Who is # 23?

22 and counting. Yep, that is right there have now been 22 bank failures. Two in California and one in Georgia. Only 153 to go. The FDIC warned there would be 175 bank failures. One of the California failures was Downey Financial a very large S&L. U.S. Bancorp (USB) acquired the assets. Looks like the big keep getting bigger. Or do they?

The big question is Citigroup (C) number 23? Citigroup has ben run into the ground by Chuck "Hey the music is still playing" Prince. The phat bastard is living our his existance on several boards and shuttling his girthness around his many houses. Meanwhile, countless numbers of heads rolled due to his incompetency.

Options not positive for stocks

Stock indexes continue to get pounded into the close each day. Pretty easy trend to identify. Equity Options are seeing more calls than puts as the put/call is 0.87. Only Index options see a put/call ratio above 1 as that ratio closed at 1.03.

There is no reason to rush into stocks. Remain calm and if you can trade intraday these are amazing days. Otherwise, keep cash high and prepare for a cold winter.