I was recently stopped out of a a short position and wanted to increase the short exposure of my portfolio.  You can view my entire portfolio at least up to my last update by clicking here – a new update will come soon.
I believe this summer will bring clear indication of continued struggles in housing with the expired tax credit.  We saw this type of news a few days ago.  As such, I think the homebuilders stocks will take a hit as more people embrace the idea that housing hasn’t …

Big move in stocks!  Not only did the broad indices hold their gains, but they closed with pretty good strength.  A few big movers:

British Petroleum (BP) – You have to have a strong stomach to trade this guy.  Down 10% one day.  Up 10% the next.  I’m staying away from this, although as I mentioned, I’m watching Transocean (RIG) very closely.  If it breaks $40 per share, I may add to my position.
Brunswick Corporation (BC) – The shares of the boat manufacturer jumped over 8% today.  I’ve had terrible timing …

As volatility continues especially with the 376 point drop in the Dow yesterday, I wanted to provide a quick update to the article yesterday about selling puts versus putting in low limit orders on your favorite stocks.
In my example, I discussed selling the Sept puts on Philip Morris Int’l for a $.66 premium.  Well, due to the drop yesterday, you can now do the same for a $.93 premium.  This means you’d sell a contract which obligates you to buy 100 shares if the strike price hits (in this case …

As the market continues to drop, now officially a 10% correction, and going lower, it’s fun to start looking at potential bargains in the stock market.
One has jumped out to me in particular.  I like Philip Morris Int’l (PM) a lot but you can substitute your favorite long term company in place of PM and do the following.
Because of the drop in prices, you can now sell a September put option on PM with a strike price of $35 for $.66 per share.  Per 100 shares (1 contract), you would …

The stock market was slammed today after S&P downgraded the sovereign debt of Greece and Portugal.  For those of us waiting for a correction for some time now, this is an interesting day.  Now the question becomes whether this is the start of a larger correction or just a speed bump.  For months now, these types of days have been nothing more than speed bumps.
A Few Stocks I’m Watching
Philip Morris Int’l (PM)
Since being forced to sell my shares at $50/share due to my covered calls play earlier this year, I’m …

Technical analysis is a complex subject and the value of it is definitely debatable.  Nevertheless, it is important to have some understanding of it in my opinion in order to become a successful investor or trader.  For all of you looking to improve your investing and trading skill set, I encourage you to read the following article.  This article does a great job on providing some high level technical analysis of the broad market that non-technical analysis people will be able to understand (i.e. most of you).  I encourage you …

Philip Morris Int’l (PM) Covered Calls
First up, I had my covered calls on my Philip Morris Int’l (PM) position get called and I was forced to unload my position.  This is the risk of writing covered calls on some of the stocks you own: you miss out on potential upside.  I was forced to sell the position at $50 a share when the stock was trading at around $52 a share.
Upon realizing that the options would be exercised, I immediately sold a put for an equal number of shares of …

A down 3% day in the S&P 500 Index serves as a painful reminder that we still have huge, huge challenges as an economy.  We’ve had several large moves lower in the past couple weeks which have had the impact of reminding people that this so-called recovery might be anything but.
If you haven’t heard, the government underreported job losses by close to a million units over the past year.  Basically, something like an additional 800,000 jobs were lost that we not reported.  For anyone who has been skeptical over government …