Investors & Friends:

Here's a summary of our investment actions from the past week.

Option Strategies - Naked Puts

1) Medtronic Inc (NYSE: MDT) - Our Jan '12 puts reached 80+% of their maximum value, so we closed them out.

The date we opened the trade was 8/24/10.

Click here for the Investrio Stock Selector Fund Bull and Bear Market Indicators Report for the week ending December 23, 2010.

Click here for upcoming IPOs.

Lead Fund Manager
Investrio

Investors & Friends:

Here's a summary of our investment actions from the past week.

Option Strategies - Naked Puts

1) Adobe Systems Inc (Nasdaq: ADBE) - Our April '11 puts reached 80+% of their maximum value, so we closed them out.

The date we opened the trade was 9/22/10.

Click here for the Investrio Stock Selector Fund Bull and Bear Market Indicators Report for the week ending December 17, 2010.

Click here for upcoming IPOs.

Lead Fund Manager
Investrio

Investors & Friends:

Here's a summary of our investment actions from the past week.

Option Strategies - Naked Puts

1) Infinera Corp (Nasdaq: INFN) - Our Jan '11 puts reached 80+% of their maximum value, so we closed them out.

The date we opened the trade was 10/19/10.

Click here for the Investrio Stock Selector Fund Bull and Bear Market Indicators Report for the week ending December 10, 2010.

Click here for upcoming IPOs.

Lead Fund Manager
Investrio

Investors & Friends:

Here's a summary of our investment actions from the past week.

Option Strategies - Naked Puts

1) Aeropostale Inc (NYSE: ARO) - We sold July $15.00 puts. On Thursday Aero was down almost 10% resulting from analyst downgrades. Sales in November weren't as strong as peers such as Abercrombie, which may be taking market share from Aero as well as American Eagle. Aero's Great Recession low was $8.35 on 12/1/08.

Option Strategies - Covered Calls

2) ProShares UltraShort Russell 2000 (NYSE: TWM) - We sold April $18.00 calls.

Click here for the Investrio Stock Selector Fund Bull and Bear Market Indicators Report for the week ending December 3, 2010.

Click here for upcoming IPOs.

Lead Fund Manager
Investrio

Etcetera

1) Warren Buffett on gold... "You could take all the gold that's ever been mined, and it would fill a cube 67 feet in each direction. For what that's worth at current gold prices, you could buy all -- not some -- all of the farmland in the United States. Plus, you could buy 10 Exxon Mobils, plus have $1 trillion of walking-around money. Or you could have a big cube of metal. Which would you take? Which is going to produce more value?"

2) Recent observations that may indicate the bond bubble is beginning to deflate...

- The Barclays Aggregate Bond Fund (AGG) broke its 30-week moving average, the first time it’s done this since the depth of the financial crisis in October, 2008.

- For the past five years, bonds kept rising, outperforming most asset classes ex gold and global equities/emerging markets. For the past five weeks, bonds stopped rising and trended down.

- The 10-year T-Note index (TNX) is gaining steam.

- Did the bond bubble just pop? Click here.

Investors & Friends:

There is no new investment activity to report since our last weekly update.

Click here for the Investrio Stock Selector Fund Bull and Bear Market Indicators Report for the week ending November 26, 2010.

Click here for upcoming IPOs.

Lead Fund Manager
Investrio

Investors & Friends:

Here's a summary of our investment actions from the past week.

Option Strategies - Covered Calls

1) Blackstone Group LP (NYSE: BX) - We sold Jan '12 $17.50 calls.

Click here for the Investrio Stock Selector Fund Bull and Bear Market Indicators Report for the week ending November 19, 2010.

Click here for upcoming IPOs.

Lead Fund Manager
Investrio

Investors & Friends:

There is no new investment activity to report since our last weekly update.

Click here for the Investrio Stock Selector Fund Bull and Bear Market Indicators Report for the week ending November 12, 2010.

Click here for upcoming IPOs.

Lead Fund Manager
Investrio

Investors & Friends:

There is no new investment activity to report since our last weekly update.

Click here for the Investrio Stock Selector Fund Bull and Bear Market Indicators Report for the week ending November 5, 2010.

Click here for upcoming IPOs.

Lead Fund Manager
Investrio

Etcetera

1) At a $10 billion government auction last week, investors paid $105.50 for every $100 of bonds sold. Click here.

2) Microscopic Microeconomics: Can neuroscience predict financial bubbles? Click here.

Investors & Friends:

There is no new investment activity to report since our last weekly update.

Click here for the Investrio Stock Selector Fund Bull and Bear Market Indicators Report for the week ending October 29, 2010.

Click here for upcoming IPOs.

Lead Fund Manager
Investrio

Investors & Friends:

Here's a summary of our investment actions from the past week.

Option Strategies - Naked Puts

1) Infinera Corp (Nasdaq: INFN) - We sold Jan '11 $7.50 puts. On Tuesday Infinera was down almost 37% resulting from analyst downgrades and concern over whether its telecommunications customers can keep up their rate of spending. Volatility (CBOE Volatility Index) was up almost 12%.

Click here for the Investrio Stock Selector Fund Bull and Bear Market Indicators Report for the week ending October 22, 2010.

Click here for upcoming IPOs.

Lead Fund Manager
Investrio

Investors & Friends:

Here's a summary of our investment actions from the past week.

Long Stocks
1) We sold iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treasury Bond Fund (NYSE: TLT) on 10/14 @ $103.00 for a 5.8% gain.

Return calculation = ($103.00 sale price - $97.38 cost basis) / $97.38 cost basis x 100% = 5.8%.

The date we opened the trade was 5/7/10.

Option Strategies - Covered Calls

2) ProShares UltraShort FTSE Xinhua China 25 (NYSE: FXP) - We sold Jan '12 $30.00 calls.

3) General Electric Company (NYSE: GE) - We sold Jan '12 $22.50 calls.

Click here for the Investrio Stock Selector Fund Bull and Bear Market Indicators Report for the week ending October 15, 2010.

Click here for upcoming IPOs.

Lead Fund Manager
Investrio

Investors & Friends:

Here's a summary of our investment actions from the past week.

Option Strategies - Naked Puts

1) Home Depot Inc (NYSE: HD) - Our Jan '11 puts reached 80+% of their maximum value, so we closed them out.

