FSX Friday Update

Let’s play mad libs this week: pick a random catastrophe and plug it in to the headline.  “The market was slammed early in the week on rumors of _____, only to rebound when optimism about _____ won out among investors.”  If you’re having trouble coming up with something, I suggest one of the following: Greek default, European bank solvency, Chinese inflation, a plague of blood tornados.  Now wasn’t that more fun, and just as informative, as trying to figure out what actually moved the markets?  In the end, the major indices added between two and three percent in the first week of the last quarter of 2011.

Following the aforementioned recalibration, the FSX finished last quarter at 10,007, more in line from a magnitude standpoint with the Dow Industrial Average’s Q3 closing level of 10,913.  So far this quarter the FSX follows the more staid Dow Industrials directionally, but with a big-ass Beta.

• Monday – Dow down 258 points, FSX down 662 (2.6x)
• Tuesday – Dow up 153, FSX up 402 (2.6x)
• Wednesday – Dow up 131, FSX up 287 (2.2x)
• Thursday – Dow up 183, FSX up 449 (2.5x)
• Friday – Dow down 20, FSX down 238 (lots of x)

As you may have gathered, Monday and the first half of Tuesday were brutal.  At its low point Tuesday morning, the FSX set a 52-week low at 9,220, representing a nearly 800-point drop in less than two days of trading.  Then from that point to the close on Thursday the index shot up more than 1,250 points.  We closed the week at 10,246, and I, for one, am exhausted.  I definitely need to pick some more boring companies for the FSX next year.

Advancers

• Lucas (LEI) +8.5%.  Lucas and Zero each set a 52-week low alongside the broader market, with both gentlemen trading down more than 20% on Tuesday.  A powerful rebound in shares of LEI and FRZ fueled the 1,250-point recovery in the FSX, but only Lucas made it all the way into the green.  Middle school may be a grind, but the market thinks it’s still easier than supporting Charlotte’s extravagant lifestyle.
• Reagan (REGN) +8.3%.  Reagan’s mama gave a presentation for Career Day in the Second Grade and brought all sorts of Lowes Foods goodies to shower on Reagan and her classmates.  It was the most exciting day of Reagan’s life.  Don’t tell her that, though; she’ll be afraid that I think she likes Mommy better than me and she’ll start sobbing.  That’s just how it goes in Reagan’s head.  But I swear I don’t take offense; I like Mommy better, too.
• Marcus (MCS) +6.7%.  Marcus bulls have enjoyed a massive rally of more than 30% since he touched a 52-week low in mid-August, but a corrective shakeout may be in the offing.  After all, the euphoria surrounding the start of the new school year is bound to subside at some point.  Come to think of it, though, Marcus bulls are probably not in it for the euphoria.  Like me, Marcus shoots for inscrutable in his public persona, and I haven’t known him to be forcefully euphoric about anything.  Well, Korean rap music, sure, but that’s it.
• Mario the Younger (SUP +6.7%) and Mario the Elder (PBY +6.7%).  The younger Mario was leading the FSX this morning with a 12% gain, whereupon I offered him an opportunity to give an account of his outperformance, whereupon he took a gratuitous shot at his sister.  The market knows you want to talk to Katie every morning, Mario, and you can’t hide from the market.  Now you’re just one Mario in a Mario jumble.
• Brinkley (BCO +4.8%) and Katie (CATY +3.6%).  They complain a lot, but I’m not buying it.  Netflix says Katie’s watched about 80 episodes of Breaking Bad in the last week.  And you tell me: are these the faces of ultimate suffering, or comfortable conspiracy?

Decliners

• MSTR LEE -3.7%.  If there’s one thing to be said for my relative merits as a freeloading spouse—that’s a big if—it’s probably the fact that my wardrobe is so cheap.  I buy one or two new comic book t-shirts a year, a pack of underwear, and maybe a pair of exercise shorts if they’re on sale.  I’ve worn the same pair of tennis shoes for five, maybe six years; they don’t have holes so much as the holes have them.  But I want it that way.  In fact, I think the Backstreet Boys were singing about the awesome Beach Nite After-Prom Party t-shirt that I had already been wearing for four years when they recorded that song.  So why am I down?  Maybe, just maybe, the market is telling me I should try to have at least one shirt without bleach spots on it, and I will surely take that under advisement.
• Zero (FRZ) -4.0%.  Mink oven mitts, Charlotte?  When does it stop?
• Justin (WOLF -7.4%) and Icarus (FLOW -8.6%).  With the Charlotte part of Team Charlotte removed, only Nicole stands in the way of their love.  Will she be enough?  The market says no.

Name	Ticker	10/7/2011	Change
Brinkley	BCO	$24.42	+1.11
Charlotte	ICE	$121.62	+3.36
Dustin	DST	$44.83	+1.00
Icarus	FLOW	$2.02	-0.19
Jenny	LEN	$14.12	+0.58
Justin	WOLF	$2.37	-0.19
Katie	CATY	$11.79	+0.41
Lee	MSTR	$115.99	+1.92
Lee	LEE	$0.71	-0.07
Lisa	LSI	$5.39	+0.21
Lucas	LEI	$1.41	+0.11
Lulu	LULU	$50.94	+2.25
Marcus	MCS	$10.62	+0.67
Mario T.E.	PBY	$10.53	+0.66
Mario T.Y.	SUP	$16.50	+1.05
Marisa	MOLX	$21.10	+0.73
Nicole B.	NI	$21.55	+0.17
Nicole L.	COL	$54.85	+2.09
Reagan	REGN	$63.02	+4.82
Ruby	RBY	$3.37	-0.07
Wilson	WILC	$5.82	-0.12
Winston	HWD	$10.49	+0.34
Zero	FRZ	$1.20	-0.05
Zondro	ZQK	$3.07	+0.02