Written by Pat McCubbin
Exact Stock Picks
Unemployment claims are up, home sales are plunging without government incentives and manufacturing growth is slowing. Add that to the upcoming jobs report on Friday as well as the likely appearance of the “death cross” (the crossing over of the 50 day moving average under the 200 day), and you have yourself a recipe for some indigestion.
All of this malaise in the markets could be easily remedied by a stellar jobs report tomorrow. Stranger things have certainly happened and this would be some needed relief, at least in the short run. If the report comes out poorly we have some real support issues to be concerned with. We will blow right though 1022 on the SPX, and look for our next support at 1010. If we fail to hold that we believe 965 will be the next number to focus on.
The good news is most of the stocks in our portfolio went our way today. The bad news is we were unable to take advantage of the situation. We did have a nice sell-off on Dril-Quip, Inc. (DRQ) today, but it fell slightly short of our target price. If we get a down market in the early going tomorrow we will most likely take some profits on this position.
Jos. A. Banks (JOSB) had a real nice day today up nearly 4%. With over two weeks left on this stock we feel we still have a chance to get this back up to our entry level.
Nike Inc. (NKE). and Cephalon Inc. (CEPH) are both positions we hold long calls on. Both are currently trading in a different time zone and recouping anything on these options is a long shot. The good news is we will still hold a profit with both trades even if this occurs.
With all of this doom and gloom you may be wondering why we haven’t put on more short positions. Our thinking goes this way. Out of the eight positions we hold, we rule out three that are far out of the money. (NKE, CEPH, JOSB) If we get lucky and get some of our money back on these that would be great, but we’re not counting on it. That leaves us four long and one short. The short position on Dril-Quip, Inc is actually a double-short because we are long a put as well as short stock. This evens out the portfolio fairly well at this time. We still feel this market is oversold in the short run and feel we could run into a buzz saw by adding more shorts. If this market does tank in the morning we will make some nice profits onDril-Quip, Inc. (DRQ) and still have more than two weeks left on the rest. It’s all about patience and not making plays just to make plays.
We look forward to an interesting day of trading tomorrow. Have a nice evening.
June 2010 Recap
6/01/10: Sold short 200 shares of Cognizent Technology Solutions @ $50.29
6/29/10: Bought to cover 200 shares of Cognizent Technology Solutions @ $50.79
Profit – ($100)
6/21/10: Sold short 100 shares of Cephalon Inc. (CEPH).@ $60.50
6/24/10: Bought to cover 100 shares of Cephalon Inc. (CEPH). @ $58.98
Profit – $152
6/22/10: Sold short 100 shares of Nike Inc. (NKE).@ $73.61
6/24/10: Bought to cover 100 shares of Nike Inc. (NKE). @ $70.00
Profit – $361
6/1/10: Sold short 100 sharesUnion Pacific @ $71.96
6/4/10: Bought to cover 100 shares Union Pacific @ $69.68
Protective Call Option: ($41)
Profit – $197
6/11/10: Sold short 100 shares MercadoLibre Inc. @ $57.50
6/11/10: Bought 1 June 57.50 call option
Position Expired
Profit: ($160)
6/2/10: Sold short 200 shares Thoratec Corp @ $44.00
6/4/10: Bought to cover 200 shares Thoratec Corp @ $42.70
Protective Call Option: + $300
Profit – $560
5/27/10: Sold short 200 shares Jinpan Intl Ltd @ $15.83
6/07/10: Bought to cover 200 shares Jinpan Intl Ltd @ $15.14
Profit – $138
5/25/10: Bought 100 shares ConocoPhillips @ $49.00
6/10/10: Sold 100 shares ConocoPhillips @ $52.57
Profit – $357
6/14/10: Sold short 100 shares Concur Technologies @ $43.60
6/14/10: Bought 1 June 45 call @ .25
Position Expired
Profit: ($165)
5/24/10: Bought 100 shares of Baidu @ $72.18
6/10/10: Sold 100 shares of Baidu @ $72.32
Profit – $14
5/20/10: Bought 200 shares Quest Software @ $18.75
6/10/10: Sold 200 shares of Quest Software @ $18.75
Profit – 0
6/7/10: Bought 100 shares Overstock.com @ $19.65
6/11/10: Sold 100 shares Overstock.com @ $21.66
Protective Call Option: ($140)
Profit – $61
6/4/10: Bought 100 shares of Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl. @ $ 46.54
6/14/10: Sold 100 shares of Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl. @ $47.50
Protective Put Option: ($85)
Profit – $11
Total June Profit to Date: $1426
TEN Exclusive: Portfolio Update – 7/1/10 is an article from: 
