Retail therapy. Mon Feb 7

It's the retailers who need the therapy with department store chain Myer having announced a profit warning and fallen 47 to 328 as we approach the end of the first hour. Rival Djs has been dragged down 20 to 453 while Harvey Norman has not escaped the selling with a 2.6% drop. Leading electronic retailer JBHifi has bucked the trend with a strong result but if I covered this one I'd be shorting into the strength. The Jbh result was simply a skilled retailer handling the same problematic conditions better than its rivals. It's hard to see price deflation stopping in electriconic goods and consumers, in general, are very cautious as people are rebuilding their own personal balance sheets.
The morning lead was mildly positive despite disappointing US jobs numbers and an anomalously better unemployment rate. Gold fell back a touch, oil a lot and base metals were firmer.
My positions are generally better in a cautious market that has just squeaked to a 3 point gain. The start of the reporting season has given me a sharp reminder of the volatility at this time of year and it seems like the rest of the market has taken note.
I've added to the short in Aristocrat as it ticked up 1 to 300 resistance and sold off again. Shorted more at 297. I tipped out small amounts in Kar at 784, Lyc at 181, Ost at 278 and Sbm at 197 which were all minor gains from the Friday close.
Having been too quick to buy back into Lynas, I've had to sit out an indecisive period. The stock is now showing signs of having held support and I'm hoping for a move back through 200. There's also a minor buy signal on the 60 minute chart. But here's the daily. I wasn't worried about the retracement having overlapped the early December high of 173.5 but I was concerned about the 167 breakout level just after Christmas because it looked like that was the top of the first wave.

12.33 Last Thursday, I considered buying Qan on a bullish reversal but thought it was too speculative as it's in a long downtrend. I've reassessed and paid 243. What's changed? It's definitely still in a downtrend so it's not the best long position you'll ever see. On the plus side, two days after the blip and it's still pushing the top of the range of the big up day, there's another broker with a buy recommendation and reporting season could provide a catalyst as they're on 10 for this year and a PE under 8 for FY12.

Resolute gold is my best performer so far, up 5.5 at 141.

4.13 It was a very quiet day but the Xjo managed a gain of 6 points.

I just did some housekeeping in the afternoon, bought and sold some Lynas for a small gain, sold a couple more Rsg at 141 and bought back a quarter of my Aristocrat short at 289.