Expiration Week Starts... with implosion

The September expiration week begins and the financials try to out-do their July disaster bottoms as the Dow Jones falls over 500 points. What a day. I tried to paper trade (ie "pretend") a new strategy for swing trading equities and I stopped out all four positions at 2% loss. Well, today was unusual to say the least.

On the plus side, my S&P call spread is quite high and should be safe. My railroad and retail positions are still in the black as well and only four more days to wrap it up. Phew!

With volatility in the market place, it seems we should only have some in the weather. As hurricane Ike moves through North America, I must admit I was quite surprised as to the number of people that decided a 600 mile wide hurricane was worth "riding out". At the end of last week as radio news reporters were talking with people on the phone, it seemed hard for me to fathom what might be more important than moving yourself and your family to safety. And of course, now, the photos really tell of what kind of mess these hurricanes make and the layers of people that go back to try to positively impact the aftermath.

No doubt the financial markets and weather storms will return -- but perhaps the worst is over.