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Week in Review – July 27 – 31, 2015

Option to Profit

Week in Review

 
 
July 27 – 31, 2015
 
 
 
 

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

 
Weekly Up to Date Performance
July 27 – 31,  2015
It was another weak Friday, but thanks to two back to back triple digit gains the market is now in a 2 steps forward and one step backward kind of dance.
After last week’s large loss that erased the previous week’s large gain, this week had a nice gain due to nothing really happening in the world.
There was again only one new position opened for the week and it out-performed both the adjusted and unadjusted S&P 500 by 1.0%.
That position was 2.2% higher for the week while the S&P 500 was up own by 1.2%.
With the week bouncing back from the previous week and avoiding getting too close to support levels, you have to think that there will be some kind of a test of resistance, but the week didn’t have enough steam left in it to get that done.
With no assignments once again,  the 46 closed lots in 2015 continue to outperform the market. They are an average of 5.0% higher, while the comparable time adjusted S&P 500 average performance has been 1.3% higher. That difference represents a 283.3% performance differential.
This was a week with lots of earnings and despite most companies reporting better EPS data, they are continuing to do so on reduced revenues.
That’s not such a good thing and now marks the second consecutive quarter of that being the case. But because expectations were so low, in part due to forward guidance that was based on an expectation for Euro/USD parity, the majority of companies are reporting better than expected earnings.
You wouldn’t necessarily know that when you look at the reactions of some stocks even to better than expected earnings reports.
That’s all happening at a moment in time that the S&P 500 is barely 1.5% off of its all time highs, yet 12 of the DJIA components are in bear market mode, meaning that they are down at least 10% from their recent highs.
How is that even a thing?
That’s such a bizarre combination, but it’s just another way of pointing out how skewed and artificial the index levels really are, as there’s lots of evidence that the broader markets just aren’t very healthy, despite what things may look like.
This week’s two strong days were mostly owing to the lack of anything going on in the world and the lack of any kind of news from the FOMC.
With some economic data yesterday and today, there’s very little reason to now think that the economy is heating up enough to provide the kind of data that the FOMC can rely upon as warranting an increase in its interest rates. GDP data was disappointing and there’s no evidence of any upward pressure on wages.
After coming within a hair of dropping below its support level when the Chinese market seemed to recover just in time from its swoon after the government stepped in, the market started getting ready to challenge its highs, but China got back in the way.
The ensuing reversal of the challenge to its resistance was fairly short lived, but if you look at the recent experience and draw lines connecting each spike’s highs and each drop’s lows, you see that the highs are lower and the lows are higher.
While I’m not a technician and I don’t really buy into the validity of technical analysis, that sort of pattern usually is said to indicate some kind of impending large break-out.
Up or down? Who knows? Just a big move of indeterminate direction.
WIth no assignments this week and barely any trades at all, the new week is set to begin with very little cash and with no positions set to expire for the week.
Outside of an ex-dividend date on a single stock, that combination of factors isn’t very conducive to generating portfolio revenue for the week.
The pressure continues until energy and commodity prices change course, but consenus is that won’t be happening anytime soon, so I’m optimistic that it will, just as a month ago everyone was proclaiming that energy prices had successfully emerged from the onslaught.
Next week has more earnings, but other than the Employment Situation Report, there’s not too much else going on, as the Federal Reserve goes on vacation and will soak in everything that’s happening.
Hopefully next week China will remain under control and earnings will continue to be relatively good, at least leaving us in better shape to deal with whatever surprise is awaiting around the corner.
 
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:   TXN
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:  TXN (8/14)
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: TWTR (8/28)
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: KMI (7/29 $0.49), TXN (7/29 $0.34)
Ex-dividend Positions Next Week: INTC (8/5 $0.24)
For the coming week the existing positions have lots that still require the sale of contracts:   AGQ, ANF, AZN, CHK, CLF, FCX, GDX, GM, GPS, HAL, INTC, JCP, JOY, KMI, KSS, LVS,  MCPIQ, MOS, 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.

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Week in Review – July 20 – 24, 2015

 

Option to Profit

Week in Review

 

July 20 – 24, 2015

 

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

 

Weekly Up to Date Performance

July 20 – 24,  2015

Today’s weakness to close out the week simply helped the market return nearly every bit of the 2.4% gain it saw the previous week.

It was yet another week in which energy and commodities continued their downward spiral, erasing all the the gains that had been made in the prior month or two.

This was the kind of week that it was a good idea to resist what looked as if they were bargains, because those prices got even cheaper the next day, so for yet another week there was little reason to go chasing new positions.

There was one new position opened for the week and it out-performed both the adjusted and unadjusted S&P 500 by 2.9%.

That position was 0.7% higher for the week while the S&P 500 was down by 2.2%.

Last week’s 2.4% gain was almost entirely accomplished in a single day. The rest of the week and all of this week were spent getting beaten back by the market’s resistance point.

While the previous weeks successfully tested support, so far it hasn’t been successful in testing that resistance.

With no assignments for the week, the 46 closed lots in 2015 continue to outperform the market. They are an average of 5.0% higher, while the comparable time adjusted S&P 500 average performance has been 1.3% higher. That difference represents a 283.3% performance differential.

