So far December is looking good, let’s try had to keep it that way. U.S. stock futures posted sharp gains Friday, as Germany and France talked up prospects for tighter fiscal union in the euro zone, and the government reported nonfarm payrolls rose 120,000 in November, with the jobless rate falling to 8.6%.

Right now most of my swing trades look good, here are my thoughts heading into today’s session.

CEDC – picked this one up yesterday on a very bullish chart and improvements in Europe. Timing seemed perfect and it looked like a gap to $5 this morning for sure until the S&P 500 downgraded CEDC from a B to a B- about 30 minutes ago. Upgrades and downgrades are for long term outlook so they don’t matter to me but the timing of this one certainly isn’t my favorite here. Naturally it’s viewed negative which might ward off buyers and tempt others to sell out of fear. I’m pretty much even right now and I’ll hold the open to see how it plays out.

COOL – nice add Wednesday at $2.74 and my goal is the $3.30 range on this one. I’m happy to be green here after being down $4,000 so I’ll look to keep it that way. The market is up and will probably stay up today so COOL should uptrend from here baring any unforeseen news hitting the stock or the market.

HKN – gaping up here in the premarket a welcomed sign but possibly only temporary. My goal remains in the $3 – $4 range with a mental stop below $2.70 to $2.60. Hopefully Ledbed has some plans on this one still and we’ll see $4 soon. Time will tell, that’s for sure.

LOCM – was up $3,000 Thursday but I’m trying to be patient here and make $10,000 which is why I held. This creeping action is definitely a good sign so long as it continues to head slightly higher or sideways. I’d like to make $.50 per share or better on this one and right now $2 is my defined stop area. The short interest is pretty big here at 11 days to cover and the last time it was like that it squeezed big on a Friday – maybe today is our day.

USAT – so long as it holds $1 I’m in but I’d really like to see this one turn soon. Still nothing out of the company which isn’t good and bad. I hate fluff PR’s so I’m happy not to see any of that but hopefully they have something good for us soon. I like their technology and have scored this one from down here before. A hold of $1 and I’ll continue to give the company time to work – a break of $1 and I’ll need to cut my losses.

EK – nothing new to report here, boring trade. Hold $1.05 and I’m in, break $1.05 and I’m out. Goal at this point is even or better but I don’t plan on adding shares on the way up unless I feel really confident it’ll stick. Such as rumors of patent sales etc.