• IFF is reported to be looking to do something with its fragrences ingredients unit.

"One last thing."

 -- Lt. Columbo

DealReporter just releases a note that International Flavors and Fragrances (IFF) plans to "evaluate all options for fragrances ingredients unit."

Stay tuned ... closely!

• Once again, banks and tech lead the way.

Another trading day in 2012 -- and another victory for the bulls in a market that doesn't break but just bends.

For the sixth consecutive day, financials and technolgy sectors are the leading market actors.

Thanks for reading my Diary today, and enjoy your evening.

• Interesting "Consumer Reports" discussion on CNBC by an editor who says the new iPad runs about 12 degrees hotter than its predecessor.

This doesn't seem to be influencing Apple (AAPL) shares, but it could slow down the recovery in the shares from Monday morning's lows.

That said, Apple's shares are ... well, Teflon.

Stay tuned.

• Dealbook reports that Alibaba and Yahoo! (YHOO) are meeting again.

• Here's what I've been up to today.

Today I added to the following longs: Walter Energy (WLT), Pepsi (PEP), Ocwen (OCN), International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF) and CSX (CSX).

And I added to my PowerShares QQQ (QQQ) short just now at $67.

• Here are the latest Intrade odds:

• Mitt Romney to win the 2012 Illinois primary: 97.7%
• Rick Santorum to win the 2012 Louisiana primary: 73.9%
• Mitt Romney to be Republican presidential nominee in 2012: 90.2%
• Barack Obama to be re-elected president in 2012: 60.0%
• And, of course, Hunger Games to gross more than $120 million in opening weekend: 80.0%

• Crude prices, while still elevated, are down by $2 a barrel today -- a potential tailwind to growth and to risk assets if they continue to trend lower.

• Decliners are outpacing advancers across the board.

• S&P 500 Index: 110 advancers vs. 384 decliners
• NYSE Composite: 305 vs. 1,523
• Russell 2000: 239 vs. 1,667
• Nasdaq Composite: 588 vs. 1,647

• Momentum investors are discovering financials.

"They'll be ga-ga at the go-go, when they see me in my toga

My toga made of blond, brilliantined, biblical hair

My hair like Jesus wore it, Hallelujah I adore it

Hallelujah Mary loved her son, why don't my mother love me?"

 -- Hair (The Musical)

As I have suggested, I expect business and consumer spending momentum to decelerate in the spring and for growth to miss relative to expectations.

In looking at cyclicals (like General Motors (GM), Ford (F), Walter Energy (WLT) and CSX (CSX), all of which I own), Mr. Market seems to be already smelling a slowdown (much like ECRI is forecasting).

Any exogenous event (geopolitical, energy, etc.) could provide an economic tipping point and lead to a lowering in the consensus growth forecasts.

On the other hand, momentum investors have recently favored technology (THE NBA MARKET -- Nothing but Apple) and have all of a sudden discovered the financial sector.

 As usual, investors and traders seem all Ga Ga with the Mo Mo!

• It is time for another levels update.

Below is an updated list of buy levels on selected stocks that I have recently mentioned on Real Money Pro. (Note: Of the 54 stocks, I would only rate only four -- Ocwen (OCN), iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index Fund (FXI), PepsiCo (PEP) and International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF) as attractive to buy at current levels.)

In light of the market's recent steady advance, I am either very disciplined or plain stupid (and wrong)!