There was virtually no news this week other than earnings to complicate things, but now that the week is done, we could have used some diversions.

All had been going well with earnings during the previous week, which was the first full week of this current cycle. Unfortunately, things began falling apart when IBM reported yet another disappointing quarter, but the real surprise is that some others followed, including those that rarely do anything that comes as a disappointment.

Most of all, it was a week with some out-sized moves higher and lower, but the prevailing trend was clearly lower.

Much lower.

What started becoming clear, although it’s hard to understand what took so long for analysts and talking heads to realize that there were some significant divergences developing between the major indexes. Even more fascinating is that it was only in the past few days that anyone was so analytical as to realize that the reason the indexes were rising, but at the same time people weren’t really feeling any richer, is that the gains were really concentrated among a very few names.

While huge moves in some very large market capitalization companies can do wonders for the index that it’s in, that doesn’t necessarily mean that other members of that index are going to get any trickle down glory.

That is essentially the difference between how things are supposed to be, on paper, at least and how things really are.

With only one position for the week and only one scheduled for expiration, there wasn’t much to be done other than watch the weakness accumulate.

Next week there are a few positions set to expire, but with what little cash reserve I currently have I’m not overly anxious to spend much or any of it, despite what feel and look like bargains.

Earlier this week I mentioned those bargains, yet also mentioned how I wasn’t quite ready to run after them. Instead, I was hoping that those bargains might persist as the coming week was getting ready to begin.

For now, that looks like how we are set to begin next week, so even with some reluctance to spend money, there may be some reason to do so. However, it is possible that after the very recent test of the market’s support level, we may be getting ready to test it once again.

That second assault on the S&P 500 level of about 2045 gives some reason for concern, because there’s not much between that level at the 2000 level. That lower point would bring us to about a 7% decline, after having recently rebounded from an intra-day low that took the market to a 5% decline, only to see it quickly erased.

Most technicians are probably not too thrilled about testing support again. When so many focus on momentum, the kind of momentum that comes with bouncing off resistance and heading back towards a support level isn’t the kind that typically leads to a higher bounce first.

Caution seems like a good way to go for now.

Next week will be another very busy one for earnings releases and although there isn’t too much in the way of scheduled economic news, what little there is may be meaningful.

That includes an FOMC Announcement, Jobless Claims and GDP, so there could be some additional downside pressure if there’s any reason to believe that the economy is heating up enough to merit an interest rate increase by September.

So I will most likely be watching rather than spending, but wouldn’t totally preclude the loosening of purse strings as watching more earnings reports.

 

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

Puts Closed in order to take profits:  none

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

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:  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 (7/29 $0.28)

Ex-dividend Positions Next Week: KMI (7/29
$0.49)

For the coming week the existing positions have lots that still require the sale of contracts:   AGQ, ANF, AZN, CHK, CLF, FCX, GDX, GM, GPS, HAL, INTC, JCP, JOY, KMI, KSS, LVS,  MCPIQ, MOS, 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.



Posted on

Week in Review – July 13 – 17, 2015

 

Option to Profit

Week in Review

 

July 13 – 17, 2015

 

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

 

Weekly Up to Date Performance

July 13 – 17,  2015

Despite Friday’s mild weakness, the market had one of its best weeks in a long time, as long as you weren’t in energy and materials, which continued weak for the the fourth consecutive week.

There was little reason to go chasing new positions this week and it turned out to be another week of no new purchases and almost no activity, otherwise.

The S&P 500 was an incredible 2.4% higher for the week, significantly out-performing the DJIA, while the NASDAQ 100 hit all time highs. Considering that just 2 weeks ago we were about to test technical support levels as the S&P 500 was 5% lower, the performance this week was very impressive, even if it really was limited to a single day.

Existing positions, over-invested in energy stocks, which were again down heavily this week again lagged the general market this week.

With no assignments for the week, the 46 closed lots in 2015 continue to outperform the market. They are an average of 5.0% higher, while the comparable time adjusted S&P 500 average performance has been 1.3% higher. That difference represents a 283.3% performance differential.

There was a lot going on this past week, but most of the gains for the week came on Monday as China didn’t melt down over the weekend and there appeared to be an agreement over the near term resolution of the Greek debt crisis.

Those two events, or actually one event and one non-event helped the market get most of its gain for the week shortly after the opening bell rang on Monday morning.

For now, Greece does appear to be resolved, although China is still something that could give markets reason to soar to new highs or make us wonder why it ever bounced back so decisively from it’s technical support at the 2046 level on the S&P 500.

There was a big divergence among the 3 major indexes this week as the NASDAQ was 4.2% higher, no small thanks to Google. At the same time the DJIA lagged, but was still 1.8% higher, while the S&P 500 was 2.4% higher.

Once Monday came and went, the rest of the week was itself a non-event, even with 2 days of Janet Yellen testimony to serve as a potential  launching pad.

On the whole, as earnings have started coming in they have been positive, which should have been expected as the bar was set fairly low during the previous quarter’s earnings and forward guidance. The coming week has much more earnings reports in store and in a wide range of important companies. Their experience over the past 3 months can also give us some better idea of what the impact of currency exchange and lower energy prices had on their results and may give us an idea of what may be in store over the next quarter.

Wit
h international events possibly going quiet for a short while, the next couple of weeks may be able to focus on earnings fundamentals and maybe another round of speculation over a re-strengthening dollar and a newly re-weakened energy sector.

Not having spent any cash this past week and not having had any assignments leaves me in a position that isn’t very anxious to look for new positions. Certainly, there’s difficulty in justifying adding positions as the market again is nearing its previous highs.

As next week marks the beginning of the AUgust 2015 option cycle and having no positions set to expire next week, the greatest likelihood is that if I do make any new purchases they will be with a very short time frame in mind, as was the case 2 weeks ago. The intention would be to get a quick return from premium and hopefully see the positions assigned, or at the very least in a position top be rolled over.

With volatility heading even lower, there is less and less desire to rollover positions as the relative cost of closing out a position is just too high compared to the additional premium received.

While I don’t like to see positions xpire without having a replacemt call option sold, latelythere is very little justification in doing the rollovers and most stocks are also giving very little reason to look at longer term options unless there is an intervening earnings report to prop up the premium.

At this point I expect next week to be another quiet one in terms of personal trading.

While I’d like to see volatility increase, as it had been doing less than 2 weeks ago, as we do approach the all time highs, I would prefer seeing those resistance points tested and the market surpassing them, even if at the expense of volatility and option premiums.

WIth that happening and perhaps the realization that a deal with Iran won’t swamp oil markets with excess product for quite a while, perhaps energy prices could get back on track at the same time that the market tests those highs, maybe even being the impetus for those highs.

I wouldn’t mind going along for those rides.

 

 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:   none

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:  LVS (8/21)

Put contracts expired: none

Put contracts rolled over: none

Long term call contracts sold:  none

Calls Assigned: none

Calls Expired:  GDX, GM, KSS

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 (7/13 $0.05)

Ex-dividend Positions Next Week: FAST (7/29 $0.28)

For the coming week the existing positions have lots that still require the sale of contracts:   AGQ, ANF, AZN, CHK, CLF, FCX, GDX, GM, GPS, HAL, INTC, JCP, JOY, KMI, KSS, LVS,  MCPIQ, MOS, 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.



Posted on

Week in Review – July 6 – 10, 2015

 

Option to Profit

Week in Review

 

July 6 – 10, 2015

 

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

 

Weekly Up to Date Performance

July 6 – 10,  2015

This had all the makings of yet another miserable week in the markets and then suddenly it was not such a bad week as we ping ponged back and forth between large losses, large gains and then intra-session turnarounds in both directions.

It was a busier than usual of late week, at least as far as new purchases go.

There were 3 new positions opened and they out-performed the adjusted S&P 500 by 3.3% and the unadjusted S&P 500 by 3.1%.

New positions ended the week 3.3% higher, while the unadjusted S&P 500 was 0.01% lower and the adjusted S&P 500 was 0.1% higher.

This week was different from recent weeks in that I could sense a more compelling reason to part with the money that I would like to be building up in my cash reserve. Despite what could be some good news to end the week, I’m not certain that I see the same compelling reasons for the coming week.

Existing positions, over-invested in energy stocks, which were again down heavily this week again lagged the general market this week.

Fortunately, there were a couple of assignments for the week and the 46 closed lots in 2015 continue to outperform the market. They are an average of 5.0% higher, while the comparable time adjusted S&P 500 average performance has been 1.3% higher. That difference represents a 283.3% performance differential.

As if Tuesday’s nearly 4 hour trading halt wasn’t enough to make this week memorable, it was also one of the most up and down weeks that anyone can remember. It reminded me a little of some of the trading that went on very early in what became the period of the financial meltdown.

The difference, though, is in scale. While these 200 and 300 moves seem large, they are actually dwarfed both in absolute and certainly in relative terms to the moves we saw in the fall of 2008.

In the current market, and for the most part that means all of 2015 to date, it has been a while since there has been any good news to give the markets a reason to move higher. That has been a recurring theme, although for the most part, the market has managed to find a way to go higher.

This week it was a volley between good news and bad news, all of which originated overseas, as China and Greece weighed heavily on people’s minds. For the most part what was interpreted as good news was mostly simply the absence of continuing bad news.

With the market just a hair’s breadth away from a technical support level and at the precipice of a 5% correction, it could have been very easy to tip the scales and move significantly lower this week, even if the bad news had stopped flowing.

At one point in the week the S&P 500 was the equivalent of about 20 DJIA points away from reaching that support level. Another way of thinking about it is that an additional $3 decline in shares of Apple could have triggered technical traders to start dumping all of the shares in their baskets, with the next stop at a support level being quite a bit lower.

Somehow it didn’t go that route as for now the Chinese government’s strong arm attempts to manipulate its markets are holding, after an initial step backwards.

If their effort to suppress normal markets holds and if there is some substantive movement on an agreement toward the resolution of the Greek debt crisis, we may have some optimism ahead of us as earnings season gets into full gear next week.

If some of these overhanging clo
uds can thin out the prospects of some good earnings reports as the financial sector gets things going next week, could be the catalyst we’ve needed for a meaningful push higher.

With next week marking the end of the July 2015 monthly cycle and with only a small number of positions set to expire, it is very much the same situation as this past week.

