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.
E*Trade
By Jim Cramer
8:02 a.m. EDT
Lots of upgrades today, including
UPS
(UPS) - Get Report
and
Polyone
(POL) - Get Report
. But the one I think is most telling is
E*Trade
(ETFC) - Get Report
. This $1.66 stock is upgraded by Citigroup on takeover potential and a major increase in account gains. Really intriguing, and I am sure this will be a major theme for today...
No positions
UNG
By Timothy Collins
9:43 a.m. EDT
The
US Natural Gas ETF
(UNG) - Get Report
is actually up this morning, and to me, it almost appears as if it is a squeeze. I watched the short share inventory disappear quicker than dark chocolate in my kitchen. I have bought some September 13-10 put spreads and 13-11 put spreads on the price spike to 10.61.
Positions: Short UNG via put spreads
The Song Remains the Same
By Tim Melvin
11:43 a.m. EDT
I just read an interesting, is somewhat disturbing article on the
Associated Press News Wire
. One had hoped that the credit crisis would have spurred some creative destruction on the banking industry. When all this started, I had real hope that the giant banks that had pretty much turned into enormous speculative pools would fade out of the picture, and that more conservatively run institutions like
BB&T
(BBT) - Get Report
and
M&T Bank
(MTB) - Get Report
would grow to fill the void.
That has not happened. Instead, institutions like
Goldman
(GS) - Get Report
,
JPMorgan Chase
(JPM) - Get Report
and even
Bank of America
(BAC) - Get Report
are bigger than ever. They have almost no competition and are right back to the old ways. Trading profits are 50% of revenue at Morgan and Goldman. They are packaging mortgages into pools and selling them, albeit not at the pace of the bubble days, but it's incredible that someone out there is still buying these things.
It appears no lessons have been learned. I would not own the major money-center financial institutions on a bet. The cycle is going to repeat itself.
No positions
Credit Finding Buyers
By Tom Graff
1:06 p.m. EDT
Corporate bonds are working their way back to unchanged in active trading. Obviously, wider spreads and an improving stock market have brought out buyers. Consumer names and transports now look a little
tighter
on the day. Finance is also better.
Bank of America
(BAC) - Get Report
opened 5 wider, now unchanged.
JPMorgan
(JPM) - Get Report
opened 2 wider, also unchanged.
American Express
(AXP) - Get Report
opened 5 basis points wider, now 5 basis points tighter on the day.
Several new issues today.
DirecTV
(DTV)
$2 billion 5's and 10's at +245/255 respectively. Initial talk was +262/275.
Textron
(TXT) - Get Report
selling $500 million 5's and 10's, talk is +400 on each. Other issuers include
Centrue
(TRUE) - Get Report
,
Votorantim
( VCP) and Cenovus Energy.
High-yield ETFs unchanged, while
iShares iBoxx Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF
(LQD) - Get Report
is mildly underperforming Treasuries.
Positions: Long AXP, JPM bonds. Long HYG, JNK, LQD.
ABT: Take Some Profits
By Kristen Koh Goldstein
3:39 p.m. EDT
As
Abbott Laboratories
(ABT) - Get Report
bumps up against its 200-day moving average, I have sold some of my Nov $45 calls purchased last week for about $2. They are currently trading at about $3. I felt it prudent to lock in some profits --defensive names don't often return 50%-plus in such a short period of time. I have also sold some of my
Pepsi
(PEP) - Get Report
and
Procter & Gamble
(PG) - Get Report
PG calls to lock in some profits.
Positions: ABT, ABT calls, PG calls, PEP and PEP calls
This article was written by a staff member of RealMoney.com.
