| NEW POSITIONS/STO | NEW STO | ROLLOVERS | CALLS ASSIGNED/PUTS EXPIRED | CALLS EXPIRED/PUTS ASSIGNED | CLOSED |
| 2 / 2 | 5 | 7 | 3 / 0 | 5 / 0 | 0 |
Weekly Up to Date Performance
April 14 – 18, 2014
With only 2 new purchases for the week they badly trailed the time adjusted S&P 500 by 1.6% and the unadjusted S&P 500 index by an even bigger 2.1% during a week that surprised most everyone for its strength and resilience after a dismal performance the previous week.
The market showed a spectacular adjusted gain for the week of 2.3% but an even more spectacular unadjusted gain of 2.7%, while new positions gained only 0.6%.
After some unusually large beats of the overall market for several weeks existing positions trailed by 1.3% for the week.
For positions closed in 2014 performance exceeded that of the S&P 500 by 1.6%. They were up 3.3% out-performing the market by 90.9%.
What a week.
That’s what I said last week and it was even more the case this week, except this week was a rare one for 2014, in that the market showed incredible strength.
Not only did it show strength, but it showed it while everyone was getting ready for continuing weakness from the prior week.
The real difference is that last week I was still happy with the end result, but this week I wasn’t.
Just as the previous week had seen real substantive turnarounds that had to have come as a surprise to nearly everyone, especially since there were no catalyts to have turned everything around, this week just went higher from the first opening bell, yet nothing had changed from the previous Friday’s closing bell, that left a pall of pessimism.
Given just how strong the market was this week I was very disappointed with the personal outcome, starting with having made only 2 new trades for the week.
While there was some ability to open new cover for uncovered positions and rollover a fair number of exisiting positions, I would have liked to have seen more than just 3 assignments, as that didn’t do very much to add to the cash reserve that saw nothing added the previous week.
While I didn’t mind the bottom line performance, that’s always in the past, while assignments always have you looking toward the future thinking about how next to invest the money that it generates.
As I get older I don’t want to find myself dwelling in the past. I would much rather be looking toward the future.
With only a handful of assignments to work with it may mean another week of relatively few new positions, although cash reserves can still be called upon for upping the ante if anything truly looks worthy.
With a new monthly option cycle beginnng on Monday I am still looking for whatever opportunities there are to generate income from selling new covered calls on existing positions, as a primary goal and adding new positions as a secondary goal.
Of course, it’s hard to enter the May option cycle without being reminded of the adage that even school aged kids seem to know – “Sell in May and go away.”
That hasn’t exactly been a foolproof startegy the past few years, but there will no doubt be plenty of people pointing to data that shows that it is a sound way to go.
These days, the market never really sleeps, much less for 3 or 4 months at a time, so I think old adages are cute, but that’s about it for now, until proven otherwise.
What the market has proven, one more time, is that it seems to be completely resilient to what we used to think of as obligatory corrections. At least it may have simply re-defined what a correction is for this decade.
If l;ast week is any indication, it’s just another in what is becoming a long line of quick rebounds from relatively small drops. Those rebounds then become stepping stones toward even higher highs.
Will I be putting my money where my mouth is next week?
I hope so, although i wish my cash reerves were as big as my mouth.
This week’s details may be seen in the Weekly Performance spreadsheet * or in the PDF file, as well as as in the summary.below
(Note: Duplicate mention of positions reflects different priced lots):
New Positions Opened: BBY, MET
Puts Closed in order to take profits: none
Calls Rolled over, taking profits, into the next weekly cycle: AIG, BBY, BMY, LOW, LULU
Calls Rolled over, taking profits, into extended weekly cycle: CMCSA (5/2)
CallsRolled over, taking profits, into the monthly cycle: none
Calls Rolled Over, taking profits, into a future monthly cycle: MET, SBUX
Calls Rolled Up, taking net profits into same cycle: none
New STO: CMCSA, HFC, LOW, MET, MOS
Put contracts sold and still open: none
Put contracts expired: none
Put contract rolled over: none
Long term call contracts sold: none
Calls Assigned: CHK, COH, MET
Calls Expired: DRI, FDO, FDO, PM, RIG
Puts Assigned: none
Stock positions Closed to take profits: none
Stock positions Closed to take losses: none
Calls Closed to Take Profits: none
Ex-dividend Positions: none
Ex-dividend Positions Next Week: none
For the coming week the existing positions have lots that still require the sale of contracts: AGQ, BMY, C, CLF, DRI, FCX, FDO, GM, HFC, IP, JCP, MCP, MOS, NEM, PBR, PM, RIG, TGT, WFM, WLT, WY (See “Weekly Performance” spreadsheet or PDF file)
* If you don’t have a program to read or modify spreadsheets, you can download the OpenOffice Suite at no cost.