RF's Financial News

RF's Financial News

Sunday, July 27, 2014

This Week in Barrons - 7-27-2014

This Week in Barrons – 7-27-2014


       












Under Our Very Noses

"It's unbelievable how much you don't know about the game you've been playing all your life." — Mickey Mantle

For the past several weeks we've been talking about the global picture – from the mess in the Ukraine to missing airliners, and from the holocaust in Gaza to the BRICS bank – all focused around the U.S.’s impending loss of it’s world reserve currency status.  Let’s change our focus back to U.S. based news and events over the past 5 years, and see if there is a discernable pattern:
-       The NSA        Originally – they NEVER recorded individual phone conversations, and now they are logging EVERY single communication made in the world.
-       The IRS          Originally they NEVER targeted anyone, and now we find that they were instructed to target anyone that disagreed with King Obama.  Add to this ‘the miracle of improbability’ – when Lois Lerner’s hard drive (along with 6 others in the IRS) crashed (all at the same time) with ZERO data recoverability.  (FYI - the odds of this happening ‘by chance’ have been placed at 1 in 500 Trillion.)
-       “If you like your plan, you can keep your plan."          Sorry Ms. Pelosi.  YOU passed the bill, (and because we’re still bickering about it in the courts) WE still don’t know what’s in it.
-       John Corzine           Remember John and MF Global absconding with $1.3 Billion dollars of investor’s capital.  When questioned about the money he said: “I simply don't know where the money is".  And nobody went to jail.
-       GAAP             Remember GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Procedures) – Obama now allows banks to report their assets per a computer model’s estimated worth, rather than what the market would really pay for them.
-       GDP calculations    In an effort to make things ‘look better’, an entire host of new things have been added to the value of the new economy – such as TV re-runs.  And the U.S. GDP still lost 2.9% in the first quarter of 2014.
-       QE 1, 2, The Twist, and now QE3            We lived through the failure of QE1, QE2, and The Twist.  All of these escorted in a Zero Interest Rate Policy that has distorted our economy and our markets for years.
-       Labor Participation Rate  While Obama tells us that he has engineered the greatest and fastest recovery in history – we have LESS people actively in the job market than we did in 1973.
-       Food Stamps           An all-time high, 50 Million people are on food stamps or related programs.
-       EPA Waging War    Never before has a standing President been actively behind rules created by a ‘Non-Elected Body’ that will put an entire industry (Coal) out of business.
-       Velocity of Money   VOM reflects the health of an economy because it demonstrates how fast money is changing hands.  The higher the velocity – the better the economy.  Our VOM is at 70 year lows, not seen since World War II.
-       Gold and Silver manipulation       At least everyone admitted it, and it made the news.
-       LIBOR manipulation           In what might be the biggest fraud ever uncovered, we found that LIBOR rates were being manipulated.

The list goes on, but that’s one heck-of-a-lot of financial insanity for the past 5 years.  As an aside: I’m not sure that anyone noticed but the ‘spring planting season’ in the Ukraine has been fairly dramatically disrupted.  The Ukraine is called ‘the bread basket’ for a reason – and it is because they normally would supply not only Ukraine, but also a lot of Europe with wheat.  This fall, there is not only a serious possibility of food shortages, but also shortages in Russian natural gas pipeline in-flows as well.

All of this brings us to the FED.  I remember saying a full year ago: “If the FED does not change it’s stance on tapering (or begin a new program of injecting liquidity) before the summer of 2014, then something major has changed.”  Well, only 3 months remain from the end of QE3, and they have announced no new plans.  You can point to the repos and the foreign institutions that continue to buy our paper, but that’s not a long term fix and honestly it removes the façade of the FED being ‘transparent’.  If these elements were to continue, Congress would scream that the FED didn't stop the stimulus – they just hid it – and that would be an ugly scene.  The taper combined with no new programs could be a final, desperate attempt to show the world that: The U.S. is finished debasing its currency – and there’s no reason to run to the BRICs Bank.  Heck, Ms. Yellen has stated that QE is going to end, and that rates will be rising sooner rather than later.  Of course (in the following sentence) she said that it’s NOT the FED's job to pop bubbles, and keeping rates low has prevented troubles in repaying debt loads that would have hurt the economy.

