Open high, close low?

Is it the same, recyclable pattern for the broader market? When I went to sleep at about 4 am Hawaii time, AAPL was above 258, up more than 3 bucks already. Now, with 45 minutes left in the session, AAPL is back down to 255-256.

The Nat Gas sector continues to blossom as BP (30.79 -9.36%) continues to bottom. Technically, BP was due for the bounce off 29 last week. But the nat gas industry had lagged for months, years. Of the 40 on my list, 32 are in the green today, even with the overall pullback. Interesting to note, however, that some of the decliners today include GDP and HGT, which were among the leaders on Friday. GDP has fluky fundamentals and I just don't like it compared to the elite issues in the sector. A tiny float made it great daytrader material.

HGT, on the other hand, has a great balance sheet. This may be my chance to finally re-enter the sector, but the market may be at its turning point soon. WPRT is a big gainer at +6.57% (19.23), along with MMR (again) at +6.27% to 11.69 and UNG +4.9% to 8.57. BRNC, PETD, ROSE are also up more than 3%.

And, AAPL has just hit 257. That was quick. Oh,  the things that happen on low volume.

Nat Gas update: ROSE

Rosetta Resources, Inc. 

Thursday, June 3, 2 pm Eastern: 21.86

Friday, June 11, close: 25.23

Gain: +15.42%

Candlestick analysis: "Hold" on buy at 22.40, June 3 (American Bulls)

Summary: Fairly solid numbers up and down, including revenues of $284 million versus total debt of $312 million. Year-over-year rev growth tailed off (-11.7%), but if clean energy comes to the forefront, that will reverse. Nobody wants to miss a breakout, but with declining volume, waiting is prudent. 

Noon Risers

GLD is steady again with a 1.76% gain to 121.30. Hate the gold bugs or love them. They don't care. They feel safe in their nuke-safe vault. UGL (ProShares Ultra Gold) is up 3.41% to 55.50 and has me a bit dazzled.

SLV is up 3.05%, which seems fair enough, but really, this ETF and the metal just don't get much respect. Conspiracy theorists can continue to claim that JP Morgan and other major house(s) manipulate the price of silver. Will that ever be proven or disproven?

IRE up 7.50% to 109.14, but I am not touching this ... I think. At 3.99, the moves are so sudden and swift. I'd feel slightly comfortable just getting long at a much lower price and letting it go up, not worrying about intraday fluctuations. At some point in the distant future, the economic climate in Europe settles down. Just not for today or tomorrow.

Meanwhile, AAPL is making a lunch hour rally to 255.22 after falling to 252.14. Still down for the day (-0.66), and it'll be tough for shares to gain when the iPhone G4 news is built into the price and the market sells off on each minor rally.

UNG is hanging tough again, up 15 cents to 8.33. I got out at 8.02. Again, UNG is resistant to market forces. 32 of the 39 nat gas stocks I'm watching are positive toady, including GDP (+7.31%) and KWK (+6.61%). In this roughshod market, the nat gas sector has gained true believers. At least or the past few days, anyway.

REXX, ROSE and RRC are also trading well in the nat gas field.

Dow down 178, Nat Gas mostly green

Of the 39 nat gas stocks I began studying yesterday, 31 are in the green on an otherwise horrific morning. Sure, AAPL has battled back and is still trading above 260, but I didn't even filter out the natty gassers that were questionable or carried more oil in their inventory than I'd really like. But those 31 are still green.

REXX +6.2% to 11.91
KWK +5.5% to 12.80
GDP +5.6% to 14.77
HERO +4.8% to 3.06
ROSE +4.6% to 24.77

It goes on and on. I still prefer UNG for the time being, waiting for a better entry point as it trades near its intraday high (8.15). As an ETF, it will be more stable. However, some of these sub-5 natty gassers will probably have wicked swings for days or weeks to come. Really, do you think Obama will step to a podium and suddenly declare that clean energy does not include nat gas? Hell no.

FTK +4.0% to 1.54
MMR +3.8% to 10.64
RRC +3.1% to 52.64

A lot of these companies have frankly crappy fundamentals. I can accept that. The environment has been slanted against them politically until Obama finally uttered the word "embrace" regarding nat gas. But there are more than a few natty gassers that have HUGE debt and wildly overpaid executives (see yesterday's posts and charts). Those stocks will be the first to fall off the wagon in this run, though it could last for some time. It's like the gold rush and all those potential panhandlers breaking the speed limit (of 8 mph) to get from the Midwest to Californica. Yee haaw, brothers and sisters. Yee fucking haw.

I must overcome my natural tendency to duck and hide, and open a tiny position or two. Nat gas simply showing too much strength. We'll have a better idea by lunchtime — will the market manipulators take their profits and eat a big, fat pastrami sandwich for an hour? — and again by the close. If the market sells off like mad into the close, where will nat gas go? It could hold ground, or sell off in anticipation of another ride up next week. The MMs will play that game until your balls are broken. I'd rather play the game along with them than overpay and get caught holding the bag.

Bismarck, N.D., I see you!

Natty Gasser: ROSE

Rosetta Resources, Inc.

Key Statistics

Profit margin: 9.21%

Operating margin: 22.67%

Return on Assets: 4.36%

Return on Equity: 5.12%

Revenue: 284.66M

Quarterly Revenue Growth (yoy): -11.70%

Quarterly Earnings Growth (yoy): n/a

Total Cash: 49.91M

Total Debt: 314.24M

Shares Outstanding: 52.71M

Float: 51.24M

% held by Insiders: 0.85%

% held by Institutions: 89.90%

CEO: Randy Limbacher, 1.42M

Candlestick analysis: "Buy Confirmed" at 22.40 today (American Bulls)