Category: Week in Review

 

Option to Profit

Week in Review

 

JANUARY 11 – 15, 2016

 

NEW POSITIONS/STO	NEW STO	ROLLOVERS	CALLS ASSIGNED/PUTS EXPIRED	CALLS EXPIRED/PUTS ASSIGNED	CLOSED	EX-DIVIDEND
1  /   1	1	0	0   /   0	10   /  1	0	1

 

Weekly Up to Date Performance

January 11 – 15,  2016

Last week I said that It doesn’t get much worse than this past week.

Welcome to this week.

While last week was the worst start ever to a year, now it’s just simply the worst 2 week start to any year.

There was again just one new position opened on the week and that was one position too many, even as it looked as if it may have been a good decision for just a few hours, as had been the case last week..

That position ended the week 4.8% lower while the adjusted and unadjusted S&P 500 were both 2.2% lower.

The only shred of good news was that as bad as the week was, the existing positions still fared better than the overall market, but that is rarely any real solace.

Maybe the fact that the second week of the year wasn’t as bad as the first week of the year could also be a shred of good news.

Existing positions under-performed the S&P 500 by 0.4% on the week, adding to the disappointment.

Last week they out-performed, but still finished lower.

A loss is still a loss, even if not a loss in relative terms.

There were no assignments on the week. No surprise, there and none yet for 2016.

The loss for this week was less than it could have been, if not for a partial bounce back on Thursday that brought the S&P 500 almost back to a breakeven for the week, if only for day.

Once again, there was absolutely nothing of virtue to report upon for the week. With lots of expiring positions for the week as the January 2016 option cycle came to its end, there was even less to crow about.

With only one new purchase and 1 ex-dividend position, there was no generation of meaningful income, despite getting a brief opportunity to sell some calls on an uncovered position. Any hope of rollovers was dashed early in the week.

Unlike last week when there was some news that could account for market nervousness, this week had no real news other than the continued and accelerating weakness in the price of oil.

The market has completely embraced an irrational response to what should be good news.

Blackrock’s Larry Fink, who is widely agreed to be a pretty smart guy said what we all should know.

He said that the price of oil is being completely driven by over-supply and not being depressed due to diminished demand.

You can understand why markets wouldn’t like decreased demand, but it’s very hard to understand the reaction to stable or growing demand in the face of decreasing energy prices.

Whatever.

It is a big “whatever” though and at some point the market will be returning to a more rational response.

For next week, with no cash being added to the tiny cash reserve pile, I’m not overly enthused about spending any money.

I dipped my toes in each of the past 2 weeks and can better understand why no one has really been rushing in to buy stocks, even as prices seem ridiculously low.

Next week has only one position set to expire and it’s not too likely that anything good will happen in that regard, so it’s looking like another fallow week.

.

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

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:  none

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:  M (3/18)

Put contracts expired: TWTR

Put contracts rolled over: none

Long term call contracts sold:  none

Calls Assigned: none

Calls Expired:  BAC, BBY, CSCO, CY, DOW, GDX, GM, HFC, INTC, WY

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:   WFM (1/13 $0.135)

Ex-dividend Positions Next Week: none

For the coming week the existing positions have lots that still require the sale of contracts:   AGQ, ANF, AZN, BBBY, BBY, CHK, CLF, COH, CSCO,  CY, DOW, FAST, FCX, GDX, GM, GPS, HAL, HFC, HPQ, INTC, IP, JCP, JOY, KMI, KSS, LVS, MCPIQ, MOS, NEM, RIG, WFM, WLTGQ, 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.



 

Option to Profit

Week in Review

 

JANUARY 4 – 8, 2016

 

NEW POSITIONS/STO	NEW STO	ROLLOVERS	CALLS ASSIGNED/PUTS EXPIRED	CALLS EXPIRED/PUTS ASSIGNED	CLOSED	EX-DIVIDEND
1  /   1	0	0	0   /   0	4   /  0	0	2

 

Weekly Up to Date Performance

January 4 – 8, 2016

It doesn’t get much worse than this past week.

