Directionality Still Eludes Me...

I've been straddling anything that moves the past few trading days and over the weekend, I ran some numbers and decided if I can successfully straddle the VIX, a 2 handle move in either direction would start making me money and a 6 or 7 handle move would really, really push my financial plaisir into the stratosphere.  

I decided to take some haircuts on my beloved VIX ETFs and reallocate the capital into VIX and VXX straddles.  

It is very uncharacteristic for the VIX to move so little given the NFPs we had, but my hope is that Bernanke will appease by injecting volatility next week.  That is, unless we get some disappointing Unemployment Claims or Retail Sales this week.

In the meantime, the only thing disappointing is my portfolio:

-2.62% SBA
-1.82% Roth IRA

+0.94% DJIA
+1.26% Nasdaq
+1.00% S&P 

-0.25% FTSE
-0.15% Eurofirst
+2.48% Nikkei
+3.39% Shanghai
+1.53% SENSEX
+0.57% Hang Seng

-1.37% WTI
-2.48% Brent
-0.01% Gold
+0.66% Copper
-2.85% Corn

+0.61% EUR/USD
+0.44% GBP/USD
+0.47% USD/JPY
+0.43% EUR/JPY

+1.40% DJT
-1.39% VIX

-1.40% 10-Year US Treasury Notes


77% Advancing Issues on NYSE                      |   83% Up Volume
21% Declining Issues on NYSE                       |   16% Down Volume
2% Unchanged                                            |   1% Unchanged
151 New Highs   |   26 New Lows

73% Advancing Issues on Nasdaq                   |   85% Up Volume
24% Declining Issues on Nasdaq                    |   13% Down Volume
3% Unchanged                                            |   2% Unchanged
151 New Highs   |   16 New Lows


Today's Major Headlines:

Icahn Abandons Dell

JPMorgan In $300 Million Settlement Over Force-Placed Insurance