TheAcsMan

Jul182016

July 18, 2016 (Close)

Daily Market Update – July 18, 2016 (Close)

There’s very little economic news this week as were getting ready to see whether all of last week’s multiple new highs would have legs.

The following week we do have an FOMC Statement release, but at this point, no one is yet talking about the possibility of an increase in the same way as was the case in the 2 weeks preceding the June 2016 meeting.

That may change, but it’s not too clear where the change would be coming from at this point.

In the meantime there are no shortage of earnings reports this week and it will be interesting to see if some of the positive tone set by the financials will continue this week or whether anyone will dare to get pessimistic because of Brexit.

So far, this week’s important earnings haven’t put a damper on things and the last time I looked, Netflix was about as important as Facebook in the big picture.

Today, despite trading in a very narrow range all day long, did manage to add to the gains of last week and inched us a bit more high.

With a number of assignments last week I do have more freed up cash to use than has been the case for quite some time, but sitting at all time highs it isn’t easy to just plow it right back into the market.

With one expiring position and one ex-dividend position, I would like to generate some more income on the week, so my inclination is to spend some of that money.

And I did that today in the same way as has been the case in about 7 of the past weeks over the past 3 months, or so.

Since I wouldn’t mind just repeating the trade that has worked for the past months, I was anxious to take advantage of some decline in the price of oil this morning, but otherwise, I didn’t expect to go on anything resembling a spending spree.

When at new highs it’s really anyone’s guess as to whether there will be a breakout even higher or saner minds take over and take profits.

Human nature often misses the opportunity to take profits because of that basic optimism that leads to greed.

I’m as greedy as the next person, but I do like to book profits, whether they’re in the form of share appreciation or lots of dividends and option premiums.

With money in hand and with futures pointing to a quiet morning, l took my cue from whatever it was that was to unfold and had no other great expectations for the morning or maybe not even for the week.

I certainly don’t mind accumulating some cash, but do mind the possibility of missing any developing or further developing opportunities.

Hopefully today’s trade will find a way of adding to that revenue for at least this week and maybe beyond.

Jul182016

Daily Market Update – July 18, 2016

TheAcsManDaily Market Update

Daily Market Update – July 18, 2016 (7:30 AM)

There’s very little economic news this week as we get ready to see whether all of last week’s multiple new highs have legs.

With a number of assignments last week I have more freed up cash to use than has been the case for quite some time, but sitting at all time highs it isn’t easy to just plow it right back into the market.

With one expiring position and one ex-dividend position, I would like to generate some more income on the week, so my inclination is to spend some of that money.

I wouldn’t mind just repeating the trade that has worked for the past month or two if there is some decline in the price of oil this morning, but otherwise, I don’t expect to go on anything resembling a spending spree.

When at new highs it’s really anyone’s guess as to whether there will be a breakout even higher or saner minds take over and take profits.

Human nature often misses the opportunity to take profits because of that basic optimism that leads to greed.

I’m as greedy as the next person, but I do like to book profits, whether they’re in the form of share appreciation or lots of dividends and option premiums.

With money in hand and with futures pointing to a quiet morning, I’ll take my cue from whatever it is that unfolds and have no other great expectations for the morning or maybe not even for the week.

I certainly don’t mind accumulating some cash, but do mind the possibility of missing any developing or further developing opportunities.

Jul182016

Dashboard – July 18 – 22, 2016

TheAcsManDashboard

MONDAY: It will be a relatively quiet week on the economic news front, but there will be lots of earnings to potentially move market’s ahead of next week’s FOMC Statement release

TUESDAY: Another record closing yesterday, albeit a small increase, but maybe another day of rest today. Slowing down the rate of rise is a good thing, but it would still be good to establish some support levels on the way higher

WEDNESDAY: After yesterday’s mixed market close, today the march higher may resume as more earnings come in and technology gets off to a good start

THURSDAY: More records yesterday, but maybe a chance to take a break today. As much as it’s nice to move higher, it would be very nice to develop some levels of support

FRIDAY:. A flat open looks to be in store as the week comes to its end ahead of next week’s FOMC Staetment release and GDP. No one is talking about a July meeting rate hike, though.

“SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK” APPEARS ON FRIDAYS

Jul162016

Weekend Update – July 17, 2016

TheAcsManWeekend Update

Stock market investing is all about risk and reward and sometimes you do have to stick your neck out.

There is no reward without risk.

It’s sort of like those who say that you will never understand happiness without having experienced sadness.

My preference, however, it to simply experience varying levels of happiness and to ignore anything that might detract anything from the lowest level of happiness.

I ignore lots of things, much to the consternation of those around me.

But I ignore that consternation.

The same thing isn’t really possible with investing as not only is happiness so often of a very temporary nature and fleeting, the only way to avoid risk right now is to look at bonds or your mattress and those carry lots of opportunity risk.

Also, there’s a big difference between the qualitative feel of personal happiness and the quantitative nature of investing.

In other words, instead of being a giraffe, you would have to be an ostrich, although the ostrich is actually doing something of value when their head is below ground.

So you do have to stick your neck out if your happiness is defined in the form of stock gains.

I wasn’t very happy in 2015, but am very happy with 2016, to date.

Much of that has to do with the fact that the very stocks that disappointed me in 2015 are the ones delighting in 2016, even as they still have lots to do to erase the stink of 2015.

Continue reading on Seeking Alpha

Jul152016

Week in Review – July 11 – 15, 2016

TheAcsManWeek in Review

Option to Profit

Week in Review

July 11 – 15, 2016

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

Weekly Up to Date Performance

July 11 – 15, 2016

Records, records and more records.

In the post-Brexit world this was just another good week.

Once again, there was only one position opened this week and it was also once again a familiar one.

That position ended the week 1.7% higher and was 0.2% higher than both the adjusted and unadjusted S&P 500.

The S&P 500, itself, rose another impressive 1.5%. Existing positions bested that by an additional 0.9%, in what was really a good week.

With 3 new closed positions on the week closed positions in 2016 are now 6.8% higher, while the comparable performance for the S&P 500 during the same holding periods has been 1.9% higher. That represents a 267% difference in return on closed positions. Still, even with 3 newly closed positions, I’d be much more impressed if there were far more of those closed positions to point toward.

This was another good week in what is shaping up to be a good year, despite very little trading.

It’s always nice to see asset values rise, but I still prefer to have some activity accompany the gains.

Once again, this week had only 1 new position opened and only two rollovers, but at least it also gave an opportunity to sell some calls on an uncovered position, as well.

With no ex-dividend positions this week, I would have liked to have had more income generating opportunities, but all in all, I was pleased.

With 2 assignments this week and one expired short put, it will be one of those rare weeks ahead where I’ll have substantially more free cash than in a long time.

The real challenge is deciding what to do with free cash after the market has had such a sharp climb higher in such a short period of time.

Even as we had two breathers during the past week, it would have been nice to have seen some profit taking.

I’d be much more inclined to spend some money on Monday if there was some of that profit taking at hand.

With earnings season doing reasonably well as it began, the next 2 weeks will be busy ones and then we get an FOMC meeting to end the month.

Two things that I did this week reminded me of 2012 and 2011.

That was rolling over positions that were headed for assignment.

I did that a lot in those years as the forward volatility was high enough to warrant adding onto the premiums rather than trying to re-invent the wheel and finding new stocks to take their place.

With 3 closed positions this week, I felt that there was enough new cash coming in to allow the rollovers.

Hopefully, that will be something that I won’t regret.

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: MRO (puts)

Puts Closed in order to take profits: none

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

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

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

New STO: none

Put contracts expired: MRO

Put contracts rolled over: none

Long term call contracts sold: none

Calls Assigned: CSCO, CY

Calls Expired: M, 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: none

Ex-dividend Positions Next Week: FAST (7/22 $0.30)

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.