Honestly, everyone that I know has predicted that the FED will print into eternity, bring on hyperinflation, and an end to our current financial systems.  However, as a way out of this dilemma, I can see Ms. Yellen addressing Congress with the following fable: “The economy had healed.  Our accommodative stance was actually hindering faster growth, so the Federal Reserve decided to get out of the way and let market forces take over the recovery.  That was going well until [FILL IN THE BLANK] happened.”   The [Fill in the Blank] could be: (a) a hot war with Russia, (b) a chain reaction of banking failures, (c) a mass exodus of nations from NATO into the willing arms of the BRICs, or (d) the ‘WEATHER’.

If Ms. Yellen halts the taper or even reverses it by announcing some new policy to take over – then things are back to normal.  If Mr. Draghi finds a way to pervert the EU constitution, and to begin printing money like a mad man – then things are back to normal.  But if the FED halts QE and rates start to rise, then I have to guess that we're going to see some form of major event taking place.  An event the FED can point to as the cause for any market crash or economic recession.  And all of it occurred – right under our very noses.


The Market...

Small-caps tend to get lot of attention by traders and investors because of their tendency to outperform bigger companies over large markets cycles.  Many of these small-cap companies tend to trade with less dollar volume, are highly sensitive to domestic growth expectations, and can be seen as a good indicator of risk and investing sentiment.  I realize that everyone is focused on the S&P Index, but the reality is that many stocks in the U.S. have been struggling in 2014, with the small-cap Russell 2000 index being a key indicator of just how tough it's been.  The Russell 2000 has meaningfully underperformed the S&P 500 this year in a shocking way, even causing it to give back all of its 2013 gains.  The movement by the Russell 2000 is nothing short of being utterly brutal, and came out of nowhere.  Investors often equate a narrow rally to one that is close to the end.  The analogy of using a ‘staircase’ to invest upward, and using the ‘elevator’ to invest downward is not lost on me.  The complete collapse of the Russell 2000 is a humble reminder that advances can be given back in a moment's notice – when you least expect it – regardless of asset class, strategy, or market cap.

As if to add insult to injury, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Wednesday announced that it expects the U.S. economy to grow 1.7 percent in 2014.  This is a rate even SLOWER than it predicted a month ago.  U.S. GDP contracted at a 2.9 percent rate in the first three months of 2014 (the sharpest decline in 5 years) - dragged down by a weak housing market, a slower pace of restocking by businesses, and lower exports.  The IMF went on to say that these lower growth expectations will contribute to continued slack in the labor market for the next three to four years.  The IMF also warned that an aging U.S. population meant the economy would not be able to grow above 2 percent in the longer-term without significant reforms, including tax and immigration changes, more investment in infrastructure and job training, and the provision of childcare assistance, which could help lure more Americans back into the workforce.

Using the above as a backdrop, it feels like things are about to get interesting in ‘market land’.  This week we only had one up day, and the week ended quite red.  While in the big picture, one week’s decline is statistically insignificant, but some ‘internal’ market damage has been done.  Combining abysmal market volume with the performance of the Russell 2000, I’m seeing the market climbing higher on very low volume and fall ‘like a rock’ on high volume.  In fact, last Friday snapped a streak of 11 green Friday closes.  Was that just the market's way of not letting everyone make profits on a known pattern, or was it something more significant?    

We are (yet again) set up for a nice pull back.
-       Earnings season is winding down.
-       The Geopolitical scene is bad, and getting worse.
-       Our housing slump continues.
-       And currently, the only reason for this market to hold up is the upcoming mid-term elections.  

This week I’m looking for a bit more market weakness.  This market can fall quite a ways, and still be above some significant support levels.  So if you’re playing, please play carefully.


Tips:

This week I would like to show you how to invest for income.  That is to say, make weekly income (cash in your pocket) – irrespective of how the market moves.  One of the best mechanisms to do this is via ‘Credit Spreads’.  The credit spread is flexible and can be used as a non-directional or a directional trade.  I use it as a consistent source of income.  Typically I look for stocks that don’t have a lot of price movement.  Credit spreads use the passage of time to generate profits.  Often you don’t have to do much with these trades, but put them on and let them work.  And (depending upon how you set the trades up), it’s one of the few trades where you can make money on at least 2, and often all 3 of the ways a stock can move (up, down, or sideways).  These trades can be set up to generate weekly, monthly or even multi-month income streams.

