Investors & Friends:
Here's a summary of our investment actions from the past week.
Option Strategies - Covered Calls
1) American Axle & Manufacturing Hldngs Inc (NYSE: AXL) - The price of our October covered calls declined to $0.25 on 7/24, so we closed them out. Next week we'll look to either sell a new round of calls or just continue to hold the position.
Long Stocks
2) We sold Dynavax Technologies (Nasdaq: DVAX) on 7/22 @ $1.66 for a 7.8% gain, after it had a nice run-up this week.
Bonds & Fixed Income
3) We added a bit of fixed income into the Fund by buying Pension Obligation Bonds (POBs), issued by the Pennsylvania Authority for Industrial Development, with maturity 4/15/2017 and yield 6.97%.
The Investrio Stock Selector Fund Bull and Bear Market Indicators Report for the week ending 7-24 is attached. We enhanced the report by hyperlinking the Employment report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics to the Unemployment page and by adding historical CPI and PPI data to the Inflation page.
Reminder... The registration deadline is Friday, July 31, for the Putt for Parkinson's Fundraiser at the Branchburg Golf Center in Branchburg, NJ. Let me know if you're planning to go or if you're just planning to donate or if you need me to resend the event flyer.
Finally, Investrio was selected by Scottrade to participate in their Customer Research Panel.
Etcetera
Ex-Countrywide Exec's PennyMac Files For An IPO...
(The Investrio Stock Selector Fund will have exposure to PennyMac via our investment in Blackstone, which is one of PennyMac's funding sources.)
Senator Wants Restrictions on High-Speed Trading... Stock exchanges say that a handful of high-frequency traders now account for more than half of all trades...
On the topic of innovation, competitive strategy, and what an accelerating rate of industry changes means for investors, Bill Gates stated "I think the multiples of technology stocks should be quite a bit lower than stocks like Coke and Gilette, because we are subject to complete changes in the rules. I know very well that in the next ten years, if Microsoft is still a leader, we will have to had to weather at least three crises."
Banning Ultra-Leveraged ETFs - In his "Eureka Moment!" segment, Cramer shouted "bravo!" to the brokerage of Edward Jones & Co. for their decision to stop selling ultra-leveraged ETFs to their clients. Cramer, a long time critic of ultra levered ETFs, said he hopes every brokerage takes a stand and follows in Edward Jones' footsteps. Cramer reminded viewers that these ultra-leveraged funds do not do what they advertise and are designed for day traders to bypass margin requirements and beat down stocks with incredible potency. He said that for most retail investors, these funds lose money, and at the heart of the financial crisis, cost the American taxpayers billions, as the government stepped in to bailout firms as their stocks faltered under the assaults from theses funds. Cramer applauded Edward Jones, and again pleaded to regulators and brokers alike, to do the right thing and ban these funds.
Lead Fund Manager
Investrio
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Investors & Friends:
Here's a summary of our investment actions from the past week.
Option Strategies - Covered Calls
1) United States Oil Fund LP (NYSE: USO) was above the $33.00 strike price when July options expired this past week. So, we were paid $33.00 for our shares. Our cost was $29.27 ($30.82 share price - $1.55 sales proceeds from selling call), resulting in a +12.8% return.
2) Intel Corp (Nasdaq: INTC) was above the $17.00 strike price when July options expired this past week. So, we were paid $17.00 for our shares. Our cost was $19.29 ($23.29 share price - $0.70 dividends from 5 quarters - $3.30 sales proceeds from selling 4 rounds of calls), resulting in a -11.9% return. We remain long-term bullish on Intel and may rebuild a position if the stock pulls back and gives us an opportunity.
Short Sale Strategies
3) We built a small short position in Fedex (NYSE: FDX) @ $55.71 on 7/6, and bought to cover @ 54.83 on 7/13, resulting in a +1.6% return.
The Investrio Stock Selector Fund Bull and Bear Market Indicators Report for the week ending 7-17 is attached.
Lead Fund Manager
Investrio
Here's a summary of our investment actions from the past week.
Option Strategies - Covered Calls
1) United States Oil Fund LP (NYSE: USO) was above the $33.00 strike price when July options expired this past week. So, we were paid $33.00 for our shares. Our cost was $29.27 ($30.82 share price - $1.55 sales proceeds from selling call), resulting in a +12.8% return.
2) Intel Corp (Nasdaq: INTC) was above the $17.00 strike price when July options expired this past week. So, we were paid $17.00 for our shares. Our cost was $19.29 ($23.29 share price - $0.70 dividends from 5 quarters - $3.30 sales proceeds from selling 4 rounds of calls), resulting in a -11.9% return. We remain long-term bullish on Intel and may rebuild a position if the stock pulls back and gives us an opportunity.
Short Sale Strategies
3) We built a small short position in Fedex (NYSE: FDX) @ $55.71 on 7/6, and bought to cover @ 54.83 on 7/13, resulting in a +1.6% return.