That is, that while there is a little bit of reserve cash that I would love to be able to preserve, there aren’t very many income producing positions so there may be a need to open some new positions specifically to generate some of the income I’d like to otherwise see for the week.

As with this past week I would very much like to look for those positions that have a reasonable chance of getting assigned at the end of the week so that the money could simply be recycled the following week.

But if next week brings anything resembling this past week’s uncertainty, there’s definitely nothing close to a sure thing.

On the other hand, if next week’s market starts off as did this one, with a large decline, there may be some reason to think that there could be some short term bargains to be had and that perhaps even a small rebound could be enough to see the assignments happen.

Events during the course of this weekend in China and the Greek Parliament could easily set the tone for us next week, but hopefully, if there is bad news those earnings reports could offset some of the angst that would be experienced by the markets.

Additionally, it’s time again for Janet Yellen’s 2 days of Congressional testimony and hopefully she’ll bring that reassuring tone with her in the event that the market is showing weakness to begin the week.

Otherwise, I hope it’s a week that gives some opportunity to get some more call sales made on uncovered positions and that also sees some rebound in energy stocks that have been much beaten down over the past 2 weeks.

 

 

 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, BAC, CY

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:  CSCO (8/21), DOW (7/32)

Put contracts expired: none

Put contracts rolled over: none

Long term call contracts sold:  none

Calls Assigned: ANF, BAC

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 (7/6 $0.23)

Ex-dividend Positions Next Week: FCX (7/13 $0.05)

For the coming week the existing positions have lots that still require the sale of contracts:   AGQ, ANF, AZN, CHK, CLF, FCX, GPS, HAL, INTC, JCP, JOY, KMI, LVS,  MCP, MOS, RIG, WFM, WLT (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.



Posted on

Week in Review – June 29 – July 2, 2015

 

Option to Profit

Week in Review

 

June 29 July 2, 2015

 

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

 

Weekly Up to Date Performance

June 29 – July 2,  2015

Another miserable week in the markets, highlighted by a 350 point drop and some half-hearted attempts to bounce back.

You know that it’s a bad week when your new positions, or in this case, a single poistion, could be down 1.0% for the week and still out-perform the market.

That position beat the adjusted and unadjusted S&P 500 by 0.2%. It was down 1.0% for the week, while both the adjusted and unadjusted S&P 500 were 1.2% lower.

Once again, it was a week that ended without giving any compelling reason to want to commit money toward new positions the following week, although that could change following the results of the Greek referendum on Sunday.

Existing positions, over-invested in energy stocks, lagged the general market this week, despite a rally for some energy positions to close the week. 

With no assignments for the week theere remain 44 closed lots in 2015 andd they out-perform the market. They are an average of 5.0% higher, while the comparable time adjusted S&P 500 average performance has been 1.3% higher. That  3.7% difference represents a 283.3% performance differential.  

It has been a while since there has been any good news to give the markets a reason to move higher.

But despite the lack of good news and the fretting about interest rates moving higher and the uncertainty that comes with the Greek debt crisis, the market is barely down 3%.

That puts it at about the mid-way point for one of those mini-corrections that we’ve come to know over the past 3 years, but that has now itself been long overdue.

I’ve been reluctant to spend down cash reserves, as small as they are, for the past few weeks, but did loosen up a bit this week, only to see that a market that goes much lower and still go even lower.

With no positions set to expire next week and only 2 lots going ex-dividend, it looks like another week of diminished income.

There wasn’t much of a silver lining in last week, although volatility did go up about 20%, but the option premiums are still on the paltry side. That’s especially true in further out weeks, indicating that the options market isn’t expecting the volatility t pick up.

As that’s been the case the volume in the options market is much less liquid and it’s harder to get trades done.

That’s been especially true for rollovers, which require trades on both sides of the equation, but it has also made it more difficult to sell options on uncovered positions.

When the closing bell rang on Thursday to end this week, I had 6 unexecuted trades. That has been the story for quite a while.

I usually place trades on a “day” basis so that if unexecuted, they get cancelled. Lately, however, I’ve been placing them on a “good until canceled” basis, getting tired of having to re-do order entry.

I tend not to be greedy over a penny, especially if that makes the difference between getting a trade done or not, but with forward week volatility being so low and the premiums along with it, it’s very difficult with some trades to justify leaving the pennies on the table, because they constitute a much larger portion of the net premium than ever before, as do the trading costs.

With Sunday being t
he scheduled date of the Greek referendum, it is entirely possible that a “Yes” vote, which most would interpret as an affirmation of wanting to stay in the EU and keeping a common currency, might be just the catalyst the market needs, at least for the short term.

That, at least, could get us to July 8th, when another earnings season begins.

I continue to believe that many companies are going to surprise to the upside on revenue and profits as their worries about currency exchange didn’t materialize to the extent that they projected.

Interestingly, though, no one has revised upward prior to earnings.

Any sense that profits are higher, as long as the USD and EUro can maintain their current relationship going into the next quarter, should be viewed as being positive.

Taken together with employment data that, at best, were in line with expectations, or perhaps even a bit disappointing, that may mean “later, rather than sooner” for those keeping an eye of the FOMC’s intentions to hike interest rates.

