Financial, Real Estate, Stock Markets Trends and Current Affairs

Goldman's strategy desk just came out with a recommendation that mirrors my guidance to subscribers, a 3 weeks later, reference Armageddon Puts Versus Truly Busted CRE REITS: Looking for that 5x-10x ROI 

Yesterday, I received a couple of emails along the lines of the one displayed below...

"Hi Reggie,

Can you please put out any guidance on your Armageddon Puts for your lowly retail subscribers?

Thanks"

Well, I would like all to know that I'm not a typical mo-mo type trader. I'm a strategist. With that being said, I'm also not the one to look a strong risk/reward proposition in the face and do nothing. Below is a set of charts that should drive the mindset home.

SPX_puts

The actual chart with the series and strike of the puts can be found in the retail investor's discussion forum. I will also be available to chat there as well.

If one would have averaged small OTM put purchases with with ample time value attached over the last week and a half, one would have amassed a neet little collection of Armageddon puts that will start popping into the money today. They were cheap enough to throw away in the rallying market, and if things go awry (quite likely) three digit returns are virtually guaranteed. The following is Goldman's note from this morning...

Published 10:46 AM Thu Jun 21 2012 ________________________________

Noah Weisberger

Aleksandar Timcenko

We are recommending a short position in the S&P 500 index with a target of 1285 (roughly 5% below current levels) and a stop on a close above 1390. This morning, the Philly Fed print of -16.6, down sequentially and worse than expected, provides further evidence that weakness has extended into June. Although yesterday's FOMC delivered easing as expected, with a dovish statement, positive risk sentiment ahead of the FOMC had already buoyed markets. And we now think, with incremental US monetary policy on hold, the market will need to confront a deteriorating growth picture near term. The risk to our recommendation is that the data soon reverts to the 2-percent growth path our economists expect, that China growth turns, or that European policy-makers' rhetoric buoys risk sentiment further from here, with the upcoming end-of-June summit a focal point on this count.

The MSM headline barrage continues to confirm my multiple warnings on the increasingly ugly macro situation both here and abroad...

• US Mid-Atlantic Factories Slow; Leading Indicators Rise The US never really left recession
• Manufacturing, Jobs Reports Add Up to More Bad News Ditto
• Spanish Banks Need Up to $79 Billion in Capital: Auditors Yeah, right - that's before you mark assets to market, right?
• Beware the Looming 'Monetary Cliff': Hatzius yep!
• Europe May Have Found a New Use for Its Bailout Fund This is dangerous. The ECB wants to lax collateral rules to assist southern banks (read Italy, Greece and Spain) in obtaining funding. That means the ECB will be filled with even more trash than before. Reference my work on this topic 
  • You Have Not Known Pain Until You've Tried To Limit The Borrowing Costs of Spain!!!
  • Is Morgan Stanley Once Again The "Riskiest Bank On The Street"?
  • CNBC Asks, "So Why Are Spanish Bond Yields Falling?" I Ask The Better Question, "Why Are Spanish Banks Considered Solvent?"

This is how the European banks were killed in the first place -  Dead Bank Deja Vu? How The Sovereigns Killed Their Banks & Why Nobody Realizes They're Dead. The ECB will become the world's largest insolvent hedge fund (sans the hedges, of course) if it is not so already...  Over A Year After Being Dismissed As Sensationalist For Questioning the ECB’s Continued Solvency After Sovereign Debt Buying Binge, Guess What.

More MSM headlines to drive the point home

• ECB Mulls Scrapping Sovereign Rating Rules: Sources - See what I mean? And the rating agencies have been much, much to soft and slow to rate the soveriengs accurately, to boot. What in the world would happen if you really had a thorough analytical force in there to guide clients in the clients (not the sovereings or the banks) best interests? Reference Rating Agencies vs Reggie Middleton, Part 3 and the Interesting Documentary on the Power of Rating Agencies, with Reggie Middleton Excerpts
• China's Factory Activity Shrinks for 8th Straight Month - Uh Huh! Reference A Quick Note On China's Rate Cut and Reggie Middleton Speaks On China, Greece Playing Chicken and US Ponzinomics, then Will China Hit That Inflation Deer In The Global Macroeconomic Headlights Anyway, Despite The Fact They Are Slamming On The Brakes?
  
  

Follow me: