Goldmans

It was helluva interesting to watch the market response on Monday and Tuesday after Goldmans Sachs came out and announced it would be reporting a first quarter profit of US$1.8bn.

The market took initial heart from the announcement and then the overwhelming bad news and "reality" set in. Retail figures in the US were poor and that weighed on markets from the moment they came out.

Locally we had a pretty widespread rally with resource heavyweight Anglo American up over 5% and Old Mutual up 8%.... and the retail figures were my chance to take a couple of short-dated (10 day) puts on the local and international markets.

Dunno - think there is simply too much bad news for much more upside in the short term. Headlines from Bloomberg this morning:

• Cathay Pacific Said to Ask Workers to Take Unpaid Leave to Help Cut Costs
• Fiji Devalues Currency by 20% After Military Takes Power, Judiciary Sacked
• Australia's Banks Face `Headwinds' as Economy Slows, CLSA's Johnson Says
• North Korea Expels Nuclear Inspectors Following UN Condemnation of Launch
• Bangkok Enters Fourth Day of Emergency Rule as Police Seek Protest Leaders
• Intel Profit Declines 55% on Falling Chip Demand

Not exactly much in the way of good news in there.