Option to Profit
Week in Review
August 22 – 26, 2016
| NEW POSITIONS/STO |
NEW STO |
ROLLOVERS |
CALLS ASSIGNED/PUTS EXPIRED |
CALLS EXPIRED/PUTS ASSIGNED |
CLOSED |
EX-DIVIDEND |
| 1 / 1 |
2 |
2 |
0 / 0 |
0 / 0 |
0 |
0 |
Weekly Up to Date Performance
August 22 – 26, 2016
This wasn’t exactly another in a series of flat weeks, but it was somewhat of a disappointment.
As far as the market goes, that is.
I was personally pretty happy, though.
For starters, there was actually a new purchase for the week, even as it came in its final hours.
That new purchase was 2.0% higher on the week and beat the unadjusted S&P 500 by 0.6% and the unadjusted S&P 500 by 2.2%
The unadjusted S&P 500 was 0.6% lower on the week and the adjusted S&P 500 was 0.1% lower.
Still it was a good week.
But that’s only because existing positions didn’t lose as much as the S&P 500.
They still lost value, though.
But, as is usually the case, in the longer term, your portfolio serves you better by its ability to outperform during declines.
What was good was that there were 2 rollovers and 2 positions had new calls written on them, while some others are now within striking distance of becoming contributing members once again to my coffers.
There were no ex-dividend positions, but that changes next week.
Since there were no new closed positions for the week, the tally remains the same. Those positions closed in 2016 are still 6.8% higher, while the comparable performance for the S&P 500 during the same holding periods has been 1.8% higher. That represents a 279% difference in return on closed positions. Once again, I’d be much more impressed if there were far more of those closed positions to point toward. With such few closed positions for the year, the differential could just as easily have been in the other direction and of a similar magnitude, yet also signifying little.
The market was really all over the place on Friday as the festivities at Jackson Hole came to their end.
What looked like it was going to be the gain to deliver the week from a loss turned out to be a loss that just compounded the mild losses from earlier in the week.
I was still pretty happy about things.
I had the surprising opportunity to trade far more than I thought would be the case.
Some rollovers, some new short positions and even dipping into cash a little bit to open a new position, as well.
It was no accident that the new position is paying a nice dividend in a week or so, though.
I do want those dividends these days as volatility is really drying up the premiums.
As I look at my expiration dates on outstanding short positions, I can’t even begin to recognize myself, as there are so many being written a month, two months or even longer out, instead of the weekly calls that i had really grown to cherish.
With still some cash to invest, I don’t mind the prospect of doing so next week.
With no expiring positions, I would like to have some opportunity to generate some more income, although there is some comfort knowing that there are a number of ex-dividend positions next week and for the remainder of September.
Following Friday’s words from Janet Yellen, Stanley Fischer and the GDP release, it’s hard to really know where the economy is and what the FOMC will be looking at, as far as its time table for an interest rate increase.
From the market’s reaction today, it’s clear that there are multiple sides to the story, multiple interpretations and multiple reactions.
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: GME
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: MRO (9/26)
Calls Rolled over, taking profits, into the monthly cycle: GDX (10/21)
Calls Rolled Over, taking profits, into a future monthly cycle: none
Calls Rolled Up, taking net profits into same cycle: none
New STO: INTC (11/2016), MS (11/2016)
Put contracts expired: MRO
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: none
Ex-dividend Positions Next Week: ANF (8/31 $0.20), BAC (8/31 $0.05), HAL (9/2 $0.18), KSS (9/2 $0.52)
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.
I’m not entirely certain I understood what happened on Friday.
