I Broke My Rules and Paid

Yesterday I laid out 8 rules to trading options at hard times. Rule #3 said not to buy options when there is a sharp upturn in the market. And Rule # 8 said not to hold options over night. I broke both these rules and paid. I bought options in Ford Motor because they had just come off a small downturn and it seemed like market conditions were right. So I bought them at the end of the day and held them over night.

This morning the pre-market was trading up. Even the Wall Street Journal said that stocks were pointing to another positive day. In the pre-market trading Ford Motor was up 14 cents. The minute the market opened stocks started tumbling.

The reason for the tumble is this: our Fed Chairman, Ben Bernanski got up and mumbled something in public about raising interest rates. These guys have two problems: 1) Every time they open their mouths the market goes down. 2) They are addicted to raising. That's right. They always want to raise something. If it isn't interest rates, it's taxes, or fees, or something else that makes your life a little more miserable. It just doesn't sit well with investors.

Now, I understand that a lot of people don't like investors. Why, I'm not sure. I think it might be jealousy. But folks, our economy is lubricated with investors' dollars. People willing to take the risk to finance a company that produces a product that creates jobs. A lot of people don't like the guy that provided their job. That's OK. take away the investors and there will be fewer jobs.

What? No Coffee!

One of the things I am very fond of is a good cup of coffee. Starbucks does this reasonably well. I like their coffee, I like their atmosphere, and i like it that they have broadband service. I even like their paper cups. Oh, and they make real cheap office space.

When I see a sign for a coffee shop I am reasonable sure that I can get coffee there. But it seems the last few times at a certain Starbucks, coffee is not a priority. At this particular Starbucks I can almost count on them not having any coffee ready. It happened again this evening, making it my 4th trip in a row to this store where I've had to wait for them to brew a pot.

In fact, one time I had to wait for them to brew two pots. Yes, that's right, two pots!. I placed my order and was told they needed to brew some, so I watched them brew, they poured it up and gave some to two other customers and i was told that they had to brew another pot. Now, wait a minute! these are big urns! Why were they out of coffee? I was told that they brewed only a quarter of an urn the first time. I'm not sure that all the people that work at Starbucks have all their marbles. Some of them are two cards short of a full deck.

Well, anyway, I had to wait 15 minutes for a cup of coffee at a shop that specializes in selling coffee. I just don't get it. Audrey was finished with hers and waited while I enjoyed mine.