Top Takes From RealMoney

The RealMoney contributors are in the business of trading and investing all day on the basis of ongoing news flow. Below, we offer the top five ideas that RealMoney contributors posted today and how they played those ideas.

Morning Prep

By Ken Wolff
8:53 a.m. EDT

The jobs numbers was both good and bad ... good in that we lost fewer jobs than expected, bad in that we have a higher unemployment rate. ... We popped on the PowerShares QQQ(QQQQ Quote) from around $39.45 to $39.78 and have dropped since, to $39.63. It seems the market is uncertain which direction to take. ... The market recovered nicely yesterday, and that places the bias in the bulls' corner, so I will be looking for a mild pop close to the open, the QQQQ should drop a dime and climb 50 cents. ... AIG(AIG Quote) is active and should do well after some initial selling. ... It's a holiday market and will probably get slow 'n low, so make your money early...

Positions: None

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Sell the News

By Rev Shark
9:08 a.m. EDT

After a little initial confusion we are seeing a pretty good sell-the-news reaction to the mixed jobs numbers. The real test will come after the market opens and the flippers have taken their profits. I don't think we'll see a trend day, as volume should be extremely light, and that should keep things very choppy.

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J. Crew Selling

By Tim Melvin
9:51 a.m. EDT

Insiders just keep selling at retailer J. Crew(JCG Quote). I see on the tape this morning that the CEO just sold 500,000 shares worth more than $16 million in the open market. In all, insiders have sold more than 3 million shares in the company over recent months.