Whoa!

What a day. The market (the Dow) was flat, then up, then down, then up 245 points five minutes before the close, and we ended down 74. That kind of action can "clean your clock" if you're a trader, but the old buy and hold cannon has investors exactly where they were ten years ago. What to do, what to do?

I was greedy today. I sold my RIO but wanted the top at $12.95 per share. That order didn't fill, so as I saw the market begin to reverse in the two minutes before the close, I sold for $12.50 and watch RIO close at $12.37. I am still short put options on RIO, GE, and KMP.

Apple is up significantly over the last two sessions. That's one I'm watching closely and would be willing to buy on its way back up. Lots of good news and products coming out of the company, in addition to very positive investor sentiment and a ridiculously strong balance sheet, so we may have seen a bottom in Apple and the rest of the market could follow. I will be taking advantage of every blip down along the way, but you still have to be careful. Visa (a quasi-financial stock), for example, just posted earnings and beat expectations but went from up 3% to down 1%. Things are crazy out there!

In other news, I managed to pick up four free tickets to see Jimmy Buffett this Sunday. He is holding a free concert to rally voters for Obama. Should be a good time.