Did Anyone See this Day Coming?

I sure was not expecting to finish up more than 100 Dow points today. The rally was broad based with NASDAQ advancers leading decliners by about 3 to 1 and the NYSE advancers leading decliners by almost 5 to 1. The volatility of the S&P 500 (VIX) fell by more than 6% today, which shows at least a small decline in fear among traders.

Casino stocks had a good day again. This morning we added to our position in Las Vegas Sands at $16.46 and were well rewarded when the stock closed at $17.45 a share. MGM closed up 4.3% on the day. Right now it looks like we read the tea leaves correctly Friday, when we bought shares in both of these companies. We still expect a little more to the upside on these positions.

The CME disappointed today, rising only $0.17 a share. We would like a several point run up tomorrow so that I can sell the October $310 calls against the stock we already own. NYSE / Euronext did better for us, rising 3% on the day.

Research in Motion (RIMM) disappointed us by rising significantly on the opening and then finishing basically unchanged. Our covered write on this stock is down slightly at the moment.