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Daily Market Update – December 20, 2016 (Close) Yesterday was a pretty quiet day and it didn’t seem like today, or maybe even the rest of the year would be any different. At the moment, there are far too many people calling for the market to continue moving higher, but it did anyway, today. Even though I’ve been one of those people, I’ve been happy to be adding to my cash position, especially since there are so many people thinking that the next stop can only be higher. One thing that history has taught us is that populism grows old very quickly. It’s much easier to carp than to govern, so we’ll see just how all of this comes together, although there has to be reason to be hopeful in the near term. A big part of that, though, has to be related to where we are finally on the economic cycle. One of the slowest recoveries in history is finally seeming to get some traction and it looks as if we are also finally going to get some fuel added to the mix. That may make things a little combustible, but it has been a long, long time since all of those cylinders have been firing. I still may want to dip into my cash pile, but at this point, I would be much happier if I could make whatever I currently hold go to work. That and getting a couple of rollovers for the week. For my mouth to someone’s ear, because that’s exactly how today worked out, potentially leaving me nothing to do for the rest of the week. I did try to make some of those rollover trades early yesterday and did really jump the gun on one that expires at the end of the month, but I was glad to see those trades get made today. I would be especially glad to have an opportunity to close out the rolled over short put position in the event that Cliffs Natural Resources has another strong day tomorrow. At this point, I want to accumulate income, income, income. Even if it means tying something down longer. If that means holding onto something to get an additional 2% per month, I would be more than happy to be doing that ad infinitum. If only…. That was the case with today’s rollover of Bristol Myers Squibb, which goes ex-dividend shortly after New Year’s and the case with Dow Chemical a few days ago, as it goes ex-dividend on Friday. With those, I no longer mind if they get called early, as I will have already gotten the dividend in the form of more premium. I don’t otherwise expect to be doing too much this week, but then again, I didn’t expect the market to be doing too much today and maybe not again in 2016. Those expectations, though, do have a way of coming back at you. Today, at least, that came back in a good way. |
