Where is WallStreet headed? Commonly asked questions

Everyone's cheering the upward move in the DOW, S &P and NASDAQ markets in the last few weeks.

There have been various theories as to what could happen next with the market and how long will this continue. I found a few which I can highlight here:

After a spectacular rally from the lows seen last month, the S&P, the DOW appears to be running into overhead resistance.

Click here for the video.

Investor Sajal has highlighted few key points in his blog in Seeking Alpha. Analysts are making different kinds of predictions from this being a bear market rally ready to loose steam or beginning of a new bull market to a bear market rally that will suck in more traders.

Mick Weinstein gives us a good summary at yahoo finance .

The coming few weeks are earnings weeks which is where the market swings in different directions in one-two day intervals.

In my opinion we will see some back and forth in some target area until earnings season is over. The direction of the market will be decided once the earnings season comes to a halt.

Thoughts?

Finance movies anyone ?

If finance or business interests you, then probably you can relate to some movies that cover these topics. These Hollywood movies range from comedy to serious and depict how money can change lives.

1. Trading places: A rich guy and a poor guy end up swapping their positions in the game of finance. Watch Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykryod in this funny 1983 movie.

2. Office Space: This one brings the office to the movie theater. Tech programmers can relate most to this silicon valley comedy.

3. Wallstreet: This is about a WallStreet stockbroker who wants to get to the top by using both legal and illegal methods.

4. Rogue Trader: Ambitious, Nick Leeson finds himself as a futures option trader in this 1999 Hollywood movie. I have not yet watched this one. Any reviews?

5. Lost in America: Money Magazine brought this to my attention. Have not seen this movie yet . This 1985 movie depicts the life of a couple who start on a journey and lose their nest egg.

Do you have more to add to the list?

April Gold technical analysis - is Gold confused?

After my GLD technical analysis in March I decided to take a look at GLD again.
Here is MarketClub's analysis.


Monthly indicator is bullish but weekly and daily are negative.

After being in an undecided territory GLD started its downward spiral making its earlier support now a resistance line.
Using some Fibo and Elliott wave theories I would guess the downward spiral might be of similar length given the one from 98- 89.
If the length of current decline is the same as the one before we would expect ten basis points from 94 which is around the 84 level before some rally.


RSI indicates oversold, MACD is in bearish territory for right now and volume is down. Need some volume to pick up upward trend. Thoughts ?

Tax time for gold or silver

If you have enjoyed GLD or SLV gains in 2008, you might have had a tough time with reporting the taxes. GLD or SLV lists some monthly sells that it passes to shareholders.
They are also referred to as WHFITs (Widely Held Fixed Investment Trusts).
If you are using any software like Turbo Tax and use auto login's to your brokers website all of the above are listed as gains and added to Turbo Tax.
The issue is its difficult to list cost -basis and hence SPDRs shows how to report the gains. Please see here for details on reporting GLD.

PS: I am not a tax advisor/consultant. Please contact your tax advisor for details.