In fact, if you’re talking about the worst week ever to start a new year, it has nver been worse than this past week.

There was just one new position opened on the week and that was one position too many, even as it looked as if it may have been a good decision for just a few hours.

That position ended the week 6.1% lower while the adjusted and unadjusted S&P 500 were both 5.9% lower.

The only shred of good news was that as bad as the week was, the existing positions still fared better than the overall market, but that is rarely any real solace.

Existing positions outperformed the S&P 500 by 1.8%, but that still meant that they were 4.1% lower on the week.

A loss is a loss.

There were no assignments on the week. No surprise, there.

The loss for this week was pretty stunning, especially since so many were of the belief that the flatness of 2015 was bound to translate into a good 2016.

That still may be the case, but the hole dug in the first week of the year is a pretty deep one.

So deep, that no first week of the year has ever witnessed those kind of depths.

There was absolutely nothing of virtue to report upon for the week.

With only one new purchase and 2 ex-dividend positions, there was no generation of meaningful income and any hope of rollovers was dashed by mid-week, as the losses piled on and on.

That leaves us with next week.

That’s the final week of the January 2016 option cycle and things don’t look very optimistic.

With a fair number of positions set to expire next week, I already had my thoughts on early rollovers, but there wasn’t a single moment during the course of the week that offered any opportunity to push your troubles down the line.

With an avalanche of bad news this week it’s not too surprising that our markets swooned.

We were through this barely 6 months ago when China went south and are now back again.

At that time I was expecting that the respite we saw was going to be short lived. I really didn’t expect it to have lasted this long.

Now the question is when we will realize that we are the dog and that the tail shouldn’t be wagging us.

With no assignments this week and with relatively little cash, I don’t expect to be on the lookout for any places to part with my money.

With no sign of relief and selling getting worse and worse as the final day of the week wore on, there’s no reason to think that we’re at the end of the selling and we certainly didn’t see very many people showing their bravery during the course of the week.

Those that did probably have some regrets about having done so.

With today’s drop we’re again 10% below the August high, but we’re also about 9% below the recovery high in November 2015.

Those mental landmarks in charts can either be support or can offer no resistance at all.

Back in August there was no resistance at all and it pretty much came in one big swoop.

This week there were lots of those swoops, but the numbers to be on the lookout for on the S&P 500 are 1913, then 1884 and then 1867.

I’d prefer not to see those get tested and would trade off some of the increased volatility for some price recovery.

.

 

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:  MS

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:  none

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:  BAC, BBBY, DOW, MS

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:   CSCO (1/4 $0.21), GPS (1/4 $0.23)

Ex-dividend Positions Next Week: WFM (1/13 $0.135)

For the coming week the existing positions have lots that still require the sale of contracts:   AGQ, ANF, AZN, BBY, CHK, CLF, COH, CY, FAST, FCX, GDX, GPS, HAL, HPQ, JCP, JOY, KMI, KSS, LVS,  M, 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.



 

Option to Profit

Week in Review

 

NOVEMBER 23 – 27, 2015

 

NEW POSITIONS/STO	NEW STO	ROLLOVERS	CALLS ASSIGNED/PUTS EXPIRED	CALLS EXPIRED/PUTS ASSIGNED	CLOSED	EX-DIVIDEND
2  /   2	0	3	3   /   0	1   /  0	0	2

 

Weekly Up to Date Performance

November 23 – 27, 2015

< strong>This was a week that may as well not even happened.

After 3 trading days in which the market didn’t move the needle and then a little break for Thanksgiving, the week closed on Friday without ever getting that needle to budge even the slightest bit.

There were 2 new positions for the week and they beat both the adjusted and undadjusted S&P 500 by 1.6%

Those positions were up 1.6% while the S&P 500 was unchanged.

Despite some continuing weakness in energy and commodities, existing positions out-performed the S&P 500 by 0.3% after a couple of weeks of having lagged, as those particular sectors were weak.

