Monday, May 24, 2010

No mas! FAZ en fuego


The takeover of Spain's top savings bank by the Bank of Spain over the weekend wasn't ignored. Even I saw that news. But for FAZ to surge as it did early in the day from a low of 14.95 to 15.80 less than 30 minutes later. Yow! Here's more on the Spanish financial crisis.

FAZ traded down to 15.19 by mid-day, setting up a second run to 16.14 by 3:10 pm (Eastern). FAZ sold down to 15.85 by 3:44 pm, then ran straight up to a 16.34 close as the financials sold off.

How much of this had to do with Spain? Well, C was up most of the day before giving up most of its gains, and GS caved 3.93 to 136.69 (-2.79%). Just when it looked like the banksters were ready to plow forward, zappo.

STD dropped 5.19% to 10.41 after last week's nice gains. IRE down 9.46% to 5.07. NBG bucked the trend, up 0.77% (2 cents) to 2.63. If STD ends up giving back all of last week's gains, that's probably good news for FAZ traders, bad news for the rest of financials and FAS fans.

I wanted into FAZ after getting up before the closing bell, but it ran too fast, too high. It was available below closing price at 16.23 or so, but has since gone back up to 16.40 on flimsy volume. I've had better success with FAZ than VXX lately, but neither are fun for long. It's all about quickies with these two. Too quick, sometimes.

FAZ perked up early and late to pummel the finnies
XLF, C, GS and STD faltered
1-day (1-minute bars)
Over the past week, FAZ is a winner
5-day (15-minute bars)
Like all ETFs, FAZ is not a buy-and-hold vehicle unless you want to lose every dime
2-year (weekly)
Be cautious with FAZ ... she's a rocket girl!

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