So what exactly is a Credit Spread?  It involves selling an option, and buying another option against it.  Now, before your eyes start glazing over, they are very simple to build.  Conceptually, if you SELL a ‘Call Credit Spread’ on a stock – you will always make money if the stock moves sideways, or down – and you could make money even if the stock moves up.  When you SELL a ‘Put Credit Spread’ on a stock – you will always make money if the stock moves sideways, or up – and you could make money even if the stock moves down.  So the odds are with you with Credit Spreads, and you’re SELLING them – so cash is hitting your account virtually immediately.  As the saying goes: “More homes in the Hamptons have been built on credit spreads than anything else.”

Below are 3 examples / recommendations of credit spreads for August.
-       The 1st example is a Put Credit Spread on Time Warner (TWX).  I would SELL the August $80 PUTS, and BUY the August $77.50 PUTS as protection.  The entire transaction would net me $0.35 per share – and would expire on the 3rd Friday in August.  Here we are saying that TWX will stay above $80 / share.  It’s currently trading @ $85, with an expected move of $4.50, and a buyout offer on the table.
-       The 2nd example is a Call Credit Spread on the Nasdaq itself.  I would SELL the $4,050 CALLS, and BUY the $4,075 CALLS as protection.  The entire transaction would net me $3.40 per share – and would expire in August.  Here we are saying that NDX would remain below $4,050 per share.  It’s currently trading for $3,965, with an expected move of $52, and a downward bias in place.
-       The 3rd example is a Put Credit Spread on Devon Energy.  I would SELL the August $73.50 PUTS, and BUY the August $71 PUTS as protection.  The entire transaction would net me $0.20 per share – and would expire in August.  Here we are saying that DVN will stay above $73.50 / share.  It’s currently trading @ $78, with an expected move of $3.70, and it’s in the ‘hot’ Energy Sector.

            TWX                August           -80 / +77.5                 Put Credit Spread (PCS)    $0.35,
            NDX                August           -4050 / + 4075          Call Credit Spread (CCS)  $3.40,  
            DVN                August           -73.5 / +71                 Put Credit Spread (PCS)    $0.20

Last week, other than the exercise in stock price manipulation brought on by Tourbillion Capital Partners’ Jason Karp against Mannkind Pharmaceuticals, and the earnings miss exhibited by Coca-Cola – the week went fairly well for us.  A lot of our old guard (FEYE, LNG, AAPL, NUGT) performed nicely, all the while the vast majority of the earnings plays also did well – including: CMG, BIDU, BIIB, DECK, FB, FFIV, GILD, ISRG, SBUX, and V.  We exited our position in DRTX this week.  Ever since we exited our positions in small-cap stocks (about 2 to 3 weeks ago), I continue to like bonds (TLT) and am beginning to warm up to oil (USO) and the precious metals – potentially in a flight to quality. 

My current short-term holds are:
-       AAPL (Tech) – in @ $92.86 – (currently $97.67),          5% increase / 0.75 mo.
o   (Options Spread Premiums not calculated into results)
-       ADSK (Tech) – in @ 55.25 – (currently $55.23),            0% increase / 0.5 mo.       
-       COST (Retail) – in @ $115.12 – (currently $117.55)    2% increase / 0.75 mo.
-       FEYE (Tech) – in @ $28.05 – (currently $37.15),          32% increase / 2.75 mo.
o   (Put Credit and Call Credit Spread Premiums not calculated into results)
-       FET (Energy) – in @ $30.53 (currently $35.41),            17% increase / 2.25 mo.
-       GME (Tech) – in @ 42.12 – (currently $45.68),              8% increase / 0.25 mo.
o   (Option Premiums not calculated into results)
-       KO (Beverage) – in @ $41.17 – (currently $41.00),      0% increase / 0.5 mo.
-       LNG (Energy) – in @ $57.40 – (currently $75.45),        31% increase / 2.25 mo.
o   (Put Credit and Call Credit Spread Premiums not calculated into results)
-       MNKD (Drug) – in @ $6.35 – (currently $8.78),                         38% increase / 3 mo.
o   (Put Credit and Call Credit Spread Premiums not calculated into results)
-       NUGT (Gold) – in @ $46.10 – (currently $47.16),         4% increase / 0.75 mo.
o   (Put Credit and Call Credit Spread Premiums not calculated into results)
-       TLT (Bonds) – in @ 112.32 – (currently $115.67),        2% increase / 0.5 mo.
-       TTWO (Tech) – in @ 21.10 – (currently $23.51),           6% increase / 0.5 mo.       
-       SLV (Silver) – in @ $20.17 – (currently $19.87),            -1% increase / 1 mo.
-       SIL (Silver) – in at 24.51 - (currently 14.13) – no stop,
-       GLD (ETF for Gold) – in at 158.28, (currently 125.79) – no stop ($1,308 per physical ounce), AND
-       SLV (ETF for Silver) – in at 28.3 (currently 19.87) – no stop ($20.76 per physical ounce).

