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Trade Radar Operator submits: In case you haven't noticed, agricultural products, grains in particular, have been putting on an impressive rally. Take a look at this chart of the Dow Jones - UBS Grains Index:If you're looking for a way to participate in this rally, I have the following list of ETFs courtesy of ETFdb.com:Complete Story »

Wall Street Cheat Sheet submits: by David GibbsEarnings: Q3 EPS of $0.81 vs. estimates of $0.79 and $1.25 for Q3 last year. (Click here to view Earnings Call Transcript)Complete Story »

optionMONSTER submits: By David RussellCompanies such as miners and chemical producers have been slammed by concerns about the economy, and now traders are divided about whether it's time to bet on a rebound or further bloodletting.Complete Story »

Frederic Ruffy submits: SentimentThe end of the second quarter is wrapping up in uninspired fashion Wednesday. After a 269-point tumble yesterday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average opened steady despite another dose of disappointing economic news. ADP reported early Wednesday that the US economy added just 13,000 private sector jobs during the month of June. The number fell well short of economist estimates, which called for an increase of 61,000. In addition, the bad news comes two days before the Labor Department releases its monthly report. Economists expect Friday’s data to show the economy losing 100,000 jobs and the unemployment rate edging up to 9.8 from 9.7 percent. The underlying tone of trading might remain cautious ahead of Friday’s numbers and the three-day Fourth of July weekend. Indeed, with an hour left to trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is flat. The CBOE Volatility Index (.VIX) lost 1.63 to 32.50. Trading in the options market was brisk early in the day, but has since slowed to well below normal pace. About 4.7 million calls and 4.3 million puts traded so far. Bullish Flow Mosaic (MOS) is up 45 cents to $39.80 and trying to battle back from a grueling 36.2 percent loss sustained since mid-March. In options action, some traders are taking a longer-term view. One player paid $2.50 for the January 2012 $65 call. 3500X. 13.2K now traded vs. 120 in open interest. The call buying seems ambitious, because the contract is 63.3 percent out-of-the-money and it would require a move to $67.50 just to breakeven at expiration. On the other hand, the contract doesn’t expire for a year and a half and MOS was trading above that (67.5) level as recently as January of 2010.Complete Story »

Morningstar submits: By Michael Rawson, CFA Pairs trading is a trading strategy in which two securities that are very similar in most aspects, but differ in one key aspect, are traded against each other in a long-short fashion. By going long in one security and short the other, you eliminate most risks except for the one you wish to exploit. This article discusses the strategy and how it is made easier with exchange-traded funds.Complete Story »

Market Folly submits:(This post is part of our series on tracking hedge fund portfolios. If you're unfamiliar with tracking investments they disclose via SEC filings, check out our series preface on hedge fund filings.) Next up is investment guru and legend Julian Robertso,n who founded one of the lauded hedge funds of the era, Tiger Management. He grew the fund from $8 million at inception to over $22 billion at its peak. Between 1980 and 2000, Tiger compounded a gross rate of 31.5%, but after losses of 4% in 1998 and 19% in 1999, Tiger shut down. For more information on Julian, check out Daniel Strackman's book entitled, Julian Robertson: A Tiger in the Land Of Bulls And Bears.Complete Story »

Phil Davis submits: Wheeeee, what a ride! Like any good car race, the lead changes often in the markets. Friday the bears took the lead as the combination of Hungarian debt issues and a disappointing jobs number were like a tire blow-out for the bulls, who were forced to pull in for a pit stop. Fortunately, we had our seat belts on and had assumed the crash position as I had warned Members on THURSDAY Morning at 10:04:Complete Story »

Market Folly submits:(This post is part of our series on tracking hedge fund portfolios. If you're unfamiliar with tracking investments they disclose via SEC filings, check out our series preface on hedge fund filings.)Next up is Chris Shumway's hedge fund Shumway Capital Partners. Prior to founding his firm, Shumway was previously one of Julian Robertson's right-hand men at legendary hedge fund Tiger Management. As such, he joins the other successful Tiger Cubs and is included in the Tiger Cub portfolio created with Alphaclone for hedge fund replication. Shumway Capital Partners focuses on intensive fundamental research to drive their long/short equity strategy. Back in 2009, Shumway was listed in Barron's top 100 hedge funds for 2009 with a rolling 3-year annualized return of 28%. However, 2010 has proven difficult for the firm as its Sakkonet Fund was down 10% in May after it had gained 4.3% through April. Shumway received his MBA from Harvard Business School and his undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia.Complete Story »

Dividend Inc. submits:
At the end of the week, our top ten stocks on our watch list contains a very diverse group of companies. These dividend paying stocks are all within 20% of the 52-week low for April 16, 2010.SymbolNamePrice% Yr LowP/EEPSDiv/ShrYieldPayout RatioMONMonsanto Co.64.73-0.69%26.972.401.061.64%44%XOMExxon Mobil Corp.67.936.88%17.083.981.682.47%42%FPLFPL Group, Inc.48.436.93%12.213.972.004.13%50%TMPTompkins Financial Corp.37.748.93%12.752.961.363.60%46%DNBDun & Bradstreet Corp.76.3110.43%12.726.001.401.83%23%TAT&T Inc.25.9311.82%12.242.121.686.48%79%FRSFrisch's Restaurants, Inc.22.3512.26%9.932.250.522.33%23%FFINFirst Financial Bankshares52.6113.24%20.392.581.362.59%53%BROBrown & Brown, Inc.18.5913.91%17.231.080.311.67%29%LLYEli Lilly and Co.36.5414.08%9.273.941.965.36%50%Watch List SummaryThe best performing stock from last week's list was Shenandoah Telecom (SHEN) which rose 4.8%. The worst performing stock, once again, was Monsanto which fell another 6% (it fell 2.8% last week). Overall, the Dividend Achiever watch list gained 0.2% versus the Dow which was flat.Complete Story »

Frederic Ruffy submits: SentimentThe Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 117 points and near its worst levels of the day late Wednesday. Trading was orderly until about 2:15 ET, and shortly afterward Fed's Hoenig stated that, with respect to low rates, the "extended period" language in the FOMC statement is no longer warranted. The comments come the day after the FOMC released minutes from a March 16 meeting that still contained the phrase.The market slide gathered additional momentum at 13:00 after data on consumer credit showed surprise contraction of $11.5 billion in February, much worse than the $.7 billion economists had expected. Add to this a rise in Greek 10-year bond yields overnight, an earnings miss from Monsanto (MON), weakness in energies, along with a very slow 2-month 12.1 advance for the S&P 500, and there is a noticeable uptick in volatility late Wednesday. The NASDAQ is down 17. With about 45 minutes left to trade, the CBOE Volatility Index was up .95 to 17.18. Trading in the options market is picking up, with about 7 million calls and 6 million puts traded so far.Complete Story »