Needless to say, it will be a week for watching and again not much of a reason to spend new money. Any pop on Monday, if the news from Greece is received in a positive way, will hpefully be an excuse to sell calls. The question, if that opposrtunity arises, is whether to go for a short term contract, or to try and take advantage of what may be a short lived pop and lock in a longer term contract, even if the forward volatility keeps those premiums low.

 

 

 

 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:   CSCO

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:  WY (8/14)

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:  BBY (9/18)

Put contracts expired: none

Put contracts rolled over: none

Long term call contracts sold:  none

Calls Assigned: none

Calls Expired:  CSCO, DOW

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: EMC (6/29 $0.11), WFM (6/20 $0.13), CSCO (7/1 $0.21)

Ex-dividend Positions Next Week: GPS (7/6 $0.23)

For the coming week the existing positions have lots that still require the sale of contracts:   AGQ, ANF, AZN, CHK, CLF,  CSCO, DOW, FCX, GPS, HAL, INTC, JCP, JOY, KMI, LVS,  MCP, MOS, RIG, WFM, WLT (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.



Posted on

Week in Review – June 22 – 26, 2015

 

Option to Profit

Week in Review

 

June 22 – 26, 2015

 

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

 

Weekly Up to Date Performance

June 22 – 26 2015

Still Another week with no new positions opened and if not for finally a little bit of buyer interest in an otherwise very quiet options market today, it was almost the first week of not executing a single trade.

There continues to be nothing to make one want to commit money to new positions.

As with last week and the week before,  whatever surges higher there were, became largely erased as the market showed no ability to consolidate its activity in either direction. 

The S&P 500 ended the week 0.4% lower despite a very nice start to begin the week that saw a triple digit gain in the DJIA.

There was, however, an assignment for the week and just a little more cash added to the still too small reserve. The 44 closed lots in 2015 continue to out-perform the market. They are an average of 5.0% higher, while the comparable time adjusted S&P 500 average performance has been 1.3% higher. That  3.7% difference represents a 283.3% performance differential.  

Up until Friday, it was really looking as if the unthinkable was going to happen.

Not that there weren’t attempts to get some trades executed earlier in the week, but the options market has been very, very quiet, other than for names in the news.

Most of the activity has been related to buy outs and takeovers and has been very isolated by sector. Most everything else in the broader market has continued to be weak and the options market has reflected a belief that lots of those stocks weren’t likely to be heading higher in the near term.

That’s made it very difficult to get anything resembling fair prices, especially when looking at rollovers. In those cases the cost of buying back option contracts in order to close a position before opening a new one is just too expensive relative to the pitiful premiums in forward weeks.

The lack of optimism may also be reflected in the less than effusive way IPOs were received this week, as the market wa beginning to see a peak in IPOs and was beginning to lose some appetite for them, perhaps remembering what tends to happen when the market gets into an IPO frenzy stage.

WIth the exception of some GDP news, there wasn’t much of interest that really moved markets this week, but they did move, although as in previous weeks, the market didn’t really go anywhere after it was all said and done.

Most of the news, even the Greek banking crisis news did little to get the market’s attention this week, as it was a week where most attention was directed toward the Supreme Court and the rulings that were handed down this week.

On a societal level it was a very busy week, but on an economic level it was about as quiet as it can get.

With that out of the picture, next week’s holiday shortened week that comes a week before earnings season starts all over again, is likely to be another abysmally quiet one for my trading.

With just a little more in cash reserves, it’s still well below where I’d like to see my cash position, so I’m reluctant to plow those reserves back into the market at a point when there continues to be so much uncertainty, but the bias appears to be negative.

Even Friday’s gain, which was very mild, was misleading, in that half of the DJIA advance came from a single stock. While that was happening, the broader S&P 500 actually fell and added to its weekly loss.

The problem with not re-investing that cash, however, is that the past 3 weeks have generated less premium income than I generally look forward to and the past 2 weeks haven’t had the same number of ex-dividend positions as in the weeks prior.

The only saving grace for this week is that some of those ex-dividend positions from those previous weeks were hitting accounts this week, but it still doesn’t have the same feel to me as actively generating option premium income from trading.

With only 2 positions set to expire next  week, at least both are currently in range for either rollovers or assignments, but there can still be some news coming from Greece that could shake things up a bit, as we get ready for Independence Day.

With that in mind, as well as the fact that the Employment Situation Report will be released a day early, due to the holiday, there may also be reason to want to avoid having too much at risk for expiration on that date.

Looking ahead, as quiet as this week was, it’s very likely that next week will be very similar.

Any early strength in the week would be welcome if itt gives any opportunity to get some more of those uncovered positions covered and I would continue looking at longer term options, even as the premiums continue to be so low. Hopefully the combination of the extra time, perhaps a dividend or two and using an out of the money strike may generate some competitive returns while we wait to see what near term direction the market will take.

 

 

 

 

 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:   none

Puts Closed in order to take profits:  none

Calls Rolled ov
er, 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:  GPS (9/118)

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

New STO:  KO (9/18), MRO (1/16)

Put contracts expired: none

Put contracts rolled over: none

Long term call contracts sold:  none

Calls Assigned: MOS

Calls Expired:  BBY, GPS, KMI

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 (6/26 $0.42)  

Ex-dividend Positions Next Week: EMC (6/29 $0.11), WFM (6/20 $0.13)

For the coming week the existing positions have lots that still require the sale of contracts:   AGQ, ANF, AZN, BBY, CHK, CLF,  FCX, GPS, HAL, INTC, JCP, JOY, KMI, LVS,  MCP, MOS, RIG, WFM, WLT (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.



