JANUARY BAROMETER:

As the old saying goes (Observable, but not Actionable) : So goes the first week of January - so goes the month; so goes January, so goes the year! Of course, a la the Heisenberg principle - since the year contains the month, it has a nice running start.
Sentiment Indicators are running a little hot lately - not quite calling for a reversal, but approaching overbought conditions: The VIX is down to 20; the AAII  Bears dropped from 30 to under 20! MMF flows went negative for the first time since November. Bullish % is nearing a high level, where previous tops have occurred, although 88% is the highest high.
The herd-like media is finally all aflutter about zero interest rates penalizing prudent investors, and I have been asked to revisit my DITM covered call strategy at the upcoming SF Options Group meeting on Jan.21 at Fort Mason. After successfully testing this plan for nearly three years, giving several Bay Area talks and even writing a book on it, people are finally seeing the value of it - @10% annualized returns, WITH a Safety Net. If interested for a portion of one's assets, please visit brentleonard.com for more information.
Here are the Sentiment numbers:

Date>		1/6/2012	12/30/2011
Indices:	DJIA	12359	12217
	NAZ	2674	2605
	SPX	1277	1257
NASD/NYSE	WklyVolume (Bshs)	3.2/6.9	2.2/4.6
nasd/nyse	Specul.Ratio hi=bullish	2.16	2.10
Sentiment:	put/call-CBOE	63	67
Barron's	VIX>50-alltmlow=8.8	20.6	23.4
	Advance/Dec-NYSE	2213/947	1218/1896
	Weekly Net:	1266	-678
	Cumulative:	126533	125267
Weekly	NYSE hi/low	305/27	295/72
New Hi's/Low's	Nasdaq h/l	118/81	92/161
McClellan	Oscillator	29	24
McClellan Sum	.+750/-1000	395	240
Newsletter	Inv.Intel -Bull:tues	49.5	50.5
Surveys	Bear:-5yrs	30.5	29.5
	AAII  -Bull :wed.	48.9	40.6
	Bear	17.2	30.8
COT:Change w/w	large/small (net)k	12/5.	7/7.
CEOinsider	selling	30:1	18:1
BalticDryIndex	GlobalEcon	1426	1888
3-box rev	Bullish%-	68	..63buy
US equity -ICI	Fund Flows	1 wk lag	(4B)
MMF flows	Change in $B	(1.9B)	2.6B
MargDebt- top (300M)	monthly OCT.		269B
ETF:Eqty/Int'l/Bond	million$$ OCT.		615/262/178
2-yr Tsy Yield: Inflation		0.27%	0.25%
Euro futures	1 yr.offset-CommHedg	5.13M	5.04M

With record numbers of dollars coming out of Money Market Funds, mostly into the crowded trade of short term bonds, anyone who has a minimal knowledge of covered call options and/or an interest in hedging stock market exposure might want to check out: brentleonard.com for an alternative strategy that is low-risk as well as highly rewarding. For those of you wanting more details and actual trading results, a new book is available for $14.95 at Amazon.com: Zero (IN)Tolerance

Subscribe in a reader

JANUARY BAROMETER: