Option to Profit
Week in Review
September 28 – October 2, 2015
| NEW POSITIONS/STO | NEW STO | ROLLOVERS | CALLS ASSIGNED/PUTS EXPIRED | CALLS EXPIRED/PUTS ASSIGNED | CLOSED | EX-DIVIDEND |
| 2 / 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 / 0 | 0 / 0 | 0 | 3 |
Weekly Up to Date Performance
September 28 – October 2, 2015
This was yet another week of real indecision with lots of daily and intra-day ups and downs.
So what else is new?
There were 2 new positions opened for the week and they out-performed the unadjusted and adjusted S&P 500 by 0.2%.
Those positions were 1.2% higher for the week while the adjusted and unadjusted S&P 500 finished 1.0% higher after lots of swings back and forth.
Thanks to some late week strength in energy and materials, existing positions were also able to bounce back from the deficit created earlier in the week.
For the year the 55 closed lots in 2015 continue to outperform the market. They are an average of 4.9% higher, while the comparable time adjusted S&P 500 average performance has been 1.0% higher. That difference represents a 400.5% performance differential.
If you were looking for a theme this week, I’m not certain that you could easily find one, other
than that the market is continuing to find a home at right around that 10% correction level and it bounces around in great indecision right at that line.
While this was a week that spent most of its time confusing anyone that bothered to pay attention, it again felt like another good time to add some new positions as the market was still bouncing back and forth, but was staying relatively close to the line distinguishing between a market in correction and one that isn’t.
I really like those kind of markets and I never get bored by buying the same stock over and over as it or they may also bounce around a single point and somehow finding a way to return home.
Those large bounces back and forth are still helping to drive up volatility and the volatility rise is making premiums more attractive. One day the volatility falls in a big way and the next day it rises, along with the market. Volatility has also been settling into a comfortable range, but all it would take to shift that range would be a few consecutive days of large moves in the market either direction.
The market got off to a bad start on Monday and that worked out to be a good say to consider spending some money. Fortunately, the bounces later in the week offered some chances to sell calls, get rollovers done and see positions assigned.
Add to it a number of ex-dividend positions and it was another good week, but those still have been too far and few in-between.
With a little bit more cash to start next week a small number of positions set to expire next week and some more ex-dividend positions, there is again some more chance to create additional income next week.
As with the previous week, with the manner in which the market closed the week I’m not entirely certain what path looks predominant as the coming week gets ready to open. At the moment, I’d like to see another wave of weakness to open the coming week as I would like some opportunity to consider buying back what was assigned this week, although there are any number of appealing prospects to think about.
At the very least the market’s really strong comeback on Friday afternoon was just so perfectly timed, but it would be criminal to try and take credit for it.
Sometimes, it really helps to have good luck on your side and not just bad luck.
Earnings start next week, as well and so we may get a chance to think about fundamentals and hopefully see some reason to believe that Friday’s Employment Situation report was an aberration and that the economy is still heading toward a better and better place.
I’m willing to take that bet.
This week’s details may be seen in the Weekly Performance spreadsheet * or in the PDF file, as well as in the summary below
(Note: Duplicate mention of positions reflects different priced lots):
New Positions Opened: BAC, GE
Puts Closed in order to take profits: none
Calls Rolled over, taking profits, into the next weekly cycle: BAC
Calls Rolled over, taking profits, into extended weekly cycle: none
Calls Rolled over, taking profits, into the monthly cyc
le
: none
Calls Rolled Over, taking profits, into a future monthly cycle: none
Calls Rolled Up, taking net profits into same cycle: none
New STO: HPQ (12/18), KO (12/18)
Put contracts expired: none
Put contracts rolled over: none
Long term call contracts sold: none
Calls Assigned: DOW, GE ($24.50), GE ($25)
Calls Expired: none
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: DOW (9/28 $0.42), EMC (9/29 $0.12), CSCO (10/1 $0.21)
Ex-dividend Positions Next Week: GPS (10/5 $0.23)
For the coming week the existing positions have lots that still require the sale of contracts: AGQ, ANF, AZN, CHK, CLF, COH, CSCO, CY, FAST, FCX, GDX, GM, GPS, HAL, HPQ, INTC, JCP, JOY, KMI, KSS, LVS, MCPIQ, MOS, NEM, RIG, WFM, WLTGQ (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.