Posted on

Week In Review – June 15 – 19, 2015

 

Option to Profit

Week in Review

 

June 15 – 19, 2015

 

NEW POSITIONS/STO NEW STO ROLLOVERS CALLS ASSIGNED/PUTS EXPIRED CALLS EXPIRED/PUTS ASSIGNED CLOSED EX-DIVIDEND
0 / 0 1 4 2 /  0 6  /  0 0 1

 

Weekly Up to Date Performance

June 15 – 19, 2015

Another week with no new positions opened, marking the first time that has occurred in consecutive weeks.< /span>

Looking back on the week in hindsight, I’m not certain that I would have done it any differently, but that may change when sitting here next Friday and wondering if opportunities weren’t missed to buy on the brief dip.

But for now there continues to be nothing to make one want to commit money.

As with last week whatever surges higher there were, became largely erased. This week, however, there was a little bit left over for our troubles.

The S&P 500 ended the week 0.7% higher thanks to two very strong days that were just stronger than the two very weak days were weaker.

There were, however, two assignments for the week. The 43 closed lots in 2015 continue to out-perform the market. They are an average of 5.0% higher, while the comparable time adjusted S&P 500 average performance has been 1.3% higher. That  3.7% difference represents a 275.6% performance differential.  

This was one of those half empty – half full weeks, just as it was a tale of stories for the week that took the market in very different directions.

It was yet another week of no new positions being opened.

That was bad.

It was a week of lots of expired, unrolled over positions.

That was bad, too. Very bad, actually. In some cases, it was just inexcusably too expensive to do the rollovers, with the costs just being too high relative to the additional premiums. While I usually like to grab a trade when I can, sometimes it’s hard to justify when volatility is just so low and the premium reward on the other side of the trade is so paltry.

Existing positions only kept up with the market, so that gets a bad rating. Keeping up is a minimal expectation.

It reminds me of a teacher I had in 7th grade who was giving out award certificates at the end of the year to students.

You could either get one for Scholarship, Citizenship or Attendance.

He said if you get one for Scholarship, you should be proud of how smart you are and the work behind all you accomplished.

If you got one for Citizenship, you should be proud of the person you are.

But if you got one for Attendance, he said that was like toilet paper. The least you can do is be where you’re supposed to be.

On the good side, although not great, there were some opportunities to generate some income. Not as much as I would have liked, but Thursday’s advance helped to position some for rollovers that seemed to be unlikely candidates.

There was a new ex-dividend position and that was good, but not as good as in the previous 2 weeks that had lots of positions going ex-dividend.

Best of all for the week, there were a couple of assignments. Those were much wanted, although the cash reserve is still far lower than I’d like to have right now, as the market still seems far too tentative to get excited about.

Still, in a week where there wasn’t very much good to be had, that was as good as it gets.

With a little more cash in hand to begin the July 2015 option cycle, but with a decent number of positions set to expire next week, I’m still not overly excited about spending down the pathetically small cash pile. I would be much happier with rollovers and assignments.

However, part of the decision as to what to do next week may be determined by the likelihood of seeing those expiring positions contribute to the week’s income stream, which has been weak lately, as if it was a 75 year old man.

After a while, that sort of thing gets tiresome.

Happy Father’s Day

 

 

 

 

 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:   none

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:  GDX (7/17), GM (7/17), KSS (7/17)

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

New STO:  FAST

Put contracts expired: none

Put contracts rolled over: TWTR (7/31)

Long term call contracts sold:  none

Calls Assigned: ANF, BAC

Calls Expired:  BNO, BP, CHK, GDX, KO, MAT

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: LVS (6/18 $0.60) 

Ex-dividend Positions Next Week: DOW (6/26 $0.42) 

For the coming week the existing positions have lots that still require the sale of contracts:   AGQ, ANF, AZN, CHK, CLF,  FCX, HAL, .INTC, JCP, JOY, LVS,  MCP, MOS, MRO, RIG, 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.



Posted on

Week in Review – June 8 – 12, 2015

 

Option to Profit

Week in Review

 

June 8 – 12, 2015

 

NEW POSITIONS/STO NEW STO ROLLOVERS CALLS ASSIGNED/PUTS EXPIRED CALLS EXPIRED/PUTS ASSIGNED CLOSED EX-DIVIDEND
0 / 0 1 1 1 /  0 1  /  0 0 5

 

Weekly Up to Date Performance

June 8 – 12, 2015

This was another abysmal kind of week made even more so by the lack of any proactive trading activity.

There were again no new positions opened for the week as there were absolutely no signs of anything good to make one want to commit money.

Even the brief surge higher was mostly erased as the week came to an end.

The S&P 500 ended the week 0.1% higher. Not very interesting until you dig down for the details.

There was, however, one assignment for the week. The 41 closed lots continue to out-perform the market. They are an average of 5.1% higher, while the comparable time adjusted S&P 500 average performance has been 1.3% higher. That  3.7% difference represents a 279.8% performance differential.  

