Thursday, September 4, 2008

Back in Black

Well almost in the black. The market has done what I thought it would by staying in a tight range even with oil coming down. The economists at Merrill Lynch are still seeing slower growth throughout the world economy. My view is that these numbers are already priced in to most stocks so we are at bargain levels. Financial stocks have stabilized and are poised for an upmove here. Made some good short term trades on the airline and retail stocks as fuel prices have stabilized for the time being. Move to neutral on those sectors now. Pick up some good names in the commodity sector here as the 4th quarter approaches and yesterday's winners will be marked up.

For those of you not too familiar with my trading style, let me revisit some of my themes:
1. Buy stocks when they are in a cheap market.
2. Buy good names in good sectors on pullbacks.
3. Buy volatility in beaten down stocks that have based for a few weeks. Time is needed to wring out the sellers.
4. At all times, sell out of the money calls. Take in some premiums and trade around the positions. You can always buy them back if you want to. Remember, a cheap sale is better than an expensive buy.
5. And most importantly, the market will always move to the point of most pain before it reverts to the norm.

My Mets still 2 1/2 games ahead of the Phillies.

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