DailyPlay Updates – August 26, 2022

Today’s the day that investors have been waiting for since, well, the last time Fed Chairman Powell did his press conference in July. That one helped goose the market higher; this one the world awaits his every word (and more so, his tone). Bulls drove stocks higher yesterday, with their belief that he won’t be quite as hawkish as was thought he’d be just 5-10 days ago. Go figure…

Maybe, he says nothing that neither zooms or plunks the market, but says enough not to make either bull or bear particularly happy, suspending us all into stock market purgatory until the September inflation numbers get released in a few weeks. That may be his message, as the bulls and bears have been fighting it out the last few weeks with neither camp feeling quite satisfied right now.

Monday starts the 2nd most vacationed week of the year (only behind Christmas week), so it can bring exaggerated market moves (as far less players are around to provide liquidity). Through Labor Day, take that into consideration as you either play for targets to be met or how you choose your stop-out levels.

I, myself, will finally be taking a long-awaited true vacation with my wife from September 7-18 (meaning I will not be working in any capacity during that time). It will be pure joy for us to tour Florence, Italy and the surrounding Tuscan Valley, and then end our stay by sitting in the sands of the Italian Rivera while sipping Prosecco. During that time you will be very well taken care of by our very own rockstar, CNBC Contributor and OptionsPlay Chief Strategy Officer, Tony Zhang.

Lastly, we had a great trade on in having previously bought a BEAM Sept. 16 $60/$50 put which we have scaled out of almost the entire position with substantial gains. We have two contracts left, and with the large gain the stock put in this week, we will exit the remaining two contracts today should the stock be positive on the day going into today’s close.

As a reminder, make sure you have closed out of the TLT long put trade that expires today. 

Enjoy the last August weekend of the summer.

Rick Bensignor
Chief Strategist