The date we opened the trade was 1/22/10.

Long Stocks

2) We doubled down and bought more ProShares UltraShort Russell 2000 (NYSE: TWM) on 10/5 @ $16.82 and ProShares UltraShort FTSE Xinhua China 25 (NYSE: FXP) on 10/5 @ $30.10.

Click here for the Investrio Stock Selector Fund Bull and Bear Market Indicators Report for the week ending October 8, 2010.

Click here for upcoming IPOs.

Lead Fund Manager
Investrio

Investors & Friends:

Here's a summary of our investment actions from the past week.

Option Strategies - Naked Puts

1) Qualcomm Inc (Nasdaq: QCOM) - We sold Jan '11 $20.00 puts.

Click here for the Investrio Stock Selector Fund Bull and Bear Market Indicators Report for the week ending October 1, 2010.

Click here for upcoming IPOs.

Lead Fund Manager
Investrio

Investors & Friends:

Here's a summary of our investment actions from the past week.

Option Strategies - Naked Puts

1) Adobe Systems Inc (Nasdaq: ADBE) - We sold April $15.00 puts. On Wednesday Adobe was down 21% resulting from its guidance for the fourth quarter. Adobe is a company with a wide moat, i.e., a durable competitive advantage versus its peers in the software industry, graphic design niche. Its Great Recession low was $15.70 on 2/23/09.

Click here for the Investrio Stock Selector Fund Bull and Bear Market Indicators Report for the week ending September 24, 2010.

Click here for upcoming IPOs.

Lead Fund Manager
Investrio

Etcetera

1) "I always keep some stalwarts in my portfolio, because they offer pretty good protection during recessions and hard times. In general, Bristol-Myers and Kellogg, Coca-Cola and MMM, Ralston Purina and Procter and Gamble, are good friends in a crisis. You know they won't go bankrupt, and soon enough they will be reassessed and their value will be restored." -- Peter Lynch

Investors & Friends:

Here's a summary of our investment actions from the past week.

Option Strategies - Naked Puts

1) Intel Corp (Nasdaq: INTC) - Our October calls reached 80+% of their maximum value, so we closed them out.

The date we opened the trade was 3/10/10.

Click here for the Investrio Stock Selector Fund Bull and Bear Market Indicators Report for the week ending September 17, 2010.

Click here for upcoming IPOs.

Lead Fund Manager
Investrio

Etcetera

1) "No wonder people lose money in the stock market. They spend more time shopping for a good microwave oven than shopping for a good investment." --Peter Lynch

2) "It's far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price than a fair company at a wonderful price." --Warren Buffett

Investors & Friends:

Here's a summary of our investment actions from the past week.

Bonds & Fixed Income

1) We sold our Pension Obligation Bonds (POBs), issued by the Pennsylvania Authority for Industrial Development, on 9/2 @ 66.00 for a 12.1% gain. Our original intent was to hold the bonds to maturity, in 2017, and collect the 6.97% yield. However, the price of the bond appreciated 12% in just a year. We feel it would be foolish to forgo the profit or hold out for a higher price given the possibility a bubble exists in the bond market.

Return calculation = ($66.00 sale price - $58.875 cost basis) / $58.875 cost basis x 100% = 12.1%.

The date we opened the trade was 7/21/09.

Option Strategies - Naked Puts

2) Berkshire Hathaway Inc (NYSE: BRK/B) - We sold Jan '12 $35.00 puts.

3) iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN (NYSE: VXX) - We sold Jan '12 $13.00 puts.

Click here for the Investrio Stock Selector Fund Bull and Bear Market Indicators Report for the week ending September 10, 2010.

Click here for upcoming IPOs.

Lead Fund Manager
Investrio

Investors & Friends:

Here's a summary of our investment actions from the past week.

Option Strategies - Covered Calls

1) Blackstone Group LP (NYSE: BX) - Our Jan '12 calls reached 80+% of their maximum value, so we closed them out.

The date we opened the trade was 3/8/10.

Click here for the Investrio Stock Selector Fund Bull and Bear Market Indicators Report for the week ending September 3, 2010.

Click here for upcoming IPOs.

Lead Fund Manager
Investrio

Etcetera

1) Illinois has shouldered to the fore, as its dysfunctional political class refuses to pay the state's bills and refuses to take the painful steps to close a deficit of at least $12 billion, equal to nearly half the state's budget. Then there is the spectacularly mismanaged pension system, which is at least 50 percent underfunded and, analysts warn, could push Illinois into insolvency if the economy fails to pick up... Every major rating agency has downgraded the state; Illinois now pays millions of dollars more to insure its debt than any other state in the nation. "Their pension is the most underfunded in the nation," said Karen S. Krop, a senior director at Fitch Ratings... The state pension system is a money sinkhole and the most immediate threat. Illinois reports that it has $62.4 billion in unfunded pension liabilities... Many analysts, liberal and conservative, warn of a Greece by Lake Michigan. Borrowing costs are rising and the state's unpaid bills balloon each month.
-- Michael Powell, NY Times

2) Diageo, the maker of Johnnie Walker whisky, found an innovative way to plug its gaping pension hole: handing over two million barrels of maturing whisky from its distilleries in Scotland. Diageo said Thursday that it would transfer ownership of £430 million ($645 million) worth of whisky to a pension financing partnership. Diageo employees will not receive their pensions in whisky rather than cash, but they will have a guarantee that they will not walk away empty-handed should the company default. "A pension funding partnership will be formed, which will hold maturing whisky spirit as assets," Diageo, which also makes Guinness stout and Smirnoff vodka, said in a statement. As part of the deal, Diageo agreed to pay the pension partnership £25 million a year as it sells the recently distilled whisky once it matures after three years and replaces it with new stock. The agreement will expire after 15 years at which point Diageo will buy back the whisky. "We're seeing a huge growth in the use of noncash funding," Marc Hommel, leader of the pensions practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers in London, said. "There are big pension deficits and sponsors are cash-strapped. These mechanisms provide security for the pension plans in exchange for less cash." Diageo's pension deficit was £862 million at the beginning of April.
-- Julia Werdigier, NY Times

Investors & Friends:

Here's a summary of our investment actions from the past week.

Option Strategies - Naked Puts

1) Medtronic Inc (NYSE: MDT) - We sold Jan '12 $20.00 puts. On Tuesday Medtronic was down almost 12% resulting from its earnings miss. Volatility (CBOE Volatility Index) was up 12%. Medtronic is a company with a wide moat, i.e., a durable competitive advantage versus its peers in the medical equipment industry. Its Great Recession low was $23.98 on 3/2/09.

Click here for the Investrio Stock Selector Fund Bull and Bear Market Indicators Report for the week ending August 27, 2010. We added a new Internet Resource, the Financial Crisis Observatory, to aid our understanding of market bubbles and crashes.

Click here for upcoming IPOs.

Lead Fund Manager
Investrio

Etcetera

1) Sit Still This is Going to Hurt. Click here.

2) Birthrate is lowest in a century. Click here.

3) The arguments of Jean-Claude Trichet, president of the European Central Bank, resemble those of conservative Republicans in the U.S., who have argued against additional fiscal measures even in the face of high unemployment. Trichet cites high debt as biggest threat to recovery. Click here.

Investors & Friends:

Here's a summary of our investment actions from the past week.

Option Strategies - Covered Calls

1) United States Natural Gas Fund LP (NYSE: UNG) - We sold Jan '12 $12.00 calls.

Option Strategies - Naked Puts

2) Intel Corp (Nasdaq: INTC) - We sold Jan '12 $10.00 puts. On Thursday Intel was down almost 4% resulting from its acquisition of McAfee Inc (NYSE: MFE). Volatility (CBOE Volatility Index) was up almost 9%.

Click here for the Investrio Stock Selector Fund Bull and Bear Market Indicators Report for the week ending August 20, 2010. We revised the Personal Saving Rate data to reflect the results of the annual revision of the National Income and Products Accounts (NIPAs) release.

Click here for upcoming IPOs.

Lead Fund Manager
Investrio

Etcetera

1) The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC) resumes Wednesday, September 1. Click here for what's on tap.

2) The Layoff Kings: The 25 Companies Responsible for 700,000 Lost Jobs. Click here for who's on the naughtly list. Berkshire Hathaway comes in at # 17.

3) 18 Companies That Consumers Absolutely Hate. The American Customer Service Index rates hundreds of companies based on satisfaction surveys. Our selection of the 18 worst includes four airlines and four cable companies. Banks claim three spots on this consumer blacklist. Click here for the BusinessInsider slide show.

Investors & Friends:

There is no new investment activity to report since our last weekly update.

Click here for the Investrio Stock Selector Fund Bull and Bear Market Indicators Report for the week ending August 13, 2010.

Click here for upcoming IPOs.

Lead Fund Manager
Investrio

Investors & Friends:

There is no new investment activity to report since our last weekly update.

Click here for the Investrio Stock Selector Fund Bull and Bear Market Indicators Report for the week ending August 6, 2010.

Click here for upcoming IPOs.

Lead Fund Manager
Investrio

Investors & Friends:

Here's a summary of our investment actions from the past week.

Option Strategies - Naked Puts

1) Vivus Inc (Nasdaq: VVUS) - Our September $4.00 puts, that we sold, expired.

The date we opened the trade was 5/20/10.

Click here for the Investrio Stock Selector Fund Bull and Bear Market Indicators Report for the week ending July 30, 2010.

Click here for upcoming IPOs.

Lead Fund Manager
Investrio

Investors & Friends:

Here's a summary of our investment actions from the past week.

Option Strategies - Covered Calls

1) United States Natural Gas Fund LP (NYSE: UNG) - Our January calls reached 80+% of their maximum value, so we closed them out.

Option Strategies - Naked Puts

2) Altria Group Inc (NYSE: MO) - We sold Jan '12 $15 puts.

Click here for the Investrio Stock Selector Fund Bull and Bear Market Indicators Report for the week ending July 23, 2010.

Click here for upcoming IPOs.

Lead Fund Manager
Investrio

Investors & Friends:

Here's a summary of our investment actions from the past week.

Option Strategies - Naked Puts

1) Qualcomm Inc (Nasdaq: QCOM) - Our July $30 puts, that we sold, expired.

The date we opened the trade was 4/12/10.

Click here for the Investrio Stock Selector Fund Bull and Bear Market Indicators Report for the week ending July 16, 2010.

Click here for upcoming IPOs.

Lead Fund Manager
Investrio

Investors & Friends:

There is no new investment activity to report since our last weekly update.

Click here for the Investrio Stock Selector Fund Bull and Bear Market Indicators Report for the week ending July 9, 2010.

Click here for upcoming IPOs.

Lead Fund Manager
Investrio

Investors & Friends:

Here's a summary of our investment actions from the past week.

Option Strategies - Naked Puts

1) Holly Corp (NYSE: HOC) - We sold Dec $12.50 puts.

Click here for the Investrio Stock Selector Fund Bull and Bear Market Indicators Report for the week ending July 2, 2010.

Click here for upcoming IPOs.

Lead Fund Manager
Investrio

Investors & Friends:

There is no new investment activity to report since our last weekly update.

Click here for the Investrio Stock Selector Fund Bull and Bear Market Indicators Report for the week ending June 25, 2010.

Click here for upcoming IPOs.

Lead Fund Manager
Investrio

Etcetera

1) "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."
-- Aristotle

2) "Spend each day trying to be a little wiser than you were when you woke up."
-- Charlie Munger

3) The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC) resumes Wednesday. Click here for what's on tap.

4) Advances in video technology and a need to reduce medical costs have made interactive telemedicine a growing business. Click here.

5) More mini flash crashes and odd trades... Washington Post stock surge triggers new circuit breaker, Diebold stock swing etc. Click here.

6) Report concerning the crisis state governments face. My favorite quote in here is from NY Governor David Paterson. “On planet Albany there is no gravity, and light bends right around the Capitol.”

7) Ten nuggets of wisdom from Charlie Munger's investing checklist:
1. Measure Risk: building a margin of safety; avoid permanent loss of capital
2. Be independent: avoid herd mentality; embrace independent thought
3. Prepare Ahead: become a life-long learner; ask why?
4. Have intellectual humility: know what you don't know
5. Analyze rigorously: focus on value not price; use checklists
6. Allocate assets wisely: proper allocation is essential; don't be afraid to increase your bet when the odds are in your favor
7. Have patience: resist the natural human bias to act; minimize transaction costs
8. Be decisive: Don't be afraid to act when opportunity arises
9. Be ready for change: recognize and adapt; challenge your best ideas often
10. Stay focused: keep things simple; reputation and integrity are your most valuable assets

8) The second housing crisis is here. Click here for the full article.” Excerpt: Recently, the chief economist for Fannie Mae (FNM) bluntly stated the obvious: Some of the absurd real estate developments "might have to be torn down."