For the year the 74 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 327.1% performance differential. 

While this was yet another week in which there wasn’t too much in the way of real economic news, the market did get to test the resolve of traders.

That test came when the revised GDP was released and it showed even stronger growth. That likely means that the FOMC will be in a better position to justify an announcement of an interest rate hike in about 12 days from today.

Instead of a big sell off, which would have indicated an about face by traders who seem to have come to accept an upcoming increase and instead of a big rally, the market did nothing.

That was the story for the week, although if fine tuning the reaction, there was some initial disappointment and then that, too, got appropriately resolved.

Without the ups and downs that have characterized so many of the past weeks over the last 3 months, there wasn’t any real bouncing around, but it still turned out to be a decent week.

With 2 new positions opened, 3 rollovers, 2 ex-dividend positions and 3 assignments, there was a little for everyone.

I especially like those occasions when I can rollover the same position twice, as was the case this week.

Unfortunately, there was also a position that expired without assignment, nor rollover and that gets added to a much too long of a list of similar positions.

WIth a decent amount of cash getting added to reserves, I’m willing to use some or even all of it next week in the pursuit of generating some new income flow.

On the other hand, there are 2 positions set for expiration next week which could potentially be the source of some income, but more importantly, there are 6 positions going ex-dividend next week, include some that have multiple lots.

That means that there may be a little bit less of a need to look for income producing trades for the week.

Next week does have an Employment SItuation Report to end the week, but there’s not very much before then, other than lots of Federal Reserve Governors who are willing to share their opinions and will be doing so in the week prior to their next meeting.

The expectation has to be that the Employment Situation Report will deliver a solid number. With that comes the additional expectation that traders will take that number in a rational way and bid the market even higher.

It’s not too likely that there will be a disappointing number, but if there was
one, you could probably look for a marked sell-off, unless those FOMC Governors give strong reason to believe that the FOMC is now hell bent on getting that rate increase decussion made prior to 2016.

For me, the likelihood is that if the market doesn’t go down to open the week or at least not move much higher, it will be a very slow trading week for me. As we sit only about 2% below all time highs, the market is within easy striking distance of more new highs or a technical correction point.

Guessing where things go is  really like flipping coin, but despite knowing that none of the previous flips has any predictive value for an upcoming flip, I’d still rather know that the market has come off of a decline before putting any new money at risk.

 

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:  BBY, PFE

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:  HFC (12/24)

Calls Rolled over, taking profits, into the monthly cycle: none

Calls Rolled Over, taking profits, into a future monthly cycle:  HFC (1/15/16)

Calls Rolled Up, taking net profits into same cycle:  none

New STO:  none

Put contracts expired: none

Put contracts rolled over: STX

Long term call contracts sold:  none

Calls Assigned: BBY, KO, PFE

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:  MAT (11/23 $0.38), KO (11/27 $0.33)

Ex-dividend Positions Next Week:  HAL (12/1 $0.18), MOS (12/1 $0.28), HFC (12/2 $0.33), COH (12/2 $0.34), BAC (12/2 $0.05), WMT (12/2 $0.49)

For the coming week the existing positions have lots that still require the sale of contracts:   AGQ, ANF, AZN, BBY, CHK, CLF, COH, CY, FAST, FCX, GDX, GPS, HAL, 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.



 

Option to Profit

Week in Review

 

NOVEMBER 16 – 20, 2015

 

NEW POSITIONS/STO	NEW STO	ROLLOVERS	CALLS ASSIGNED/PUTS EXPIRED	CALLS EXPIRED/PUTS ASSIGNED	CLOSED	EX-DIVIDEND
1  /   1	1	4	1   /   0	0   /  0	0	1

 

Weekly Up to Date Performance

November 16 – 20, 2015

< strong>After a terrible week last week, this week could just as easily have been that way, but instead was strong throughout the week.

It could easily have sold off upon the release of the FOMC minutes, but now seems ready to accept what we all knew had to be coming sooner, rather than later.

