Here's what's new and no to new with my portfolio.
My puts under GDX were exercised when they fell below 58 . . . and boy oh boy did they keep falling. I'm now the proud owner of a few more shares of GDX. This is okay by me. I expect gold to continue to do well as the Fed's loose monetary policy drives investors to trade less-useful dollars for more-useful hard assets. Gold stocks have slumped lately as renewed worries about European debt make the U.S. dollar look temporarily more attractive.
Anyway, I continue to write covered calls on my GDX holdings. I also continue to write covered calls on TDW and FXI. I'm not writing any puts underneath those this month as I'd prefer to have liquidity available for other purchases.
My long puts against LMT and IYR expired worthless. My hedges against declines in defense spending and the housing market were probably too early. The next year or two may be different. It's always hard to call a top in the middle of bubbles, but that doesn't make those two markets any less dangerous for buyers right now.
I've been long ATHR with covered calls and short puts this month as a play on its pending acquisition by QCOM. I still think that deal will be completed as proposed with little to no chance of delay, but I could of course be wrong. I expect a small gain from ATHR and decent gains from its options when they expire upon completion of this deal.
I still want to buy KEX and FLIR but not at their currently inflated prices.
Finally, I bought myself another California state muni bond maturing in June 2011. The premium I paid will net out my capital gains; the coupon I'll get is tax-free cash flow.
Full disclosure: No positions in QCOM, KEX,or FLIR. All other positions as described.
My puts under GDX were exercised when they fell below 58 . . . and boy oh boy did they keep falling. I'm now the proud owner of a few more shares of GDX. This is okay by me. I expect gold to continue to do well as the Fed's loose monetary policy drives investors to trade less-useful dollars for more-useful hard assets. Gold stocks have slumped lately as renewed worries about European debt make the U.S. dollar look temporarily more attractive.
Anyway, I continue to write covered calls on my GDX holdings. I also continue to write covered calls on TDW and FXI. I'm not writing any puts underneath those this month as I'd prefer to have liquidity available for other purchases.
My long puts against LMT and IYR expired worthless. My hedges against declines in defense spending and the housing market were probably too early. The next year or two may be different. It's always hard to call a top in the middle of bubbles, but that doesn't make those two markets any less dangerous for buyers right now.
I've been long ATHR with covered calls and short puts this month as a play on its pending acquisition by QCOM. I still think that deal will be completed as proposed with little to no chance of delay, but I could of course be wrong. I expect a small gain from ATHR and decent gains from its options when they expire upon completion of this deal.
I still want to buy KEX and FLIR but not at their currently inflated prices.
Finally, I bought myself another California state muni bond maturing in June 2011. The premium I paid will net out my capital gains; the coupon I'll get is tax-free cash flow.
Full disclosure: No positions in QCOM, KEX,or FLIR. All other positions as described.