The reality is that most of these "exurb" housing units will have to be torn down, along with some of the worst areas of "urban blight" in the U.S. In many of the most economically devastated U.S. cities, the combination of waves of foreclosures, crime and a lack of city funding for basic maintenance have left vast areas looking like Baghdad during the worst periods of the U.S. invasion.

The Fannie Mae economist offered no specifics or ideas of any kind on how many units would have to be destroyed, and (naturally) left open who would absorb the massive bank losses on these demolitions. Obviously, as a fellow bankster, the Fannie Mae economist didn't think that Wall Street would or should absorb any of its own losses. (Isn't that what the Federal Reserve's printing press is for?)

In the real world, this demolition process has already begun. Some new housing developments have already been quietly bulldozed, while at least one U.S. city is already deeply into planning mass demolitions of entire neighborhoods.

These were realities that totally contradicted the mythical "U.S. economic recovery", and so were ignored by media propagandists and politicians alike.

Sadly, what Americans are about to discover is that instead of being more than one year into a "U.S. economic recovery," they are standing in the "eye" of an economic hurricane. This period of false stability is over.

The pretend bottom in the housing market is gone. The feeble wave of Census hiring is over. The flood of "stimulus dollars" has slowed to a trickle, and bankrupt state and local governments now either will have to formally default or radically slash spending and raise taxes to prevent such bankruptcies. When the government-sponsored enterprises, which bankroll 95% of U.S. mortgages, start talking about demolishing homes, you know that "the party is over."

Investors & Friends:

Here's a summary of our investment actions from the past week.

Option Strategies - Covered Calls

1) Infinera Corp (Nasdaq: INFN) - We sold Jan '11 $10.00 calls.

Click here for the Investrio Stock Selector Fund Bull and Bear Market Indicators Report for the week ending June 18, 2010.

Click here for the Investrio Stock Selector Fund Watchlist.

Click here for upcoming IPOs.

This week Investrio reached another significant milestone. Investrio agreed to manage investment funds for its third client.

Lead Fund Manager
Investrio

Investors & Friends:

Here's a summary of our investment actions from the past week.

Option Strategies - Covered Calls

1) Infinera Corp (Nasdaq: INFN) - Our July calls reached 80+% of their maximum value, so we closed them out.

Option Strategies - Naked Puts

2) Goldcorp Inc (NYSE: GG) - Our October puts reached 80+% of their maximum value, so we closed them out.

Click here for the Investrio Stock Selector Fund Bull and Bear Market Indicators Report for the week ending June 11, 2010.

Click here for the Investrio Stock Selector Fund Watchlist.

Click here for upcoming IPOs.

Lead Fund Manager
Investrio

Investors & Friends:

There is no new investment activity to report since our last weekly update.

Click here for the Investrio Stock Selector Fund Bull and Bear Market Indicators Report for the week ending June 4, 2010. We added 3 new books to the "Library Resources" page.

Click here for the Investrio Stock Selector Fund Watchlist.

Click here for upcoming IPOs.

Lead Fund Manager
Investrio

Investors & Friends:

Here's a summary of our investment actions from the past week.

Long Stocks

1) We bought more ProShares UltraShort Russell 2000 (NYSE: TWM) on 5/26 @ $20.89.

Click here for the Investrio Stock Selector Fund Bull and Bear Market Indicators Report for the week ending May 28, 2010.

Click here for the Investrio Stock Selector Fund Watchlist.

Click here for upcoming IPOs.

Lead Fund Manager
Investrio

Investors & Friends:

Here's a summary of our investment actions from the past week.

Option Strategies - Naked Puts

1) Goldcorp Inc (NYSE: GG) - We sold Jan '12 $17.50 puts.

2) Vivus Inc (Nasdaq: VVUS) - We sold September $4.00 puts.

Short Strategies

3) We bought more ProShares UltraShort FTSE Xinhua China 25 (NYSE: FXP) on 5/19 @ $44.87.

Click here for the Investrio Stock Selector Fund Bull and Bear Market Indicators Report for the week ending May 21, 2010.

Click here for the Investrio Stock Selector Fund Watchlist.

Click here for upcoming IPOs.

Lead Fund Manager
Investrio

Investors & Friends:

Here's a summary of our investment actions from the past week.

Option Strategies - Put Options

1) Intel Corp (Nasdaq: INTC) - We bought Jan '12 $2.50 puts.

Click here for the Investrio Stock Selector Fund Bull and Bear Market Indicators Report for the week ending May 14, 2010.

Click here for the Investrio Stock Selector Fund Watchlist.

Click here for upcoming IPOs.

Lead Fund Manager
Investrio

Etcetera

1) We're bailing out the banks again. French and German banks lent gobs of money to Greece, gaining higher interest on the bonds, but increasing exposure to risky economies. Now we have to bailout the banks so that the European banking system doesn't fail. Where have we heard this line before?

2) MUST HEAR: Panic And Loathing From The S&P 500 Pits.

3) The stock market has been hijacked.

Investors & Friends:

Here's a summary of our investment actions from the past week.

Long Stocks

1) We bought ProShares UltraShort Russell 2000 (NYSE: TWM) on 5/7 @ $20.76.

We continue adding bricks to our wall of shorts. Rather than put more eggs in the short-China basket we're diversifying our short positions. We believe small cap companies will encounter increased pressure given their dependence on credit versus large blue chip companies that have a stash of cash on their balance sheets. The next wave of the credit crisis will unfold, and small cap companies will be pinched. We're considering shorting financial companies but it's not yet ripe. However it's just a matter of time before it becomes clear to put the short on the financial companies again.

2) We bought iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treasury Bond Fund (NYSE: TLT) on 5/7 @ $97.38. We bought TLT to hedge, short-term, some of our exposure to TBT. TBT recently broke through a significant support level.

Click here for the Investrio Stock Selector Fund Bull and Bear Market Indicators Report for the week ending May 7, 2010.

Click here for the Investrio Stock Selector Fund Watchlist.

Click here for upcoming IPOs.

Lead Fund Manager
Investrio

Investors & Friends:

Here's a summary of our investment actions from the past week.

Short Strategies

1) We bought more ProShares UltraShort FTSE Xinhua China 25 (NYSE: FXP) on 4/30 @ $40.30.

Click here for the Investrio Stock Selector Fund Bull and Bear Market Indicators Report for the week ending April 30, 2010.

Click here for the Investrio Stock Selector Fund Watchlist.

Click here for upcoming IPOs.

Lead Fund Manager
Investrio

Investors & Friends:

Here's a summary of our investment actions from the past week.

Long Stocks

1) We sold Symetra Financial Corp (NYSE: SYA) on 4/22 @ $13.62 for a 5.2% gain.

Return calculation = ($13.62 sale price - $12.95 cost basis) / $12.95 cost basis x 100% = 5.2%.

The date we opened the trade was 1/22/10.

Option Strategies - Naked Puts

2) Cisco Systems Inc (Nasdaq: CSCO) - We sold Jan '11 $12.50 puts.

Click here for the Investrio Stock Selector Fund Bull and Bear Market Indicators Report for the week ending April 23, 2010.

Click here for the Investrio Stock Selector Fund Watchlist.

Upcoming earnings calendar for our portfolio holdings

4/28 - Goldcorp Inc (NYSE: GG)

Click here for upcoming IPOs.

Lead Fund Manager
Investrio

Etcetera

1) “I can calculate the motions of heavenly bodies, but not the madness of people.” -- Sir Isaac Newton, who sold all of his shares of the South Sea Company for 7 thousand pounds and a 100% profit, then got sucked back into the bubble of his time and lost 20 thousand pounds.

2) “Worldly wisdom teaches that it is better for reputation to fail conventionally than to succeed unconventionally.” -– John Maynard Keynes

Investors & Friends:

Here's a summary of our investment actions from the past week.

Option Strategies - Naked Puts

1) Cisco Systems Inc (Nasdaq: CSCO) - Our April puts, that we sold, expired.

The date we opened the trade was 1/29/10.

Click here for the Investrio Stock Selector Fund Bull and Bear Market Indicators Report for the week ending April 16, 2010.

Click here for the Investrio Stock Selector Fund Watchlist.

Upcoming earnings calendar for our portfolio holdings

4/20 - Infinera Corp (Nasdaq: INFN)

4/21 - Qualcomm Inc (Nasdaq: QCOM)

4/22 - Blackstone Group LP (NYSE: BX)

Click here for upcoming IPOs.

Lead Fund Manager
Investrio

Etcetera

1) On the topic of regulating banks.. "Exertions of the natural liberty of a few individuals, which might endanger the security of the whole society, are, and ought to be, restrained by the laws of all governments, of the most free as well as of the most despotical. The obligation of building party walls, in order to prevent the communication of fire, is a violation of natural liberty exactly of the same kind with the regulations of the banking trade which are here proposed."
-- Adam Smith, father of free-market thinking

2) Key points from the Independence Fund April 7 letter to shareholders...

Click here for April 7 letter to shareholders.

Key points…
• In 2010, many who sat on the sidelines in 2009 are now flooding back into the market, scared that they're missing the next great bull market.
• In the past two decades, globalization and automation have forced private businesses to become fiercely competitive. The result is that private-sector wages have barely budged over the past 10 years. In a recent interview, economist Gary Schilling noted that the average public employee's wages are now higher than those in private industry, but that the public-sector employee's benefits package -- including early retirement, pension and gold-standard health care -- is 70% more valuable than those of their private sector peers'.
• There are really only two paths from here -- either some really hard choices will have to be made to balance the U.S. budget deficit (federal, state, and local), or we can go the way of Greece, where our obligations ultimately overwhelm our ability to finance them. The first option sounds pretty awesome, but a decrease in government spending (or further increases in taxes) will be a harsh drag on GDP. Things will become worse even as our structural condition will improve.
• One additional impact of higher capital-gains taxes is that they'll make dividends less valuable and therefore negatively affect the market's assessment of the companies that pay them.

Investors & Friends:

Here's a summary of our investment actions from the past week.

Option Strategies - Naked Puts

1) Nucor Corp (NYSE: NUE) - Our July puts reached 80+% of their maximum value, so we closed them out.

The date we opened the trade was 12/29/09.

2) Qualcomm Inc (Nasdaq: QCOM) - We sold July $30 puts.

Click here for the Investrio Stock Selector Fund Bull and Bear Market Indicators Report for the week ending April 9, 2010.

Click here for the Investrio Stock Selector Fund Watchlist.

Upcoming earnings calendar for our portfolio holdings

4/13 - Intel Corp (Nasdaq: INTC)

4/16 - General Electric Co (NYSE: GE)

Click here for upcoming IPOs.

Lead Fund Manager
Investrio

Investors & Friends:

There is no new investment activity to report since our last weekly update.

Click here for the Investrio Stock Selector Fund Bull and Bear Market Indicators Report for the week ending April 2, 2010.

Click here for the Investrio Stock Selector Fund Watchlist.

Click here for upcoming IPOs.

Lead Fund Manager
Investrio

Investors & Friends:

Here's a summary of our investment actions from the past week.

Option Strategies - Naked Puts

1) Apollo Group Inc (Nasdaq: APOL) - We sold Jan '11 $20.00 puts.

Even if we go double dip recession, Apollo (and other non-traditional education companies) should hold up (perhaps even prosper) as they did last time. Biggest cloud hovering over these companies is potential gov't regulation that can penalize schools whose students graduate with large loans and low-paying jobs. The proposed rule is referred to as the "gainful employment" rule. It questions how well schools prepare their students to get jobs that can cover their educational debt. It was recommended that programs whose graduates have a debt-to-income ratio above 8%, or who don't meet certain other criteria, lose access to Title IV federal financial aid - the main revenue source for the for-profit schools. Some say the rule could force schools to lower their prices, if the gov't aid is eliminated or reduced.

Apollo passes our wide moat stock screen, as well as our more restrictive proprietary wide moat screen.

Our wide moat stock screen is based on a term popularized by Warren Buffett (Wide Economic Moat) that refers to a company's ability to maintain a competitive advantage. We define a wide moat as five ratios that average 10% or higher over the most recent 10-year period. The five ratios are Return on Invested Capital (ROIC), Book Value/Share Growth Rate, EPS Growth Rate, Sales Growth Rate, and Free Cash Flow Growth Rate. Our screen selects companies that have all five ratios at 10% or more for 10 years. (See below, Buffett's Top 10 Investing Secrets, for more on the wide moat.)

Click here for the Investrio Stock Selector Fund Bull and Bear Market Indicators Report for the week ending March 26, 2010.

Click here for the Investrio Stock Selector Fund Watchlist.

Upcoming earnings calendar for our portfolio holdings

3/29 - Apollo Group Inc (Nasdaq: APOL)

Click for upcoming IPOs.

Lead Fund Manager
Investrio

Etcetera

We're in a top 10 mood this week...

1) Ten Reasons Why This Is Not a Bull Market
-- Todd Harrison, Founder and CEO of Minyanville

2) Buffett's Top 10 Investing Secrets
-- The Motley Fool

Investors & Friends:

Here's a summary of our investment actions from the past week.

Long Stocks

1) Our shares of Clean Energy Fuels Corp (Nasdaq: CLNE) were assigned last week @ $12.50 for a 6.8% gain.

Return calculation = ($12.50 sale price - $11.70 cost basis) / $11.70 cost basis x 100% = 6.8%.

The date we opened the trade was 10/2/08.

The Investrio Stock Selector Fund Bull and Bear Market Indicators Report for the week ending March 19, 2010, is attached.

The Investrio Stock Selector Fund Watchlist is attached.

Upcoming IPOs

Lead Fund Manager
Investrio

Etcetera

1) NPR interview with Michael Lewis, author of The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine

2) C-SPAN video of Gregory Zuckerman, author of The Greatest Trade Ever

Investors & Friends:

Here's a summary of our investment actions from the past week.

Option Strategies - Naked Puts

1) Intel Corp (Nasdaq: INTC) - Our Jul puts reached 80+% of their maximum value, so we closed them out and sold Oct $15.00 puts.

The date we opened the trade was 12/16/09.

2) Holly Corp (NYSE: HOC) - Our Jun puts reached 80+% of their maximum value, so we closed them out.

The date we opened the trade was 12/23/09.

Option Strategies - Covered Calls

3) Blackstone Group LP (NYSE: BX) - We sold Jan '12 $22.50 calls.

The Investrio Stock Selector Fund Bull and Bear Market Indicators Report for the week ending March 12, 2010, is attached.

The Investrio Stock Selector Fund Watchlist is attached.

Upcoming IPOs

Lead Fund Manager
Investrio

Etcetera

1) If you want to have sky-is-the-limit success in a capitalist society like ours, then you need to own companies, either privately or through the market, preferably both. Very recent history has shown that the stock market can be a rough game. But if you want to win, then you have to play, and you aren't playing if you're on the bench. Play ball!

2) Some thoughts on shorting... one of our subscribers was lamenting the fact that if they're long stock and the stock goes down, they don't panic. However, if they're short and the stock goes up even a small percentage, they get butterflies in their stomach. They can handle loss from long stock, but even a small loss from short stock makes them panic.

Some replies from other subscribers... There is this whole extra psych dynamic that goes on when you are short. There was this movie I saw that had a line about not being able to sleep when you are short the market (the storyline was about this guy who cut the battery cables on cars when the alarm kept going at night). You tend to constantly question your thesis on why you shorted the stock and you tend to look at it on a daily basis (more than your long positions). What I am trying to do is NOT look at my short often but continue to coldly consider if the thesis still holds true. In my case I am sticking to my guns that ANF will not grow in this economic environment. If more consumer stimulus is issued, then maybe I'll change my mind. Good luck!

One other thought about the dynamic is the "familiarity" you have with that kind of trade. Practice goes a long way towards your confidence. Remember the first time(s) you bought and sold some long positions on your own? If you were like me it was both intimidating and exciting... but over time you become very confident on how to get around when the boat is rocking. We don't have that kind of "sea leg confidence" when it comes to short sales... probably never will.

1. It’s not just you feeling this way…

2. If you’re long and stock goes down, one reason you don’t panic is you write a covered call, or set a stop loss, or buy put insurance. And at end of day you know your max loss is capped, because stock only can go to zero.

3. If you’re short, your max loss is theoretically infinite. That’s a decent reason for emotion side of brain to send danger signals, even though your logic side of brain tries remind you it’s only a theoretical possibility, not likely outcome. Your main tool to protect yourself is stop loss, and it’s what I’ve used last few times to sweat less.

4. Another alternative if you want to bet on stock price decline is buy a put option. You know what your max loss will be if it doesn’t work out.

Investors & Friends:

Here's a summary of our investment actions from the past week.

Option Strategies - Naked Puts

1) Bristow Group Inc (NYSE: BRS) - Our June puts reached 80+% of their maximum value, so we closed them out.

The date we opened the trade was 11/30/09.

2) Goldcorp Inc (NYSE: GG) - We sold October $20.00 puts.

The Investrio Stock Selector Fund Bull and Bear Market Indicators Report for the week ending February 5, 2010, is attached.

The Investrio Stock Selector Fund Watchlist is attached.

Upcoming earnings calendar for our portfolio holdings

3/8 - American Oriental Bioengineering Inc (NYSE: AOB)

3/10 - Clean Energy Fuels Corp (Nasdaq: CLNE)

3/11 - Goldcorp Inc (NYSE: GG)

Upcoming IPOs

Lead Fund Manager
Investrio

Investors & Friends:

There is no new investment activity to report since our last weekly update.

The Investrio Stock Selector Fund Bull and Bear Market Indicators Report for the week ending February 26, 2010, is attached. We added a new page to track the movement of the Baltic Dry Index and CRB Index.

Several of our subscibers requested our watchlist so we're including it this week.

Upcoming IPOs

Lead Fund Manager
Investrio

Investors & Friends:

Here's a summary of our investment actions from the past week.

Option Strategies - Covered Calls

1) United States Natural Gas Fund LP (NYSE: UNG) - Our April calls reached 80+% of their maximum value, so we closed them out and sold January $14.00 calls.

The Investrio Stock Selector Fund Bull and Bear Market Indicators Report for the week ending February 19, 2010, is attached.

