Charles Del Valle on Mar 23 2011 | Filed under: Alerts
admin on Mar 16 2011 | Filed under: Alerts
Sometimes what moves the markets are the things you don’t anticipate…
The “black swans”…
And the Japanese earthquake definitely classifies as a black swan.
Not only did a 9.0 earthquake decimate them, but they also felt the destruction of a devastating tsunami… and now a potential nuclear meltdown.
To be sure, these kinds of big, game-changing events don’t happen very often. But when they do, we must stay nimble and open to any changes.
Thankfully, we’d already taken all the precautions we needed… Continue Reading »
admin on Mar 16 2011 | Filed under: Alerts
As each day passes, the market gets more and more risky.
If we want to stay ahead this year, we have some gains to protect. And the best way to do that is by hedging the Strategic portfolio against any potential market drops.
Considering all of the risks facing the financial markets right now (like Libya and the European debt crisis), the S&P 500 could easily fall another 5-7% from today’s levels. Making matters worse, technically, the S&P finally broke under its 50-day moving average.
The last time it did that, the S&P fell nearly 12% over the next two months.
Fortunately, I’ve got a way you could turn that drop into a triple digit gain. In fact, all it would take is a 5% drop in the S&P 500 to bring you a 100% gain.
What to do: Call your broker now and buy an SPY April 128 Put Option (SPY1116P128) for no more than 2.70 a contract. Keep a 50% stop-loss on the position.
Place no more than 5% of your funds into this.
Until next week,
Charles Del Valle
Co-editor, Strategic Investment
admin on Mar 16 2011 | Filed under: Alerts
Will the stock market keep falling?
Before we answer that, let’s get through the housecleaning…
Back on January 20th, we recommended you buy a March Call Option on the VIX (VIX110316C00017000) to hedge yourself on any potential drops in the stock market (and capitalize to boot).
Unfortunately, that drop took longer to play out than we anticipated. Even with the recent volatility, this option hasn’t gained any value. Expiration is just around the corner, so sell the VIX 17 March Call Option (VIX110316C00017000) to protect from any further losses.
That aside, the Strategic Investment portfolio is performing well in 2010. The open portfolio is up 38.32% right now. And our closed positions for 2010 have already returned 37.82%. That’s obliterating the less than 5% return on the S&P 500 this year!
Which leads us back to the question… Continue Reading »
admin on Mar 16 2011 | Filed under: Monthly Issues
The February 2011 issues is now available here: http://strategicinvestment.com/files/2011/03/si_february11.pdf
admin on Mar 16 2011 | Filed under: Monthly Issues
The January 2011 issue is now available here: http://strategicinvestment.com/files/2011/03/si_january11.pdf
admin on Mar 16 2011 | Filed under: Monthly Issues
The December 2010 Issue is now available here: http://strategicinvestment.com/files/2011/03/si_december10.pdf
admin on Mar 16 2011 | Filed under: Monthly Issues
The October 2010 Issue is now available here: http://strategicinvestment.com/files/2011/03/si_october10.pdf
james davidson on Jun 29 2010 | Filed under: Economics, Monthly Issues
Notwithstanding hopeful hype about “recovery” mainly driven by unsustainable monetary and fiscal stimulus, the U.S. economy is headed for a wrenching adjustment that will push living standards down. I expect to see half a century’s worth of economic progress wiped away.
To a degree that few appreciate, the rapid development of the BRIC economies, especially India and China, implies a write-off of trillions in middle class wealth that prices in assumptions of economic dormancy in the rest of the world.
Charles Del Valle on Jun 08 2010 | Filed under: Economics
Dear Strategic Investor,
There is good and bad in this market.
The good is that prices are lower so there are a lot of deals. The bad is that prices are lower, so you’re bound to catch a few losses.
But I don’t mind losses, as long as they don’t take over the portfolio.
That’s a big reason why we try and keep a 20% – 25% stop-loss on most of our positions – because we don’t want losses to overrun our portfolio.