Still holding up
Last week’s sideways/down action in the market did little to weaken the overall trend picture, which remains solidly positive for all but the shortest-term perspective, which is mixed. More downside action in the short term certainly wouldn’t come as any surprise, and in fact could be seen as an opportunity for the market to further work off its “overbought” condition.
Like a spider – the arachnid kind, not the S&P kind 
– I continue to wait patiently for stocks to fall into my target put-selling ranges. This past week some potential candidates – like American Eagle Outfitters (AEOS), Lear Corp. (LEA), Pfizer (PFE), and Tribune (TRB) – actually did, but without enough downside energy to trigger any of my standing limit orders; this was probably because I was still trying to sell December puts, whose time premiums at this point were eroding faster than the stocks were moving down.
This coming week I’ll be looking to start selling January puts, as well as watching to see how my current short put (and call) positions fare as Friday’s options expiration approaches. Right now it’s looking a little too close to call on several of the positions – like American International Group (AIG), Gannett (GCI), Merck (MRK), and Exxon (XOM) – as to whether the options will ultimately expire out of the money or not.