Upcoming earnings calendar for our portfolio holdings

2/23 - Home Depot Inc (NYSE: HD)

Upcoming IPOs

Lead Fund Manager
Investrio

Investors & Friends:

There is no new investment activity to report since our last weekly update.

The Investrio Stock Selector Fund Bull and Bear Market Indicators Report for the week ending February 12, 2010, is attached.

Upcoming IPOs

Lead Fund Manager
Investrio

Etcetera

Excerpts from the Trading Desk were picked up on HedgeHogs.net (1), HedgeHogs.net (2), and CarbonCaptureReport.org

Hedgehogs is a social application platform for the hedge fund and investment community and those who serve it.

Carbon Capture Report, a service of the University of Illinois, monitors the latest news and social media on climate change. Their technology offers a unified view of the public discourse across both mainstream and social media channels.

Investors & Friends:

Here's a summary of our investment actions from the past week.

Long Stocks

1) We sold the last half of our position in the Tocqueville Gold Fund (TGLDX) on 1/29 @ $53.25 for a 16.9% gain.

Return calculation = ($53.25 sale price - $45.54 cost basis) / $45.54 cost basis x 100% = 16.9%.

The date we opened the trade was 5/1/08.

Option Strategies - Covered Calls

2) Infinera Corp (Nasdaq: INFN) - We sold Jul $7.50 calls for $0.55.

The Investrio Stock Selector Fund Bull and Bear Market Indicators Report for the week ending February 5, 2010, is attached.

Upcoming earnings calendar for our portfolio holdings

2/23 - Home Depot Inc (NYSE: HD)

Upcoming IPOs

Lead Fund Manager
Investrio

Etcetera

1) Many traders make the mistake of trying to turn every trade into a homerun. In reality, homeruns are few and far between - just ask Joe Torre. It's better to keep going for base hits. -- John Carter, President of TradeTheMarkets.com

2) What's more interesting from a trading standpoint is that because the SPX settles within the projected range a bit more often than expected, it suggests that the VIX, and therefore out-of-the-money option prices, overestimate the likelihood of the big price changes. Sure, they happen. We all saw that last year. It suggests, though, that while past performance is certainly no indicator of the future, and the big price moves can happen at any time, the VIX seems to think they happen a little more frequently. That pushes up the value of out-of-the-money options, which pushes up the value of credits for selling out-of-the-money verticals. Maybe that will give you something to think about in 2010. -- thinkMoney, Winter 2010

3) In the torment of the last few years, encompassing both the stock market decline and its emerging recovery, stocks' behavior was dominated by macro-economic, macro-financial and liquidity considerations. This largely explains why both the decline and the recovery were unusually indiscriminate: good or bad quality, expensive or cheap, stocks moved more or less in tandem and stock selection turned out to be less useful to investment performance than usual. In an economic and financial environment that is less-violently volatile and more in the process of normalizing, stock selection should regain its historic preeminence over macro considerations.
-- Francois Sicart, Founder and Chairman of Tocqueville Asset Management

4) Excerpt from interview With Jason Zweig, author of Your Money and Your Brain

The last photo of your brain in the book was of your insula, which is one of the centers of pain and disgust, and it's lighting up when you think about slot machines. Can people change their reactions by reconceiving things, for example thinking that slot machines are bad rather than good?

Yes, I think so. I didn't discuss this a lot in the book, but there is evidence that rehearsal and repetition and continually imagining things can change your emotional response. We all know things like, at least in theory, you can make a toddler stop sucking its thumb by painting something bad-tasting on the baby's thumb. In theory, you can do stuff like that with investing too. You could do it by keeping better records and by involving other people in your actions, so that if you really feel that you are going to keep procrastinating on putting money in your 401(k) and you really know you should, but you just somehow never, the best day to do it is always tomorrow. Then what you do is you get someone else involved and you create social pressure that makes it unpleasant for you not to do the right thing, so you dare your friends and you say, "I am going to finally take the plunge and I am going to increase my contribution in my 401(k). If I don't, then I have got to buy you a case of scotch." Then you know that if you blow it, you not only have to buy your friend an expensive present, but you are going to be humiliated.

Investors & Friends:

Here's a summary of our investment actions from the past week.

Long Stocks

1) We sold half of our position in the Tocqueville Gold Fund (TGLDX) on 1/25 @ $54.88 for a 20.5% gain.

Return calculation = ($54.88 sale price - $45.54 cost basis) / $45.54 cost basis x 100% = 20.5%.

The date we opened the trade was 5/1/08.

Option Strategies - Covered Calls

2) Infinera Corp (Nasdaq: INFN) - Our July calls reached 80+% of their maximum value, so we closed them out.

Option Strategies - Naked Puts

3) Cisco Systems Inc (Nasdaq: CSCO) - We sold April $18.00 puts.

The Investrio Stock Selector Fund Bull and Bear Market Indicators Report for the week ending January 29, 2010, is attached. We added a new page to compare the relative performance of different asset classes including the dollar, bonds, and commodities. Since we introduced the "Executive Summary" page some time ago, we're now phasing out the "What the Crowd is Talking About" page.

Upcoming earnings calendar for our portfolio holdings

2/3 - Bristow Group Inc (NYSE: BRS)

Upcoming IPOs

Lead Fund Manager
Investrio

Investors & Friends:

Here's a summary of our investment actions from the past week.

Option Strategies - Covered Calls

1) Blackstone Group LP (NYSE: BX) - Our June calls reached 80+% of their maximum value, so we closed them out.

Option Strategies - Naked Puts

2) Home Depot Inc (NYSE: HD) - We sold January $15.00 puts.

Long Stocks

3) We bought Symetra Financial Corp (NYSE: SYA) on 1/22 @ $12.95.

The Investrio Stock Selector Fund Bull and Bear Market Indicators Report for the week ending January 22, 2010, is attached.

Upcoming earnings calendar for our portfolio holdings

1/26 - Infinera Corp (Nasdaq: INFN), Nucor Corp (NYSE: NUE)
2/3 - Bristow Group Inc (NYSE: BRS)

Upcoming IPOs

Lead Fund Manager
Investrio

Etcetera

"We are here today to repeal Glass-Steagall because we have learned that government is not the answer. We have learned that freedom and competition are the answers. We have learned that we promote economic growth and we promote stability by having competition and freedom."
-- Former Sen. Phil Gramm, on passing the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act in 1999

"Without a system of wise restraints, gross immorality and extreme craziness will happen in markets. They need to be dampened. Sin and folly needs to be stepped on."
-- Charlie Munger, 2009

Investors & Friends:

Here's a summary of our investment actions from the past week.