1. Altisource Portfolio Solutions (ASPS), under $55
2. Apple (AAPL), under $550
3. Bank of America (BAC), under $8.40 
4. Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B), under $80.50
5. Broadcom (BRCM), under $37
6. Caterpillar (CAT), under $108
7. Charming Shoppes (CHRS), under $5.00
8. Citigroup (C), under $33
9. Colgate-Palmolive (CL), under $87
10. Clorox (CLX), under $65
11. Cohen & Steers (CNS), under $30
12. CSX (CSX), under $21
13. Dell (DELL), under $16.50
14. eBay (EBAY), under $33
15. E*Trade (ETFC), under $9.75
16. Ford (F), under $12
17. iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index Fund (FXI), under $37.50*
18. Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold (FCX), under $35
19. Fortinet (FTNT), under $25
20. General Motors (GM), under $24
21. Goldman Sachs (GS), under $112
22. Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), under $22.50
23. Home Depot (HD), under $42
24. IBM (IBM), under $192
25. International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF), under $57.50* 
26. JCPenney (JCP), under $35
27. Kellogg  (K), under $51
28. KKR Financial (KFN), under $9.10
29. Loews (L), under $35
30. Legg Mason (LM), under $26
31. Lincoln National (LNC), under $24
32. Lowe's (LOW), under $27.50
33. magicJack VocalTec (CALL), under $20
34. MetLife (MET), under $36
35. MGIC Investment (MTG), under $4.50
36. Microsoft (MSFT), under $30
37. Morgan Stanley (MS), under $18
38. Och-Ziff (OZM), under $9
39. Ocwen (OCN), under $16*
40. Parker Hannifin (PH), under $85
41. Pitney Bowes (PBI), under $17
42. PepsiCo (PEP), under $66*
43. Procter & Gamble (PG), under $65
44. PNC Financial (PNC), under $58
45. Prudential (PRU), under $59
46. Research in Motion (RIMM), under $10
47. Schwab (SCHW), under $13.50
48. SunTrust (STI), under $22.50
49. ProShares UltraShort 20+ Year Treasury (TBT), under $20.50
50. T. Rowe Price (TROW), under $60
51. Waddell & Reed (WDR), under $30
52. XL Group (XL), under $20
53. Exxon Mobil (XOM), under $83
54. Yahoo (YHOO), under $13.50

*Eligible to buy at current levels

• I covered the balance of my small Apple (AAPL) short this mroning.

• Overdone and overreaction to the news.

I am buying China (via the iShares China 25 (FXI)) on today's weakness at $37. (Go back to Helene's charts on China from last week for more details.)

• Here's how I'm positioned now.

Top three longs (in order of size, largest first): IFF, PEP ... and one to be discussed later this week (my potential ten-bagger!)

Top three shorts: SPY, QQQ, LOPE

• Busy day so far.

I added to International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF) and Pepsi (PEP) longs this morning, and I covered my trading short rental in JPMorgan (JPM).

• Regional banks are in the spotlight this morning.

Credit Suisse downgrades U.S. regional banks to neutral -- a valuation call. PNC FInancial (PNC) and SunTrust (STI) resumed positive at Susquehanna.

(I am told Jim "El Capitan" was positive on SunTrust last night on "Mad Money.")

• I start out the day, consistent with my market view, in a net short position.

Below is the calendar of today's economic releases and the consensus forecasts.

• The whys and wherefores of shorting Apple on Monday.

"Look at you: member of the honor roll, assistant to the assistant manager of the movie theater. I'm tellin' ya, Rat, if this girl can't smell your qualifications, then who needs her, right?"

-- Mike Damone, Fast Times at Ridgemont High

I am going to repeat what I said on "Fast Money" last night -- but with a bit of a twist. My narrative this morning is intended to show the anatomy of a trade (an Apple (AAPL) short rental on Monday morning).

But first, let's go to the tape!

To start I must totally admit that the correct strategy with regard to Apple shares has been simply to own the stock ... and not to trade it from the short side. Long and strong in Apple has been the right investment for many years. The company's remarkable success is undeniable, and, with another 3 million iPads sold last weekend, by all accounts that success is continuing.

I didn't see Apple's success coming, so I have been relegated to trading the stock -- from both the long and short side -- during share price dislocations and by interpreting events (e.g., earnings releases, capital market strategy moves, etc.). Having missed Apple's run (and never willing to suck it up and buy), I can occasionally trade the shares or do nothing at all.

I have picked the former.

So, this morning I'm going to present why and how I approached yesterday's Apple short trading opportunity in premarket trading, why I thought my entry price provided some near-term margin of safety and why I covered most of it in a swoosh lower.

Basically I'm laying out my approach, in this instance, in putting on and taking off a short-term rental.

One warning: As a practice, shorting one of the most powerful shares that have led the market rally for the last several years (or more) is not typically a good idea except for the most agile trader. And, even for a quick trader, like myself, it might not be a good idea -- there are far easier ways to make profitable trades.

In terms of background, as most will recall, on Sunday Apple announced that it would make a long-awaited announcement on its capital strategy. The shares ripped almost $20 a share higher in premarket trading on Monday morning -- ultimately rising to more than $608 a share -- as the anticipation surrounding the release intensified.

I shorted Apple around $605 in premarket trading based on some of the following considerations:

• Apple's short interest is low -- it passed my first litmus test -- so it was shortable (with only 10 million shares short relative to the float of 930 million shares and to its average trading volume of 32 million shares).