There was only one new position for the week, but despite rising 1.7%, it could keep up with the market that nearly erased the entire loss from the previous week.

The adjusted and unadjusted S&P 500 rose a very impressive 3.3% on the week, after having fallen an equally impressive 3.6% the pror week.

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.

Energy and commodirties continued to be weak, but retail wasn’t as bad as had been the case the prior week.

For the year the 71 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 313.8% performance differential. 

This was yet another week where there really wasn’t too much in the way of real economic news, but the market didn’t really seem to need much in the way of real economic news.

After getting off to a really good start on Monday, it looked as if it would do the same on Tuesday, but then backed away from the gains it had hoped to add on.

What made the week really impressive, beyond the 3.3% gain, was how it came back after having given up on that Tuesday rally.

Also, with release of the FOMC minutes and the clearly hawkish tone of the members, the market didn’t shrink away and head into a deep sell-off, as it had some other times.

That’s different.

Even though it may be hard to see the justiication for a rate increase at this time, the market is now ready for it.

It had been ready for it back in September, as well and then changed its mind and took us into our first real correction in years. 

What’s fascinating is that the market correction didn’t last long, but if you still look at the components of that market, the individual corrections in so many of those stocks continues, as the breadth is very, very narrow.

Who knows where the wind will blow next, but I was happy with the week, especially in being able to at least get an assignment of the single poisition opened and being able to roll all of the expiring positions over.

Next week is a holiday shortened week and so premiums will be a little bit lower, in addition to being dragged down by the low volatility.

With a little bit of cash receycled, I wouldn’t mind spending some money, although as is usually the case after a quick run higher, I would much rather see some of the gains given back before spending too much.

With only 2 positions set to expire next week, the likelihood is that if I can identify a purchase on Monday, i would try to look for a weekly expiration, otherwise, it may make more sense to look at extended weekly expirations and to spend more time thinking about enjoying the upcoming holiday

 

 

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:  MS

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:  none

Calls Rolled over, taking profits, into the monthly cycle: none

Calls Rolled Over, taking profits, into a future monthly cycle:  CSCO (1/15/16), F 912/18/15)

Calls Rolled Up, taking net profits into same cycle:  none

New STO:  WY

Put contracts expired: none

Put contracts rolled over: STX

Long term call contracts sold:  none

Calls Assigned: MS

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: MRO (11/16 $0.05)

Ex-dividend Positions Next Week:   MAT (11/23 $0.38), KO (11/27 $0.33)

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, JCP, JOY, KM
I, 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.



 

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.



 

Option to Profit

Week in Review

 

NOVEMBER 2 – 6, 2015

 

NEW POSITIONS/STO	NEW STO	ROLLOVERS	CALLS ASSIGNED/PUTS EXPIRED	CALLS EXPIRED/PUTS ASSIGNED	CLOSED	EX-DIVIDEND
1   /   1	0	4	2   /   0	0  /  0	0	2

 

Weekly Up to Date Performance

November 2 – 6, 2015

The week started off with lots of promise and ended with a fizzle, but saw the market probably do the right thing heading into the Employment Situation Report on Friday.

There was only 1 new position opened for the week and it surpassed the unadjusted S&P 500 by 0.1% and the adjusted S&P 500 by 1.3% .

That single position was 1.1% higher for the week while the unadjusted S&P 500 was 1.0% higher and the adjusted S&P 500 was 0.2% lower.

That large discrepancy between adjusted and unadjusted performance is related to the timing of the purchase of that single position which happened on Tuesday, rather than on Monday when the market had its large gain.

Once again energy and commodities continued their weakness, despite having dome mid-week strength.

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. 

The big news for the week was the Employment Situation Report, but it seems as if the market completely discounted the good news in its early trading for the week and then ended up actually taking it for what it was.

Good news.

This was yet another week of no real news, other than for Friday’s Employment Situation Report. Although there were lots of earnings reports, the reality is that Facebook doesn’t really matter as far as being a barometer of things.

Next week, though, as retailers do begin releasing their earnings, those could very well be the barometer that we and more importantly, the FOMC, have been looking for.

With a very strong gain in employment, well above the threshold that the FOMC has set, some strong retail numbers could finally convince everyone that the time has finally come for that interest rate increase.

If it does finally come in December, the IMF and ECB can’t get too upset with us, as we came close to waiting and holding off until 2016 as could possibly have been the case.

With only a single new position opened this past week and 2 assignments, there will be a little more added to the cash reserve, which is something that I’ve wanted to see for quite some time.

So far, it has worked out well borrowing from myself, in essence the equivalent of having used margin, in order to fuel some new position purchases over the past 2 months.

With those assignments and the rollovers for the week, in addition to the 2 ex-dividend positions, I finished the week reasonably satisfied, although I would have liked it if the week hadn’t gotten off to such a strong start and I could have perhaps added some of those ex-dividend trades.

I was also a little disappointed in not being able to sell any options on uncovered positions as the trades I had put in hoping to get made just wilted away as the week came to its end.

Next week, with cash in hand, I am definitely on the look out for some good reason to spend. With no contracts expiring next week I would like to be able to find a way to generate some cash from the money pile, but again, I’m not prone to being reckless with that money.

My hope is that there is some weakness to begin the week, just as I had hoped would have happened this week.

There are a couple of potential dividend plays next week and I think my focus will continue in that area, especially as volatility has again fallen so low.

Given how well the market seems to have accepted the good employment numbers, I think that it may be in a state of mind to act very rationally if retailers do start reporting good numbers next week. 

A little good news on the retail front could be just the thing to send the market beyond its August highs.

While that’s sad for volatility, it may be just the thing to take us into the holidays.

 

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:  MS

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:  BBY (11/27), WMT (12/11)

Calls Rolled over, taking profits, into the monthly cycle: F

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: INTC, MS

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: INTC (11/4 $0.24), BP (11/4 $0.60)

Ex-dividend Positions Next Week:   IP (11/12 $0.49)

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.



 

Option to Profit

Week in Review

 

October 26 – 30, 2015

 

NEW POSITIONS/STO	NEW STO	ROLLOVERS	CALLS ASSIGNED/PUTS EXPIRED	CALLS EXPIRED/PUTS ASSIGNED	CLOSED	EX-DIVIDEND
2   /   3	0	1	1   /   1	0  /  0	0	4

 

Weekly Up to Date Performance

October 26 – 30, 2015

This was a week that didn’t know what it really wanted and ended up with no conviction following a strong FOMC related move forward.

There were 3 new positions opened for the week and they surpassed the unadjusted S&P 500 by1.0 % and the adjusted S&P 500 by 0.8%.

Those positions were 1.2% higher for the week while the unadjusted S&P 500 was 0.2% higher and the adjusted S&P 500 was 0.4% higher.

Once again energy and commodities continued their weakness, despite making up some ground on Friday to end the week.

It just wasn’t enough to let existing positions surpass even a mediocre broader market.

For the year the 68 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 319.3% performance differential. 

The big news for the week was the FOMC Statement release.

Prior to the release and for the two days after the release, the market was basically comatose, although it went for a wild alternating ride in the 20 minutes surrounding the release.

Earnings reports for the week made very little difference.

All of that leads to us next week and wondering what will be there to move markets, particularly since the really important retail sector doesn’t report until the following week.

< span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium; line-height: 1.538em;">This past week was a decent one in that there were some good opportunities to open positions and collect some dividends.

It would have been nicer if there were some opportunities to sell calls on existing positions, but at least there were some assignments and a rollover for the week, in addition to those ex-dividend positions.

With some of that money getting put back for recycling, I wouldn’t mind being able to make the same trades as were made this week, taking a look at Morgan Stanley and Seagate Technology once again, just as a few weeks earlier it had been Bank of America and General Electric that were in play for a number of consecutive weeks.

That’s boring, but it can be a really good type of boring.