Long Stocks

1) We sold Bristol-Myers Squibb Co (NYSE: BMY) on 1/13 @ $24.70 for a 17.8% gain.

Return calculation = ($24.70 sale price - $20.97 cost basis) / $20.97 cost basis x 100% = 17.8%

Option Strategies - Naked Puts

1) AT&T Inc (NYSE: T) - Our January puts, that we sold, expired.

2) Moody's Corp (NYSE: MCO) - Our January puts, that we sold, expired.

3) United States Steel Corporation (NYSE: X) - Our January puts, that we sold, expired.

The Investrio Stock Selector Fund Bull and Bear Market Indicators Report for the week ending January 15, 2010, is attached. We added two new Internet resources on p. 25 - an earnings calendar resource and an IPOs calendar resource.

Upcoming earnings calendar for our portfolio holdings

1/22 - General Electric Co (NYSE: GE)

Upcoming IPOs - Week of 1/18

China Hydroelectric* / CHC $15 - $17
Andatee China Marine Fuel / AMCF $6 - $8
Cellu Tissue Holdings / CLU $15 - $17
Symetra Financial / SYA $12 - $14
Terreno Realty Corp. / TRNO $20 - $20

*China Hydroelectric - Offering 3.1 million units, with each unit consisting of one ADS (worth three ordinary shares) and one warrant entitling the holder to purchase three ordinary shares for $15.

Lead Fund Manager
Investrio

Investors & Friends:

There is no new investment activity to report since our last weekly update.

The Investrio Stock Selector Fund Bull and Bear Market Indicators Report for the week ending January 8, 2010, is attached.

Lead Fund Manager
Investrio

Confucius said, "Find work that you love and you will never work another day in your life."

Investors & Friends:

Here's a summary of our investment actions from the past week.

Option Strategies - Naked Puts

1) Nucor Corp (NYSE: NUE) - We sold July $25.00 puts.

The Investrio Stock Selector Fund Bull and Bear Market Indicators Report for the week ending January 1, 2010, is attached.

Our 2010 Outlook (the concise version)
In 2010, we'll continue targeting companies with "wide moats" or durable competitive advantages, either going long or selling put options at attractive strikes and premiums. If the puts are assigned to us, these will be companies we'd be happy to own otherwise. We'll also continue targeting high yielders with safe dividends. We'll continue to be on the lookout for short/hedge opportunities to protect the portfolio in the event of a sustained market correction or worse case scenario where we dip back into recession. As far as industries, we'll be watching drug companies (Obama healthcare shouldn't be too much of a drag on profits, and 30 million uninsured will start buying drugs), clean energy (the trend continues gaining momentum in 2010), technology (leaning towards wireless and software plays), and commodities (they continue rising as dollar continues orderly decline.)

We at Investrio wish you all the best and a Happy New Year.

Lead Fund Manager
Investrio

Etcetera

1) A quote for the new year, worth repeating, from George Soros: “If investing is entertaining, if you’re having fun, you’re probably not making any money. Good investing is boring.”

2) A very smart investor recently described money management as being a form of applied experimentation in the social sciences. You get to think about how the world works, and then you get to make bets based on your hypotheses. These bets are untimed, and they are uncontrolled. Sometimes a good decision can generate a bad outcome, and other times a dumb idea can pay off big. Investing is not a math problem. It's a bet on future events. Take Alessandro Barnini's comment. He is a senior executive at one of the smartest, most sophisticated players in an industry that isn't particularly nimble (Eni, an integrated energy company), yet he still is reduced to hoping for a certain outcome, the impact of which would be huge for his company and its competitors. Think about what no one in Barnini's industry knows that would really help them: the future prices of oil and natural gas. Remember in the summer of 2008, when oil surged above $140 per barrel? Much of the data pointed to still higher prices. The experts had no idea that we were on the precipice of an 80% price decline. Similarly, in 1990 few could imagine that Japan's economic power was higher than it would be at any other point for the next generation. Every signpost pointed to greater Japanese domination of the global economy, yet the country was about to enter into a downturn from which it has yet to recover nearly 20 years later.

3) 2010 marks the point when the U.S. economy will be about halfway through its latest commodity cycle. Another piece of evidence that inflation could be the future financial driver is a study by Barry Bannister of Legg Mason Wood Walker, Inc. who
has found that since 1871, stock and commodities tend to trade places for economic leadership. These cycles tend to last an average of 18 years. The study shows that during such cycles, stocks will outperform commodities on a relative strength measure for about 18 years and then handover the reins to commodities for the next 18 years or so. The 1970s oscillated up and down, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average struggling to maintain a break above the 1,000 level because commodities, like oil, were rising to new heights. Oil moved to $11 per barrel by 1974 and $42 per barrel by 1982. But 1982 seemed to mark the end of a commodity cycle because oil topped out and one of the largest stock market bull moves emerged and lasted until the year 2000. The market rallied for 18 years from 1982 to 2000 and has since oscillated sideways in large swings. Meanwhile, commodity prices have risen significantly during this time period. It's no secret that the 2009 stock rally has been tied to the performance of commodities, particularly gold and oil. The year 2010 marks the point when the U.S. economy will be about halfway through its latest commodity cycle as described by Bannister's study. This could spell another nine years of higher commodity prices and volatile, but generally stagnant, stock prices. For 2010, investors may find it worth their while to consider focusing on commodity-related exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or companies. During times of commodity-leading cycles, growth stocks become harder to recognize and identify, so it seems like common sense to focus your research where, according to Mr. Bannister's report, returns are more likely to occur. However, investors need not limit themselves to the futures and forex markets. There are a number of available ETFs that attempt to invest directly in commodities, such as the Spyders Gold Trust (GLD), iShares Silver Trust (SLV) and United States Oil fund (USO). Additionally, various foreign currencies can also be traded through ETFs. For example, investors may invest directly in the Australian Dollar (FXA), which commonly benefits from Australia's massive ore mines or the Canadian Dollar (FXC), which tends to benefit from rising oil prices on its vast oil reserves.