This was the third week in a row with relatively little news but with some big market moves.

This week certainly had its share of moves in both directions, moving higher and lower ostensibly on the basis of the promise and then the disappointment of achieving some resolution on the Greek crisis.

While stock markets were confused about what to do, so, too, were bond markets, but the trend there is as deniable as it has been in the stock market.

Stocks have been having a difficult time finding any reason to challenge recently set record highs and bond markets are having a hard time resisting the idea that interest rates will be going higher soon.

Just how soon may become more clear in the coming week as the FOMC Statement will be released on Wednesday, just 2 days before the end of the monthly option cycle.

I never really like that kind of timing, especially with lots of positions set to expire so soon after what may really be a consequential market move as a result of the FOMC.

I was hoping to possibly get some rollovers of next week’s expiring positions in order to minimize the impact of a really adverse reaction to anything that might be contained in the release.

But this just wasn’t the week for any trading. There definitely was little demand on the buying side for call options as the sentiment is far from optimistic and the market is definitely falling prey to worries and technical factors.

What’s really needed at this point is to get over the fears of an increase in interest rates and move on with life as usual. We’ve been held hostage a number of times during the course of 2015 by worries that the increase was imminent. Each time when it became clear that there wasn’t going to be an increase, the market rallied. Now it’s likely to rally after the increase becomes reality, as there isn’t too much reason to believe that they will be put off much longer.

This time, however it appears that there may be reasons to believe that things are really slowly heating up as varied economic reports are finally not in conflict with one another. Although that heat may now, in and of itself, not be enough to warrant an increase in rates using historical standards, these have been far from historical times and would be a good opportunity to get a practice rate hike in for when it may really be needed in the future. 

Next week, with still very little cash to make any new purchases and with lots of expiring positions, my focus has to be on trying to get whatever assignments and rollovers possible, with very little concern about making any new purchases.

The one positive for the week was that it was another week with lots of positions going ex-dividend, While I’ve been wanting to accumulate those positions lately, I’m glad that I didn’t bite on any of this past week’s potential dividend plays, as they were uniformly hit hard after their ex-dividend dates as the market weakness was non-discriminatory as the week came to its end.

Still, with all of this negativity, the market is barely down 2%. However, until we do get over the fear of an interest rate increase or until the next earnings season begins and perhaps gives us some upside surprises, there’s not too much reason to go on a spending spree.

Although it won’t be a week of reckless spending, I do hope that there will be plenty of trades to be made and as early in the week as opportunities may present themselves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 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:   none

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:  GDX (7/17)

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

New STO:  WY

Put contracts expired: none

Put contracts rolled over: none

Long term call contracts sold:  none

Calls Assigned: GM

Calls Expired:  AZN

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: GM (6/8 $0.36), KSS (6/8 $0.45), BBY (6/9 $0.23), NEM (6/9 $0.025), KO 6/11 $0.33) 

Ex-dividend Positions Next Week: LVS (6/18 $0.60) 

For the coming week the existing positions have lots that still require the sale of contracts:   AGQ, ANF, AZN, CHK, CLF,  FAST, FCX, HAL, .INTC, JCP, JOY, LVS,  MCP, MOS, MRO, RIG, 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.



Posted on

Week in Review – June 1 – 5, 2015

 

Option to Profit

Week in Review

 

June  – 5, 2015

 

NEW POSITIONS/STO NEW STO ROLLOVERS CALLS ASSIGNED/PUTS EXPIRED CALLS EXPIRED/PUTS ASSIGNED CLOSED
4/ 0 0 3 0 /  0 2  /  0 0

    

Weekly Up to Date Performance

June 1 – 5, 2015

At least there was something to do this week and not just sit around watching the world pass us all by.

There were 4 new positions opened this week and all followed the theme of the pursuit of dividends, as the market was continuing to build on its uncertainty.

New positions surpassed the adjusted S&P 500 by o.3% and the unadjusted S&P 500 index by 0.2%.

However, those new positions ended the week 0.5% lower, while the adjusted S&P 500 was 0.8% lower and the unadjusted S&P 500 went 0.7% lower.

Existing positions managed to beat the market for the week by 0.3%, but still ended up on the downside, having lost 0.4%

With no assignments for the week the lots closed in 2015 had unchanged performance. They continue to out-perform the market. They are an average of 5.2% higher, while the comparable time adjusted S&P 500 average performance has been 1.5% higher. That 3.7% difference represents a 256.6% performance differential.  That’s too large to be sustained, but I’ve been saying that for a while, including much of 2014.

Just as with the previous week there wasn’t much in the way of economic news.

And just as with the previous week it was on the final day of trading that the one bit of important news was unveiled, as both of those weeks just went back and forth with a bias to the downside, as any attempts to move the market toward and beyond recent record highs were beaten back and done so with a certain kind of vengeance.

While the market did finish the final day of trading lower, it could have been much worse and was for a short while, just as it was also better. As it turned out the market simply continued with its confusion over what any bit of news actually meant in terms of what it might bring tomorrow.

The single saving grace for the week was having lots of ex-dividend positions and that continues next week, as well.

