Another Trading Week

Financials seem to have turned as Wells Fargo, Citi and JP Morgan reported "less bad" numbers while Merrill still delivered a worse than expected quarter. The sector is really carrying/pushing the broad market higher as excessive risk aversion reverses course. There seems to be a huge push into these names and out of energy and to an extent the staples (KO, PEP, DPS). This rotation is accentuated by short covering (we know there was a ton of shorts in financials). I was impressed by Fortress (FIG) today. It rallied from morning until afternoon with all pullbacks being bought. There was an especially appetizing opportunity later in the afternoon as it pulled back from 10.44 to 10ish and rounded out to rally into the close to 10.31. It truly had a hard time coming down and I would definitely keep my eye on it in the near term.

Tech looks like a complete wreck. GOOG as well as EBAY, VCLK, and MSFT have all disappointed recently. GOOG came in and opened around 497 providing what I thought to be a nice short opportunity into the tech bellweather. Expectations were too high for the stock and an air of vulnerability to economic weakness has seemed to seep into the internet story. That combined with a large gap below the current price helps form a nice bearish background for further GOOG downside from here. The trade has worked so far as the stock dropped as low as 479 on the day. I am negative on tech (with a neutral to slightly bullish view of Apple) and would use it as a short hedge for a portfolio or would look for more opportunistic directional bets in this sector as well. The tech safe-haven play seems to be unwinding.

Healthcare seems pretty solid. Merck reports earnings before the bell on Monday which could lead to big shakeup in the sector. I'm looking for a beat (but not betting on it) as a lot of bad info has been priced into these stocks and sentiment has seemed to turn making these pharma/medical device stocks the new loved stocks in the market (MRK's recovered from downgrades and PPH was up during the last market beatdown).

A Few Other Notes:
- DV has a tradeable chart. DV can be bought off the 200 sma. The stock showed pretty good strength on Friday, so I think it will hold up.
- KO, PEP, DPS have been and look like they will continue to be hated stocks that are vulnerable to further declines. Strength is non-existent especially for KO.