The Dow Jones and S&P 500 lost close to 4.5% and 5.5% respectfully in July. My losses were more than that, but it appears some of it is tied up in time value as volatility spiked which leaves me good room to recover, even if the markets stay flat. The shift pushed me below the…
Sold Options on QCOM and BA
After taking option assignments on a few positions at August’s option expiration I’ve stayed long with no covered calls on any of my newly acquired stocks. That changed today. QCOM is getting close to my purchase price and while I still think it has room to climb from here, the premiums are rich enough that…
Dow Jones Chart – August 26, 2011
I charted daily prices for the past three months on the Dow Jones Industrial Average ($DJIA, $INDU, $DJI) after it closed on Friday, August 26, 2011 at 11,284.54. I kept the chart’s range a little tighter than usual this weekend to emphasize the past few weeks’ daily movement more than anything else. Over the past…
Cleaning House – DSX and UUP
I’ve been waiting for Mr. Bernanke’s speech tomorrow morning before covering a lot of the stocks and ETFs I was assigned at last week’s option expiration. We could see a “sell on the news” (or lack of news) reaction, but I still want to see what happens before putting a ceiling on my potential profits….
S&P 500 Chart – August 19, 2011
This S&P 500 ($SPX) chart shows the past three years of weekly prices after the index finished the week at 1,123.53 on Friday, August 19, 2011. You know you are charting am ugly market when you have to stretch the chart to three years to look for clues to the next area of support. SPX is trading…
Options Expiration – August 2011
Not that it’s a surprise to anyone, but this is not a good options expiration Friday for my account. All of my naked puts finished in the money and all of my covered calls finished out of the money. These are the 11 options I was short going into the day. CSX – 1 August…
Sold T Naked Puts
I decided to go bargain shopping yesterday and didn’t think I could handle the risks of most growth stocks quite yet. Instead I looked for an old dividend payer and came back to AT&T (T). T is down 10% from its early May high and this decline has pushed its dividend yield up to 6%. Admittedly, T’s…
Dow Jones Chart – Technical Analysis
I charted daily prices for the past six months on the Dow Jones Industrial Average ($DJIA, $INDU, $DJI) after it closed on Friday, August 12, 2011 at 11,269.02. Two weeks ago when I last posted a DJIA chart I questioned if we were at support. I did this in the face of the majority of…
Sold VXX December Naked Call
In the comments section of my last post I was asked about any VXX options I might be considering. I mentioned I thought a naked call on VXX could be profitable. Today I entered a limit order good through Monday and didn’t think it would hit until Monday, but it did. While VXX was trading…