Topics covered:
1) 0:00 Announcements
2) 0:30 Market Commentary and Index Review (Nasdaq Composite, S&P 500, and Russell 2000)
3) 10:40 Stock Review – Energy: XLE (ETF), XOP (ETF), OIH (ETF), VLO, OXY, APA, DVN, X, ATI
4) 15:20 Stock Review – Watch List/General Ideas/Commentary: ITCI, HRMY, LNTH, HALO, ATI, PCRX
5) 18:10 Conclusion/Summary

Market Summary:
I’ve been saying to be defensive for a while now and that I’m not expecting any SUSTAINED upside in the market for one main reason: The Fed. They are raising rates and taking liquidity out of the system, so you don’t want to fight that right now. Other headwinds for the market include the weak technicals (as all the major indexes are below their 200-day moving averages), the ongoing tensions between Russia and Ukraine, and the overall high inflation. Conclusion: STAY DEFENSIVE! It’s not only important to protect capital, but also to protect your mental capital. In other words, keep your mind sharp so you won’t be mentally defeated when then next new uptrend emerges.

One member asked me why I don’t encourage everyone to move to 100% cash. In this video, I discuss three reasons. The third one is that many stocks have been acting well over the past two months, especially in the Energy and Commodity related sectors. I did my best to keep some exposure to these sectors, but unfortunately, the weight of the market brought many of these stocks down this week. On Thursday, I got stopped out of many stocks and I now sit on a 90-95% cash position. As always, I encourage members to do what works for your investment objectives and overall risk tolerance. I’m not saying everyone has to have a cash level THAT high, but I would like you to keep a decent amount of cash ready for when new opportunities show up later this year. Again, stay defensive until the Fed is done with this rate hiking cycle. I did a webinar on Saturday morning and I will try to do another one this week to answer questions and review charts. Thank you and enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Unusual Option Activity
4/22/22 Twitter (TWTR) seeing 10,000 July $45 puts sold to open this morning from $3.50 to $3.35
4/22/22 S&P 500 ETF (SPY) $414 puts active with size buyers in May and June for over $17M combined premium
4/22/22 Valero (VLO) with 1000 May 27th (W) $100 puts sold to open today for $3.35 to $4.10
4/21/22 Marathon Oil (MRO) with 25,000 July $30 calls bought for $1.79, adjusting higher the $25 calls and follows the large July $27 calls buys last week
4/21/22 Cameco (CCJ) with 4500 September $33 calls opening for $4.05, some June $30 calls adjusting out into strength
4/21/22 Apple (AAPL) with 20,000 May 27th (W) $185 calls sold to open for $1
4/21/22 Apple (AAPL) also with 3500 May 27th (W) $180 calls sold to open near $1.98
4/21/22 Zillow (Z) buyer of 1000 May $47 calls $3.40 to $3.65
4/21/22 Salesforce (CRM) with 9800 August $165 calls bought for $24.65, adjusting the May $180 calls bought on 3/23
4/21/22 S&P 500 ETF (SPY) 4500 July $412 puts active with buyers since just after Powell started speaking for over $4M
4/21/22 Eli Lilly (LLY) buyer of 1000 May 6th (W) $292.50/$285 put spreads for $3.10 ahead of earnings next week
4/21/22 Snowflake (SNOW) late day buyer of 300 August $175 puts $26.90 offer
4/20/22 DataDog (DDOG) with buyers of 1500 May 6th (W) $115 puts for $4.20 to $4.35 ahead of 5-5 earnings
4/20/22 Imperial Oil (IMO) late buyers of 1000 May $50 calls for $3.60 to $3.70