Professor Elam

Please click on the image at left.  While it may look like a Ouija Board to you, it makes sense to me. I would like to revert to meeting before class in Intermed II (9:00 AM) and at (8:30 AM) for the grad class on Saturday. One reason students have a hard time with equity section of the balance sheet is the literal lack of experience in trading stocks. I spoke aobut derivatives in the INTERMED class the other day, clearly that is a new subject and confusing to most of you.  Ditto for the grad students, I hope to

clear up understanding of the puts and calls

introduce you to some simple charting techniques so you can start following markets yourself

this is shaping up to be a very interesting month in commodity trading so I think you can really enjoy the discussion as we highlight the energy and metals sectors

At top right, crude oil has been below its moving averages for the last seven months. It has now broken above them and is re testing the 200 day MA. This is typically a powerful formation and suggests much higher prices lie immediately ahead.  This is further confirmed by stocks like VLO going to new highs on the move.  I will not be holding you responsible for this on exams but trust me, this is important information and you will learn a lot.  I had to assimilate all this on my own and now write a column for a weekly newsletter on mutual fund trading.  Good stuff, see you before class.