Summary:
Finished the quarter with an up 0.2% day. Most sectors were mixed, but TNH rose 6.5% on news of record corn crops. Probably the result of wasteful ethanol and corn subsidies. Our tax dollars at work.
I made several trades today. I bought ONAV, a shipper with a 13% yield and expansion plans. To make room for this in my IRA, I sold some JEQ. I also sold some LMGGF as it looks like the takeover will go through (it is trading below the takeover price).
Finally, I added a couple of shorts. I believe the current outlook is cloudy at best and want to increase my short exposure. My picks were Lennar (LEN), a homebuilder and Gannett (GCI), a newspaper company. Even newspapers with strong brands like the New York Times are having trouble in the digital era. I believe that Gannett, which is very print and classified oriented, will have more trouble. While their revenue has grown over the last couple of years, profits have fallen. This will be a long-term story, but I think they may be headed into the dustbin of history.
Positions:
Long: JEQ JSC LMC AUY SLW NTO NXG HBMFF ALSWF JAGNF FFHL EGLE AOB XSI KF UAHC NTLRF TNH LMGGF NM NLY MDN.TO DSX ONAV
Short: BKC LEN GCI
Options: AUY May 15 call
Cash: 11.1%
Short Pct: 4.6%
Trades: bought ONAV@15.63, reduced LMGGF@15.63, shorted LEN@42.31, GCI@56.27
Read:
Stocks Researched:
ONAV, GCI, HBI
Hours spent on market: 4.0
Positions most worried about:
Positions most sanguine about: Japan. good economic data continues
Biggest market worries: downturn
Thinking about: ?
Outlook ( up-flat-down surety rating: 1-5 reasoning):
US: flat, 2.0; good GDP, bad subprime
Tech: ??
Japan: up, 1.0; strong GDP, but weak international markets
China: up, 1.0; price action
Silver: ??
Gold: ??
Copper: ??
Zinc: ??
Real life: Almost recovered from sickness.
Previous night sleep and exercise: 6 hrs.
Mood: Calm.