• Microsoft's (MSFT) July 2004 capital moves was a historic template for Apple's release on Monday. MSFT was another large-cap tech company flush with cash, though admittedly not with as stellar profit growth as Apple. Eight years ago MSFT launched a $75 billion capital reallocation -- it doubled its cash dividend, announced a $30 billion buyback and doubled the size of its regular dividend.
  
  
  
  So what did MSFT stock do back then immediately following the release of the strategy? It gapped from under $28 the day before the announcement to $29 ... but within two weeks the shares were back under $27.
  
  
  
  I saw a Microsoft redux -- though Mel thought I might be comparing apples to oranges! (I will address her very reasonable objection in a second, by underscoring MSFT's rapid profit growth after its 2004 announcement).
  
  
  
  And it wasn't that Microsoft's shares were weak for just two weeks. From mid-2004 to late 2007, Microsoft's shares flat-lined. For those who say the comparison is unfair (as Mel suggested) because Apple is hitting it out of the park, it should be noted that Microsoft nearly doubled earnings from $0.75 in 2004 to $1.42 in 2007. And by 2008 earnings per share rose to $1.87, or 30% above 2007. (Frankly I believe Apple will find it hard to match those gains in the next three or four years -- especially from its lofty base after successive hits with the iPhone and iPad -- but we will see.)

• I expected the announcement to be a nonevent, as I suspected that Steve Jobs' historic disillusionment with dividends would still have some weight with the Board of Directors.

• Moreover, since nearly two-thirds of the company's cash hoard was overseas, this too would be a factor that would result in a modest capital move that would not likely extend the share gains over the short term.

At around 8:30 a.m. EDT the announcement was made. I would describe it as a safe move (though I guess it was bold by Apple's standards). It bordered on a nonevent, in my view.

The initial response was negative; the stock fell to $584 where I covered half of the short. (I covered more on the way up as the shares recovered.)

When I looked at the press release, I saw that the $10 billion buyback only offsets anticipated stock option issuance and there was no special dividend, which some had anticipated. So I held off covering the balance of the short, as the announcement failed, I thought, to address concerns of many shareholders. (I should have covered my entire short with the benefit of hindsight.) Moreover, the buyback doesn't even begin until Oct. 1 -- more than six months from now. And it would be conducted over three years!

From the company's press release:

"Board has authorized a $10 billion share repurchase program commencing in the company's fiscal 2013, which begins on September 30, 2012. The repurchase program is expected to be executed over three years with the primary objective of neutralizing the impact of dilution from future employee equity grants and employee stock purchase programs."

The response form the analytical community, not surprisingly, has been universally positive. Goldman, as an example, raised its price target to $700 early in the afternoon. Morgan Keegan and others raised their targets even higher.

As a group the analysts have been universally bullish on Apple and, over time, they have been perfectly correct in their views. But while I suspect the analysts are great people and good to their mothers, frankly, as a group those geniuses missed the last quarter by nearly 40% on sales and profits. So, after such an extended advance, I am not willing to take them on face value ... to buy, buy, buy!

I am left (in terms of gaming the stock) to my own devices.

That said, I am a realist. I don't believe Apple has matured (as evidenced by the continued success of the new iPad) and it is clear that the company has still a lot of runway ahead of it.

But who doesn't know the story by now?

For now, to me Apple is now a trading sardine -- a high-beta tech stock that is leveraged to the stock market which I think is now overextended. After its run I don't see the sort of alpha ahead in the shares that has been seen in the past as we wait awhile for the next significant data point (2Q2012 results).

I certainly may be wrong; the crowd may continue to outsmart the doubters and Apple may continue to be the stock market favorite. Regardless, as I wrote, there will be trades ahead (on both the long and short side) for the agile trader in the stock.

The Divine Ms. F (Karen Finerman) chimed in: She liked the fundamentals. I can't dispute that, for as Grandma Koufax used to say after a stock had a great run, "Dougie, what's not to like?"

But there is always a point when the fundamentals are baked into the share price -- and yesterday morning was one of those points to me.

Some of the things a fundamentalist -- again, this was a trade for me, not a fundamental short! -- should monitor going forward include:

• worsening macroeconomic conditions;
• possible supply disruptions;
• the potential for increased platform competition;
• a changing competitive landscape; and
• a possible change in the company's cost structure (e.g., suppose Sprint fails and declares bankruptcy -- what does that do to carriers' subsidies that have really kept down the costs to the consumer of iPhones?)