Market News

In early trading on Monday, shares of Chesapeake Energy (CHK) topped the list of the day's best performing components of the S&P 500 index, trading up 12.7%. Year to date, Chesapeake Energy has lost about 5.9% of its value.

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In early trading on Monday, shares of Caterpillar (CAT) topped the list of the day's best performing Dow Jones Industrial Average components, trading up 1.7%. Year to date, Caterpillar registers a 11.3% gain.

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The Chinese economy has slumped over the past year, setting off a ripple effect throughout the Asian markets. The People's Bank of China has reduced interest rates six times since 2014, and profits reported for listed companies grew just 3% in 2015 compared to 11% in 2014, according to Bloomberg.

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Alcoa posted mixed first quarter results on Monday as it continues to reel from the steep decline in aluminum prices.

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Liu Yiqian, the flamboyant Shanghai billionaire who has made headlines around the world for record-breaking bids at auctions organized by the likes of Christie’s and Sotheby’s is moving to build up a family-backed auction business in a bigger way.

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In trading on Tuesday, oil & gas exploration & production shares were relative leaders, up on the day by about 8.9%. Leading the group were shares of Ultra Petroleum (UPL), up about 71.5% and shares of Linn Energy (LINE) up about 50% on the day.

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VW investors are bracing for some key dieselgate decisions later this month, but worry that labor unions are trying to undermine a key executive's ability to transform the company's lagging profitability Meanwhile, reports in Germany suggest the ruling coalition of unions and local politicians which control the VW supervisory board are trying to undermine VW brand chief Herbert Diess. Diess is perhaps investors’ last great hope that one day VW will stop being a company that exists to protect jobs, boost worker welfare and keep inefficient plants open, and turn into one where, like most normal companies, the bottom line rules.

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The major central banks, the U.S. Fed, the ECB and the Bank of Japan have all pledged to provide liquidity as far as the eye can see. The only problem: it hasn?t worked.

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The US Department of Justice (DoJ) filed a civil antitrust suit to block the $35 billion Halliburton-Baker Hughes deal on Wednesday, April 6th, 2016. The merger, a combination of the No. 2 and No. 3 oil services companies in the industry, is likely to curb free competition in almost 20 business lines in the global well drilling and oil construction industry. While the two companies offered divestitures of almost $7.5 billion worth of their assets to obtain regulatory clearances, these were not considered adequate by the regulatory authorities. Hence, a law suit has been initiated against the deal.

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The Covered Call Strategy is highly endorsed by brokers and traders everywhere. The question is does Selling Covered Calls enhance the return of a portfolio? Does it reduce one’s risk/reward profile? Does it attain good value for the trader? Depending on the market, Selling Covered Calls can be an excellent strategy, in most markets however, it has a distorted risk/reward profile. Analyzing the following instruments provides a common sense evaluation of the strategy and its risk/reward profile.

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