Doug Kass shares his views every day on RealMoneyPro. Click here for a real-time look at his insights and musings.

My Takeaways and Observations

Originally published Jan. 19 at 4:13 p.m. EDT

I had my most active day of the year trading. It was also my most profitable.

Regardless of one's market view, I continue to see more opportunities on the trading side vs. the investing side in the months ahead.

I started Thursday with a story regarding an amazingly quick mall fall. The drop in value is a reflection of the state of retail. But, I am poised to buy retail at the sound of cannons.

MGIC Investment's (MTG) - Get Report win could be Radian (RDN) - Get Report 's gain ( here and here).

Good read from Yale's Nobel Prize winner, Robert Shiller.

Rad!

About interest rates.

Apple (AAPL) - Get Reportcatches a downgrade.

I favor the short side. Sis boom blah!

I looked for a first half top in January (for the year)--and we remain on script. Stay tuned.



At 3 p.m. stocks are near the day's lows

Here are some value added contributions on our site today:



1. Jim "El Capitan" Cramer had a bunch of good columns today, including this one on Secretary of Treasury-designate Mnuchin. I liked this one alot, as well.

2. Mark "Nashville Cats" Sebastian on the Russell Index.

3. Oil vey, Tim "Not Judy or Phil" Collins.

4. Mike Norman has a primal scream.

5. "Meet" Brett Jensen (who will be subbing for me tomorrow) on investment strategy in the Trump Era.

Positions --

Long SDS, HIG large, CPB large, F, RDN, JCP large, AGN

Short SPY, QQQ, IWM small, GM, KO small, DIS small, CAT small, C small, GS small, AAPL, JCP calls

Position: See above.

Favoring the Short Side in a Bigger Way

Originally published Jan. 19 at 10:19 a.m. EDT

With interest rates rising over the past few days, banks and other financials shares have been quite weak after earnings reports.

From financial bulls we hear very little about this changing correlation.

Citigroup (C) - Get Report short is my Trade of the Week and is now down more than 5% from Tuesday's levels.

New Best Ideas short Goldman Sachs (GS) - Get Report --put on last week at $242--continues lower, now at $231.80.

As to the market I have a large net short exposure, having added to shorts in Caterpillar (CAT) - Get Report , Apple (AAPL) - Get Report and Lincoln National (LNC) - Get Report and going longer in ProShares UltraShort S&P 500 ETF (SDS) - Get Report this morning.

Position: Long SDS large; short C small, BAC small, JPM small, GS, AAPL.

Action Alerts PLUS, which Cramer co-manages as a charitable trust, is long AAPL, AGN, GOOGL, FB and C.