco with the Week Ahead Market Report for November 12, 2012.

With the Super Bowl less than three months away, New Orleans is rushing to lay streetcar tracks through one of its busiest corridors to connect by trolley the Louisiana Superdome, where the big game will be played Feb. 3, and the French Quarter.

Here’s the latest news for Monday, November 12th: Congress wants answers in Petraeus scandal; No sign of Indianapolis gas leak; Greece passes new budget; Lakers hire new coach.

By CountingPips.com

The latest Commitments of Traders (COT) report, released on Friday by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), showed that large futures speculators increased their overall US dollar bets last week and brought bet totals to an overall long position in the American currency for the first time in two months.

Non-commercial large futures traders, including hedge funds and large speculators, raised their total US dollar short position to a total of $1.296 billion on November 6th from a total short position of $708.072 million on October 30th, according to the CFTC COT data and calculations by Reuters which calculates the dollar positions against the euro, British pound, Japanese yen, Australian dollar, Canadian dollar and the Swiss franc. This is the lowest short position for dollar speculators since September. This is the first long position for the US Dollar since September 4th.

Individual Currencies:

EuroFX: Currency speculator sentiment for the euro dipped again last week for a third consecutive week. Euro net short positions or bets against the currency rose to 67,141 contracts on November 6th from the previous week’s total of 58,204 net short contracts on October 30th. Euro positions are at their lowest level in four weeks but are still not too far off their best standing for the year which was reached on September 25th when short positions totaled 50,238 contracts.

The COT report is published every Friday by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and shows futures positions as of the previous Tuesday. It can be a useful tool for traders to gauge investor sentiment and to look for potential changes in the direction of a currency or commodity.

Each currency contract is a quote for that currency directly against the U.S. dollar, a net short amount of contracts means that more speculators are betting that currency to fall against the dollar and a net long position expect that currency to rise versus the dollar.

(The graphs overlay the forex spot closing price of each Tuesday when COT trader positions are reported for each corresponding spot currency pair.)

GBP: British pound sterling positions declined last week following a rebound the previous week. British pound sterling speculative positions declined to a total of 19,279 net long contracts on November 6th following a total of 23,403 net long contracts on October 30th. British pound positions have been on the positive side for eight straight weeks after turning bullish on September 11th and, on October 2nd, reached their highest 2012 level.

JPY: Japanese yen speculative contracts decreased again last week to fall for a fifth straight week. Japanese yen positions decreased to a total of 40,104 net short contracts reported on November 6th following a total of 37,020 net short contracts on October 30th. The decline in Yen positions has put the Yen sentiment in the deepest short territory since May 8, 2012 when short positions totaled 41,093 contracts.

CHF: Swiss franc speculator positions fell last week to turn the franc level into a short position against the dollar for the first time in three weeks. Speculator positions for the Swiss currency futures registered a total of 303 net short contracts on November 6th following a total of 2,366 net long contracts as of October 30th.

CAD: Canadian dollar positions decreased for a seventh consecutive week after ascending to a 2012 high level on September 18th. Canadian dollar positions decreased to a total of 74,762 net long contracts as of November 6th following a total of 78,771 net long contracts that were reported for October 30th. Before falling the last seven weeks, Canadian dollar positions had cruised higher for eight weeks and touched the highest level in over two years on Sept 18th.

AUD: The Australian dollar positions advanced last week for a third straight week after Aussie positions had declined lower for three consecutive weeks. Aussie speculative futures positions rose to a total net amount of 60,317 long contracts on November 6th after totaling 52,090 net long contracts as of October 30th. Australian dollar positions, on September 25th, reached their 2012 high level when long positions equaled 86,882 contracts.

NZD: New Zealand dollar speculator positions rose last week after showing very little change for four consecutive weeks. NZD contracts advanced higher to a total of 19,388 net long contracts as of November 6th following a total of 16,745 net long contracts on October 30th. Kiwi contracts, on October 2nd, reached their highest level since February 27th when positions totaled 22,114 long contracts.

MXN: Mexican peso speculative contracts decreased last week to fall for a fourth straight week. Peso positions fell to a total of 114,422 net long speculative positions as of November 6th following a total of 126,009 long contracts that were reported for October 30th. Peso contracts are now at their lowest level since September 4th when long positions totaled 90,881 contracts.

Article by CountingPips.com

President Barack Obama says he won’t accept a plan to avert the so-called fiscal cliff that doesn’t ask the wealthy to pay more in taxes. But House Speaker John Boehner says Congress should not raise tax rates on Americans.

This forty fifth trading week of 2012 comes to a close with investors assessing how a second term for President Obama will affect the economy. Hi.

Alliant Techsystems (ATK) was upgraded by Goldman Sachs to buy from neutral with a $72 price target, as headwinds faced by the company no longer exist, and a 12% free cash flow yield is offered. Shares are higher by about 3.7 percent.