Before the Open (Feb 15)

Good morning. Happy Friday. Happy Option Expiration Day.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mixed. Japan and New Zealand moved down; China and Indonesia moved up. Europe leans to the upside. There are no big winners or losers. Futures here in the States point towards a flat open for the cash market.

The dollar is flat. Oil is down, copper up. Gold and silver are up.
The S&P is up 3.5 for the week. If it can resist dropping that amount today, it’ll be the index’s 7th consecutive up week. You have to go back to the end of 2010 and beginning of 2011 for such a streak.
But the upside progress isn’t anything to get excited about, and volume is declining. Am I desperately searching for something? Yeah a little. The market keeps going and going and going regardless of what’s put in its path. It’s not wise to fight it; it’s also not wise to throw all caution to the wind and assume it’ll continue uninterruptedly. I’m long. I’ve been long since soon after the November bottom. I’m not one for guessing top and prefer leaving that to others. I’m content to ride the rally and manage my positions while taking new ones from time to time when it’s appropriate. I’ve seen it too many times over the years – traders miss huge moves because they think a top is coming or forming. And then 100 S&P points later they’re still sitting on the sidelines. Rallies last longer than you think. They don’t end when they should, they end when the last of the bears throws in the towel.
Herbalife (HLF) is up 22% before the open. Carl Icahn revealed yesterday he bought 13% of the company. I don’t know about you, but I’m a little tired of these guys taking positions and then announcing them to the world and seeing the stocks gap up huge. It’s probably not illegal, but in my mind, it stretches the ethics of the market place. And what’s good for a company, its employees and its products can be much different than what’s good for an investor who just wants to make a quick buck.
Options expire today – meaningless in my opinion.
The market is closed on Monday for Washington’s birthday.
Keep riding the trend, but don’t get lazy. More after the open.
headlines at Yahoo Finance
headlines at MarketWatch
today’s upgrades/downgrades
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers