Morgan Stanley (part deux) + Barclays

And we are back!

As mentioned in the post from last week, Morgan Stanley (MS) was a buy as we lead into the last earning season of the year. MS is the sleeper hit and it still remains that. Last week JPM confirmed based on their impressive earnings that banks should do well this season and it lead many indexes on a tear moving up. Not to mention, further chatter on a .25 cut coming in November with even potential of another in December. We really are squeezing as much $ out of this year aren't. Will there be any left for next year? Of course, just gotta know what to play.

Quick recap on Morgan Stanley (MS) as of last week if you had entered, you'd be seeing around a 4% gain. Yet we have earnings coming up on the 16th. We've already surpassed an ATH for MS and it is showing strong signals moving into earnings. If we were to short this for quick gain, it would be on the 16th post earnings.

If we wanted to play it long, we would wait for the buy once it satisfies this GAP which it will eventually fill post earnings (see the circle in the chart below). And if we want to be super secure on our entry we can see how it reacts to the moving average (that orange line). It is bounces off that and doesn't break it we have a very secure entry.

Barclays

This one is a hidden gem. It's both a short and long play. Dealer's choice! And it has not only a great narrative but a big long technical play. First Barclay's is not only a bank but it is a stealthy underwriter of all of those credit cards you get offered from time to time. They underwrite many frequent flyer credit cards, cruise lines and retailers. They even just announced they are doing this for GM. I like it. Easy money and tapping into larger pools of communities.

Now the cool technicals, check out this chart. That long purple line shows years of resistance where it hasn't been able to break thru. It made attempts and if it did break thru it would have ran up quickly. But it didn't and that's ok because it allows us to consider what will happen next.