With the money to spend, I would really like to see the week open on a decline. If it does so, I’d be inclined to add as many new positions as in the past few weeks. Otherwise, I’d be happy to hold onto my money and look for any opportunity to sell calls on those existing, non-performing positions.

Next week may just be one big question mark and unless there’s some big or unexpected news, that may be the theme until the December FOMC meeting.

 

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:  F, MS, STX, (puts)

Puts Closed in order to take profits:  none

Calls Rolled over, taking profits, into the next weekly cycle: F

Calls Rolled over, taking profits, into extended weekly cycle:  none

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: STX

Put contracts rolled over: none

Long term call contracts sold:  none

Calls Assigned: MS

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: KMI (10/29 $0.51), WY (10/28 $0.31), MS (10/28 $0.15), F (10/28 $0.15)

Ex-dividend Positions Next Week:   

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.



 

Option to Profit

Week in Review

 

October 19 – 23, 2015

 

NEW POSITIONS/STO	NEW STO	ROLLOVERS	CALLS ASSIGNED/PUTS EXPIRED	CALLS EXPIRED/PUTS ASSIGNED	CLOSED	EX-DIVIDEND
2   /   3	1	4	3   /   1	0  /  0	0	1

 

Weekly Up to Date Performance

October 19 – 23, 2015

The latter part of the week was a perfect storm and in a good way for the market and it had its fourth consecutive gaining week, ever since the turnaround on the day the last Employment Situation Report was released.< /strong>

There were 3 new positions opened for the week, but they lagged both the adjusted and unadjusted S&P 500 by 1.0%

Those positions were still 1.1% higher for the week, but just couldn’t keep pace with the S&P 500 which finished 2.1% higher thanks to the tremendous gains on Thursday and Friday.

This week energy and commodities continued their weakness, as did healthcare, but everything else was buoyed the last two days of the week.  Existing positions were flat for the week lagging the overall market, just as in the previous as they were compromised by energy and materials.

For the year the 66 closed lots in 2015 continue to outperform the market. They are an average of 4.8% higher, while the comparable time adjusted S&P 500 average performance has been  1.1% higher. That difference represents a 321.9% performance differential. 

Earnings reports started coming this week and they were for the most part pretty uninspiring until the close of trading on Thursday.

On that day the market was already heading toward a 320 point gain as the ECB gave US markets a gift before the open by suggesting that their version of QE was going to continue.

The rally was prolonged with the first real set of good earnings numbers and they came from important players: Google, Microsoft and Amazon, representing 3 very different segments of the consumer discretionary and business worlds.

If they were reporting better revenues and profits how could that not have some meaning for the broader economy?

So stocks surged again, further helped by a rate decrease by the People’s Bank of China in their effort to jump start their economy which was just reported to be struggling along with a GDP growing at just 7%.

Just 7%?

So this was a good week all around.

There were 3 new positions opened and 4 positions were rolled over, in addition to finding some coverage for an uncovered position.

There was also a single ex-dividend position.

Best of all, there was the assignment of 3 positions and the expiration of one short put sale, helping to free up some cash to either sit or be redeployed.

With all of that, however, there are no positions set to expire next week, so the likelihood is that if any new positions are opened with the increased cash position, they will look for either a dividend or a weekly time frame.

My expectation had been that the coming week was likely to show some euphoria as there was little reason to suspect that the FOMC would raise interest rates. Since we are back on a “bad news is good news” mindset, that would likely give reason for more buying.

However, with so much of an advance this week and someone bound to raise the issue of how far off will that rate increase now be once we’ve seen such strong earnings from some key players, I’m not as convinced of next week’s strength, anymore.

With next week still offering so many companies reporting earnings some care has to be taken to not get overly exposed to companies that have that added risk feature. Despite the great earnings reported by Google et al, the earnings season has otherwise not been very encouraging and has offered lots of punishment for those disappointing even by just a little.

With cash available next week, I would again be happy to see some weakness creep back in, at least maybe to start the week.

Friday’s strong close has placed some of the positions that I was eyeing for next week more expensive than I would like, so I may be more passive than  I would prefer to be as the next week gets off to its start.

