I can’t seem to stay away from the option trading potential of RF Micro Devices (RFMD). The stock is very volatile and stays within a trading range of 2.75-3.50 per share. This seemed ripe for the picking today as their Q1 earnings were announced at 5pm. I entered a trade in the early afternoon for August 2.50 Calls at .55 [...]

Shares of US Bank stocks have been moving considerably higher in recent days while crude oil falls. One stock in particular, Fannie Mae (FNM), was beaten down to around $6 per share the other day and I hesitated and decided not to pick up shares at that price for fear that the lender would become insolvent as many have predicted. [...]

The Microsoft – Yahoo options strangle I entered into didn’t pan out the way I was expecting. Several factors led to the losses, including the continued rumor and conjecture surrounding the deal and the fact that there is still no closure from either side. The trade appeared to be moving toward profitability just before Carl Icahn decided to step up [...]

Five executives representing BP America, Shell Oil, Chevron, Conoco Phillips, and Exxon Mobil were questioned (grilled) by members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. I think the politicians are so off-base on this issue it’s not even funny anymore. But in an election year, the only thing on the minds of politicians (Republicans and Democrats alike) is to appease the wants [...]

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer wrote a letter to Yahoo Co-Founder Jerry Yang formally withdrawing his offer to acquire the search engine for $33 per share, a 70% premium to it’s price before the offer was announced. Ballmer cited Yahoo’s unwillingness to accept an offer below $37 per share and attempts to cannibalize their own search engine by partnering with Google. [...]

Despite Microsoft’s threats of walking away from their $31 per share offer for Yahoo after last weekend, unconfirmed reports from inside the two companies point to a higher offer to come from Microsoft in the near future. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announced a few days ago that his company would be willing to pay $32-33 per share for the search [...]

On Friday morning I decided to enter in some trades that take advantage of the Microsoft/Yahoo deal drama that has been going on for a while. Microsoft set a deadline of Saturday April 26 (yesterday) for Yahoo to accept it’s unsolicited offer of $31 per share. I saw an opportunity to enter into an option strangle on Yahoo with May [...]

Google surprised analysts today by reporting a 30% increase in net profit for the first quarter of 2008. The news boosted Google stock 17% in after hours trading to 525 per share. Google was beaten down lately because of reports about decreased click through rates and the effect it would have on earnings. But, what many failed to realize is [...]

Shares of Bear Stearns (BSC) took a dive today amid news of a $2 per share buyout offer from JP Morgan and a government bailout. I’m truly upset that the federal government has had to resort to bailing out institutions who made horrible investing decisions and lost billions of dollars. It just really burns me that the American people as [...]

The European Union sure does have it out for Microsoft. The EU has imposed a record setting fine against the world’s largest software maker in retaliation for what it considers unreasonable prices being charged to companies seeking to design software compatible with the Microsoft Windows Operating System. Microsoft is trading down only slightly at the open, although the stock is [...]