Option to Profit
Week in Review
NOVEMBER 9 – 13, 2015
| NEW POSITIONS/STO | NEW STO | ROLLOVERS | CALLS ASSIGNED/PUTS EXPIRED | CALLS EXPIRED/PUTS ASSIGNED | CLOSED | EX-DIVIDEND |
| 2 / 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 / 0 | 1 / 0 | 0 | 1 |
Weekly Up to Date Performance
November 9 – 13, 2015
< st rong>This week picked up where last week ended and didn’t really get any better, whereas last week at least did have some bright spots.
There were 3 new positions opened for the week and they surpassed the unadjusted S&P 500 by 2.1% and the adjusted S&P 500 by 1.4% .
That’s another
But it was still one of those weeks where surpassing was only in relative tems as those positions were 1.5% lower for the week while the unadjusted S&P 500 was 3.6% lower and the adjusted S&P 500 was 2.9% lower.
It was another week with a relatively large discrepancy between adjusted and unadjusted performance reflecting how the market deteriorated over the week and there were some efforts to capitalize on that weakness.
This week, instead of energy and commodities being the basis for weakness, it was retail that added on to the already wary market’s lack
of desire to buy anything.
For the year the 70 closed lots in 2015 continue to outperform the market. They are an average of 4.6% higher, while the comparable time adjusted S&P 500 average performance has been 1.1% higher. That difference represents a 334.5% performance differential.
There wasn’t too much in terms of real economic news this week, but that didn’t stop the markets from having some general malaise and then some tantrum-like behavior.
Malaise was understandable, but the really disappointing retail sales numbers combined with an ever increasingly sounding hawkish FOMC can understandably lead people to wonder whether it makes any sense to tighten up credit, even by only 0.25%, when no one is buying much of anything.
Hard to make an argument for not giving into the fear.
I did part with more cash than I had been expecting to try and make up for the lack of any meaningful income stream coming out of this week activity and expiring positions.
Like most everything, they were caught in the continuing whirlwind lower, even though it looked as if all was clear at the time of their purchase.
With no assignments this week, there was no replenishment of cash reserves, so I will not be as likely to spend next week.
With a number of positions set to expire next week, the greatest likelihood is that if I do part with some cash it will be with some longer term time frames in mind when looking to sell options on the positions.
With Thanksgiving week coming up and markets open on that Friday, that would be a likely week to consider, as the following week could be, as well.
What would be nice, though, is some clarity.
What would be helpful is for the FOMC to finally do something and get things over with.
The back and forth has really been fairly ridiculous and unsettling for just about everyone.
Hopefully that’s not being lost on the person or people who matter the most when it comes to the decision process, even though the stock market’s performance is really not something that they should be using to create policy.
But making the decision to raise rates, especially if only 0.25%, would let us move on and let the FOMC get back to more analytical and intellectual pursuits, instead of talking and hawking policy.
This was a disappointing week by most all standards.
There wasn’t much in the way of activity and net asset value declined. At least there was some ability to generate income from the new positions this week and there was an ex-dividend position.
Fortunately, the one position expiring this week was able to be rolled over and the other new positions opened this week started off life with some longer expiring contracts, so at least there’s some hope for them.
With no assignments this week and no cash being replenished, I’m not overly eager to dip into cash reserves next week. My primary focus will be on managing those positions that expire as the November 2015 option cycle comes to its inglorious end.
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: IP, M STX (puts)
Puts Closed in order to take profits: none
Calls Rolled over, taking profits, into the next weekly cycle: none
Calls Rolled over, taking profits, into extended weekly cycle: IP
Calls Rolled over, taking profits, into the monthly cycle: none
Calls Rolled Over, taking profits, into a future monthly cycle: none
Calls Rolled Up, taking net profits into same cycle: none
New STO: none
Put contracts expired: none
Put contracts rolled over: none
Long term call contracts sold: none
Calls Assigned: none
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: IP (11/12 $0.44)
Ex-dividend Positions Next Week: MRO (11/16 $0.05)
For the coming week the existing positions have lots that still require the sale of contracts: AGQ, ANF, AZN, CHK, CLF, COH, CY, FAST, FCX, GDX, 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.