Next week will be yet anothe
r with very little economic news, but won’t have any particular blockbuster kind of event at any point in the week, such as the past 2 weeks with GDP and the Employment Situation Report.

There will be a JOLT Survey, but everyone continues to ignore it, despite Janet Yellen continuing to point out its importance and relevance.

Sitting on a minimal cash reserve and with scant positions set to expire next week, there’s not likely to be many trading actions unless the market shows some strength and offers some opportunity to sell calls on existing positions.

That wasn’t the case this week as the single session in which some reasonable gains were being made evaporated and those gains were more confined to the DJIA rather than being broadly distributed.

While I don’t know what next week will portend for the market, as it has been directionless now for a few weeks, I do know that I won’t be doing too much other than hoping for some assignments or some more rollovers.

With an FOMC Statement release coming in the week after next, and with already plenty of positions set to expire as the monthly cycle ends just 2 days later, I would like to see some opportunity to move expirations out beyond that date in the event the FOMC hints at something that the market has been dreading.

Although it’s not too likely that Friday’s strong Employment Situation Report will lead to an interest rate hike as early as this upcoming meeting, sooner rather than later is back on the table and the first clues may soon appear.

I’d rather have some distance between my expiration dates and that first good clue.

 

 

 

 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:   GM, KSS, MOS, WY

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:  MOS (6/26)

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

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: TWTR

Long term call contracts sold:  none

Calls Assigned: none

Calls Expired:  MRO, 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: HAL (6/1 $0.18), JOY (6/2 $0.20), MOS (6/2 $0.28), BAC (6/3 $0.05), COH (6/3 $0.34), HFC (6/3 $0.33), WY (6/3 $0.29)

Ex-dividend Positions Next Week: GM (6/8 $0.36), KSS (6/8 $0.45), BBY (6/9 $0.23), NEM (6/9 $0.025), KO 6/11 $0.33) 

For the coming week the existing positions have lots that still require the sale of contracts:   AGQ, ANF, CHK, CLF,  FAST, FCX, HAL, .INTC, JCP, JOY, LVS,  MCP, MOS, MRO, RIG, 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.



Posted on

Week in Review – May 25 – 29, 2015

 

Option to Profit

Week in Review

 

May 25 – 29,  2015

 

NEW POSITIONS/STO NEW STO ROLLOVERS CALLS ASSIGNED/PUTS EXPIRED CALLS EXPIRED/PUTS ASSIGNED CLOSED
0 / 0 0 1 1  /  0 0  / 0 0

    

Weekly Up to Date Performance

May 25 – 29, 2015

This was a really very forgettable week. Last week it was just forgettable. This week took it to an extreme that I hadn’t experienced before.

There were no new positions opened for the week, representing the third of fourth time that has occurred in over 3 years. But to make things worse, there was only a single expiring position.

In what was a terrible week, overall, the unadjusted and adjusted S&P 500 ended the week having gone 0.9% lower.

Lots closed in 2015 continue to out-perform the market. They are an average of 5.2% higher, while the comparable time adjusted S&P 500 average performance has been 1.5% higher. That 3.7% difference represents a 256.6% performance differential.  That’s too large to be sustained, but I’ve been saying that for a while, including much of 2014.

I knew a few weeks ago that this was likely to be a quiet week, but had no clue just how quiet it would be.

With only one position set to expire this week and with premiums even lower due to the holiday shortened week, there wasn’t going to be much opportunity to work with existing positions, especially as the market was so indecisive.

With earnings no longer driving the market and interest rate concerns back in vogue, there’s not too much that looks as if it wants to push the market any higher, but that has been the prevailing opinion so many times over the past few years.

With it getting more and more rare to see a meaningful correction, we’ve tended to over-inflate the importance of even the smallest and inconsequential pullbacks.

Most, like this week, have been nothing more than minor hiccoughs on the way higher

With cash a little higher as a result of an assignment this week and no new purchases, I’m anxious to add some more positions as the new week opens, but am equally anxious not to get too anxious about doing so.

With a small number of positions set to expire next week, but a larger number to end the month in 3 weeks, any new positions next week are most likely going to look at either next week or the following week’s expirations.

As this week produced virtually no income, at least next week has a large number of positions going ex-dividend, and hopefully some opportunity to either add to the cash reserve or generate some needed income.

Next week will be an Employment Situation report on Friday and maybe there may be some fear re-introduced if it is going to offer a mumber that is deemed to be too good.

For now, I would welcome getting the pain of any interest rate increase out of the way so that we could back back to actually focusing on what’s going well in the economy and how good news should be treated as good news.

Wouldn’t that be nice for a change?

.

.

 

 

 

 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:   none

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:  GDX (6/12)

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: LXK

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: RIG (5/27 $0.15), ANF (5/29 $0.20)


Ex-dividend Positions Next Week: HAL (6/1 $0.19), JOY (6/2 $0.20), MOS (6/3 $0.28), BAC (6/3 $0.05), COH (6/3 $0.34), HFC (6/3 $0.33)

 

 

For the coming week the existing positions have lots that still require the sale of contracts:   AGQ, ANF, CHK, CLF,  FAST, FCX, HAL, .INTC, JCP, JOY, LVS,  MCP, MOS, RIG, WFM, WLT (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.