With volatility suddenly taking a dive and returning close to where it was a month ago some of the easy new position trades and rollovers will likely be on hiatus, but next week may hold some surprises if the FOMC takes note of some evidence of an economy that’s heating up in key sectors and changes the wording of its statement to reflect that observation.

I’ll be tuned in.

 

 

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:  MS, STX, (puts), WMT

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:  none

Calls Rolled over, taking profits, into the monthly cycle: none

Calls Rolled Over, taking profits, into a future monthly cycle:  IP (12/18)

Calls Rolled Up, taking net profits into same cycle:  none

New STO:  INTC (1/16/16)

Put contracts expired: STX

Put contracts rolled over: none

Long term call contracts sold:  none

Calls Assigned: BBY ($33.50), MET, MS

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: FAST (10/23 $0.28)

Ex-dividend Positions Next Week:   KMI (10/29 $0.51), WY (10/28 $0.31)

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.



 

Option to Profit

Week in Review

 

October 12 – 16, 2015

 

NEW POSITIONS/STO	NEW STO	ROLLOVERS	CALLS ASSIGNED/PUTS EXPIRED	CALLS EXPIRED/PUTS ASSIGNED	CLOSED	EX-DIVIDEND
3   /   3	2	0	3   /   0	2  /  0	0	2

 

Weekly Up to Date Performance

October 12 – 16, 2015

Following multiple consecutive weeks of indecisive trading, last week was anything but indecisive, but this week we were back again to not knowing what we want.

There were 3 new positions opened for the week and they surpassed the adjusted S&P 500 by 0.5% and the unadjusted and adjusted S&P 500 by 0.6%

Those positions were 1.6% higher for the week while the adjusted S&P 500 finished 1.1% higher and the unadjusted S&P 500 finished 0.9% higher.

This week it was the turn for weakness to re-appear in energy and materials.  Existing positions were lower for the week and this time they lagged the overall market, just as previous weeks they were lead higher by energy and materials.

For the year the 62 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  1.1% higher. That difference represents a 339.2% performance differential. 

Earnings reports started coming this week and they were, if nothing, confusing.

The market took some big moves during the week, but for no real reason. What happened was simply a return to much of the summer when there was a back and forth volley between large moves higher and equally, if not larger moves lower.

This week the market ended up with a net result that took the middle ground and at least gave little to lose any stomach lining over, although these days individual shares are prone to erode more lining than ever before.

Actually, the combination of large moves up and large moves lower that leaves you with a net positive can actually be as close to an ideal situation as you can define, because those back and forths drive up volatility supported option premiums while at the same time seeing assets grow, rather than getting eroded.

It was another week that saw more new positions established than had been the case during most of the summer and I’m happy to see that continuing to be the case. Next week it would be easier to continue on that path if the week opens with some significant weakness and closes with strength.

Those are by far the best.

WIth another week having some assignments I’m also happy to see some cash getting put back into the still all too small pile and wouldn’t mind putting the money back to work next week.

A couple of new positions finding cover and a couple of ex-dividend positions for the week generated enough income to keep me pacified over the week, although there were also 2 positions that saw their options expire.

Next week continues earnings and they actually will be much more representative than this week had been, which was predominated by the financials.

I’m definitely open to putting money to work, as next week doesn’t have very many expiring positions and only a single ex-dividend position. The challenge will be trying to discern between value and value traps.

Lately there has been a lot of luck as most of the recent new positions represented real value, but as we still see from day to day, the market is very capable of moving strongly in any direction and without requiring  a reason for doing so.

While I’m willing to spend money next week, that would be much more likely if the market is either flat or lower to start the week. Today’s gain continues the market’s resurgence that started two weeks earlier and had been almost uninterrupted. A little bit of a breather or some movement backward to fill in the ground beneath the more than 6% gain the  past week would be really nice.