The Investrio Stock Selector Fund Bull and Bear Market Indicators Report for the week ending 7-17 is attached.
Lead Fund Manager
Investrio
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Investors & Friends:
Here's a summary of our investment actions from the past week.
Option Strategies - Covered Calls
1) Gold Fields Ltd. (NYSE: GFI) - The price of our July covered calls declined to $0.05 on 7/10, so we closed them out and sold a new round of Aug calls for $0.90.
The Investrio Stock Selector Fund Bull and Bear Market Indicators Report for the week ending 7-10 is attached. We added a new page with Fibonacci Retracements for the Dow, S&P, and Nasdaq; the Gold / XAU Ratio; and additional perspective on the unemployment rate and magnitude of the loss of jobs.
This week Investrio reached another significant milestone. Investrio agreed to manage investment funds for its second client.
Lead Fund Manager
Investrio
Etcetera
What they're selling in California... Millions of dollars worth of IOUs, which the financially strapped state is issuing in lieu of cash as it grapples with a $24 billion budget crisis, are appearing on websites like Craigslist, where opportunists are buying them at a discount so they can turn a profit when the IOUs come due on Oct. 2. Meanwhile, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Chase agreed to accept the IOUs at face value through July 10. After that, recipients will have to go to check-cashing storefronts or credit unions, which will take them at a fraction of the full price.
Even Pope Benedict XVI is weighing in on global economic reform. In his July 6 encyclical he wrote "Financiers must rediscover the genuinely ethical foundation of their activity."
We conducted an unscientific poll to find out which retailers the average consumer prefers shopping at. The results: 1) Walmart, 2) Kohls, 3) Target, 4) Costco, 5) JC Penney, 6) Dollar Tree, 7) Gap, 8) Sears, 9) Liz Claiborne, 10) BJ's Wholesale Club. These retailers were not selected by any of the poll participants: Bed, Bath, and Beyond; Family Dollar; 99 Cents Only; Ann Taylor; Nordstrom; Saks; Jones NY; Limited; and Tiffany.
Here's a summary of our investment actions from the past week.
Option Strategies - Covered Calls
1) Gold Fields Ltd. (NYSE: GFI) - The price of our July covered calls declined to $0.05 on 7/10, so we closed them out and sold a new round of Aug calls for $0.90.
The Investrio Stock Selector Fund Bull and Bear Market Indicators Report for the week ending 7-10 is attached. We added a new page with Fibonacci Retracements for the Dow, S&P, and Nasdaq; the Gold / XAU Ratio; and additional perspective on the unemployment rate and magnitude of the loss of jobs.
This week Investrio reached another significant milestone. Investrio agreed to manage investment funds for its second client.
Lead Fund Manager
Investrio
Etcetera
What they're selling in California... Millions of dollars worth of IOUs, which the financially strapped state is issuing in lieu of cash as it grapples with a $24 billion budget crisis, are appearing on websites like Craigslist, where opportunists are buying them at a discount so they can turn a profit when the IOUs come due on Oct. 2. Meanwhile, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Chase agreed to accept the IOUs at face value through July 10. After that, recipients will have to go to check-cashing storefronts or credit unions, which will take them at a fraction of the full price.
Even Pope Benedict XVI is weighing in on global economic reform. In his July 6 encyclical he wrote "Financiers must rediscover the genuinely ethical foundation of their activity."
We conducted an unscientific poll to find out which retailers the average consumer prefers shopping at. The results: 1) Walmart, 2) Kohls, 3) Target, 4) Costco, 5) JC Penney, 6) Dollar Tree, 7) Gap, 8) Sears, 9) Liz Claiborne, 10) BJ's Wholesale Club. These retailers were not selected by any of the poll participants: Bed, Bath, and Beyond; Family Dollar; 99 Cents Only; Ann Taylor; Nordstrom; Saks; Jones NY; Limited; and Tiffany.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Investors & Friends:
Here's a summary of our investment actions from the past week.
Covered Calls
1) Infinera Corp (NASDAQ: INFN) - The price of our July covered calls declined to $0.10 on 7/2, so we closed them out and sold a new round of Jan calls for $1.05
The Investrio Stock Selector Fund Bull and Bear Market Indicators Report for the week ending 7-3 is attached.
Lead Fund Manager
Investrio
P.S. Don't own too many names. It can be constraining, but it's better to have a few positions you know well and like.
Here's a summary of our investment actions from the past week.
Covered Calls
1) Infinera Corp (NASDAQ: INFN) - The price of our July covered calls declined to $0.10 on 7/2, so we closed them out and sold a new round of Jan calls for $1.05
The Investrio Stock Selector Fund Bull and Bear Market Indicators Report for the week ending 7-3 is attached.
Lead Fund Manager
Investrio
P.S. Don't own too many names. It can be constraining, but it's better to have a few positions you know well and like.
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