AAPL

This is the start of my weekly market reviews for my trading journal. This is my digital watering hole, where I can celebrate wins and commiserate losses. It’s where I’ll work hard to figure out my new trading strategy and find opportunities in the market. I’m an old trader, definitely not a bold trader. What a week! I sold my stock holding in NVDA for a 20% profit and closed out all my AMD and COST calls. I made 68% profit each for those option trades. Options trading is insane and you can make sick money with it. Of course, you can lose sick money with it too. ...

History might not repeat but it sure rhymes which seems to be the case here. I remember back in 2000, right before the Dot Com crash when four stocks, affectionately known as the “Four Horsemen” ruled technology. They generated so many gains with quarter after quarter of earnings growth. It seemed to go on forever until it didn’t anymore. I’m talking about MSFT, INTC, CSCO, and Dell.. Today we’re repeating this same lunacy except it’s the Magnificent Seven that rule technology in nearly the same way. Their strong price action is pushing the S&P500 to new all-time highs, which I’m a BIG fan of, but I can’t help but wonder one damn thing. ...

I came across a Bloomberg article that I found absolutely tantalizing. Apple Inc. is forcing Chinese companies that make their Ipods and other products, to pay workers overtime that they deserve.  It seems that some Chinese companies routinely agree to pay their workers overtime when they negotiate with Western partners but then "forget" about it. Apple Inc., which relies on Chinese manufacturers for its iPhones and iPod music players, found 45 of the 83 factories it audited last year didn’t pay proper overtime and 23 provided less than minimum wage, according to its 2009 progress report on supplier responsibility. The Cupertino, California-based company required them to adjust practices to ensure correct payments, it said in the report. [via Bloomberg] ...