 

 

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:  ABBV, ANF, MET

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:  none

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:  GDX ($21 12/15), GDX ($22 1/15/16)

Put contracts expired: none

Put contracts rolled over: none

Long term call contracts sold:  none

Calls Assigned: ABBV, ANF,  MET

Calls Expired:  EMC, MRO

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: FCX (10/13 $0.05), ABBV (10/13 $0.51)

Ex-dividend Positions Next Week:   FAST (10/23 $0.28)

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.



 

Option to Profit

Week in Review

 

October 5 – 9, 2015

 

NEW POSITIONS/STO	NEW STO	ROLLOVERS	CALLS ASSIGNED/PUTS EXPIRED	CALLS EXPIRED/PUTS ASSIGNED	CLOSED	EX-DIVIDEND
2   /   2	3	1	4   /   0	0  /  0	0	1

 

Weekly Up to Date Performance

October 5 – 9, 2015

Following multiple consecutive weeks of indecisive trading, there was no question what the frame of mind was this week.

It was higher, higher and higher. Even if  a given day didn’t really add much to the indexes, what they didn’t do was go much lower, as has been the case whenever the market was able to put together even just a single good day over the past couple of months.

There were 2 new positions opened for the week and they lagged the unadjusted and adjusted S&P 500 by 1.6%. They did well, but couldn’t keep up with the market, since they were capped by their strike prices in a week that the market just kept moving higher.

Those positions were 1.7% higher for the week while the adjusted and unadjusted S&P 500 finished a remarkable 3.2% higher.

Thanks to continuing strength in energy and materials, despite some give back to end the week, existing positions performed well and out-performed an already strong market. They were actually an unusually large 1.2% ahead of the S&P 500 for the week, but as with past weeks they also represent a liability in the event of their weakness.

For the year the 59 closed lots in 2015 continue to outperform the market. They are an average of 4.8% higher, while the comparable time adjusted S&P 500 average performance has been  1.1% higher. That difference represents a 350.6% performance differential. 

If you were looking for a theme this week it was easy to find.

It looks as if we’re back to partying over the prospects of a delay in interest rates once again.

That’s a really sudden change from just a couple of weeks ago and is an example of what to do when life gives you lemons.

Maybe it’s not so hard to explain why the sudden re-embrace of what is beginning to sound like a weaker than expected economy, but that could mean having to go through the fear of a rise in interest rates again.

Sooner or later there has to be one, but it just keeps seeming later and later even after it seemed to be right around the corner.

This was a good week from just about every perspective.

There was finally a week that had a meaningful number of assignments and there were no stocks having options expire worthless.

Additionally, there was some opportunity to create new covered positions and to still be able to take some advantage of the mildly elevated volatility. There was even a chance to rollover a position that wasn’t due for a while, as its price just rocks back and forth with the energy complex and with each of those gyrations opportunity presents itself to make some additional return on a fundamentally sound position.

Next week marks the end of the October 2015 option cycle and uncharacteristically, there aren’t many positions set to expire next week.

What there is, is more cash than usual to put back to work, although I would really like to see the market consolidate just a little. It has gone up too much and too fast since the previous Friday, so that should lead people to believe that we’re either at a precipice of a break out higher or a drop back to reality.

That doesn’t really help, though.

Both are plausible, but I don’t think that I want to get overly reckless with the cash that will suddenly be available for re-investment next week.

Earnings will really get off the ground next week as financials begin to report, but as we’ve seen for the last couple of years, that sector can be strong, but nothing has to follow.

The real key will be whether we finally see retail reporting earnings that reflect the fall out from lower energy prices.

If really looking for a reason for markets to go higher, that is the best catalyst that I can think of and is definitely not one to fear, even if leading to increased interest rates.

 

 

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:   ANF, MET

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:  HFC (10/30)

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:  BAC (12/18), CSCO (11/20), GM (1/15/16)

Put contracts expired: none

Put contracts rolled over: none

Long term call contracts sold:  none

Calls Assigned: ANF, BAC, GE, MET

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: GPS (10/5 $0.23)

Ex-dividend Positions Next Week:   FCX (10/13 $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.