To follow me on Twitter and get my daily thoughts and trades – my handle is: taylorpamm. 

Please be safe out there!

Disclaimer:
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Sunday, July 20, 2014

This Week in Barrons - 7-20-2014

This Week in Barrons – 7-20-2014


           













The False Flag

The term ‘false flag’ is hundreds of years old and first came about during the naval battles between Spain, England and France.  In those days, they lacked radar and other sophisticated communications systems to help identify ships.  If you were sailing in a convoy, you would normally have a lookout with a spyglass sitting in the ‘crows nest’ (typically a cloth basket suspended from the highest mast) looking for other ships and their flags – telling you to what nation they belonged.

It was back then, that a clever officer of an attacking flotilla found that by taking down his own country's ‘colors’ (flag), and purposefully flying the flag of the opposing nation – would give him the added element of surprise.  That way the lookout would be fooled into thinking that the approaching ships were friendly; thereby allowing them to get considerably closer than if they would have been truthfully identified.  It wasn’t until the attackers started firing, that the defenders realized the ship was flying a ‘false flag’ – and would hurry to fire back.

Today, the most common use of the phrase ‘false flag’ describes someone doing an evil deed, and making the evil appear as if it was perpetrated by the enemy – in order to justify taking action (against the enemy).

In the past three weeks I have marveled at the speed at which the world is banding together to bypass the U.S. dollar.  The BRIC’s (Brazil, Russia, India & China) Bank is now in completion, and will NOT use dollars as its medium of exchange.  When the world has no choice but to use your currency for trade, (and the various clearing houses and derivatives are all set up to facilitate trading in that currency) you become more powerful because the system is set up cater to your wishes.  This is why U.S. sanctions are often so damaging to other countries. 
-       IF you are forced to use U.S. dollars, and
-       IF those U.S. dollars must clear through U.S. dollar based systems that connect to thousands of banks and institutions around the globe, and
-       IF you are shut off from that ability to exchange dollars, then
-       YOU are in trouble – especially when trying to import food and obtain oil.

Therefore, holding global reserve currency status is an incredibly powerful weapon, and has the power to bring most countries ‘in line’.  But: "Times, they are a Changin’”, and from where I sit – much of last week points to U.S. desperation.  The U.S. cannot afford to lose its global reserve currency status, and everyone knows it.  But U.S. banks are in much worse trouble.  The idea of a completely separate banking system (BRIC’s Bank) not being run by the IMF, or the World Bank or the Federal Reserve System – scares them into retaliation mode.  They tried lashing out against the French bank PNB with a $9 Billion fine for trading with nations we told them were forbidden.  And we tried further sanctions against Russia.  Both decisions failed to play out on the world stage as we had hoped.

In fact, rather than U.S. sanctions causing Putin to ‘come in line,’ he is forming increasingly stronger alliances with his BRIC nations.  In the past two weeks Putin has visited and signed reciprocal agreements with Cuba, Argentina and Brazil.  In Cuba he is turning old military bases and ports into a modern, maritime trading hub.  So instead of bowing to the U.S., Putin is expanding the Eurasian trade zone right here in our own backyard.  Recently Germany denounced U.S. sanctions – mostly because so many German companies are currently doing business with Russia.  Combining Germany’s technology and precise manufacturing with Russia’s massive resources forms a Russian-German alliance that makes major, economic sense.

Why do we continue to poke Russia in the eye with a stick?  For the past 25 years, Russia has (a) been a good neighbor to Europe, (b) supplied the Ukraine natural gas at a discount (allowing them to siphon off even more illegally), and (c) fought off terrorists.  Why did the U.S. decide to push NATO operations right into Russia’s backyard in Crimea and Ukraine?  Why - because our banksters see the BRIC's abandoning U.S. policies and our currency.  We gambled.  We were wrong in thinking that our European NATO allies would force Russia to abandon their plans to merge with China and others.

To put this into perspective:
-       The BRIC’s contain almost 3 Billion people (10X more than the U.S.), doing over $15 Trillion in GDP (18% of all global trade) and growing.  Russia is the single largest country, China the most populated, and Brazil one of the most resource rich countries on Earth.  And, if these countries declare a military alliance – they dwarf our military.
-       The U.S. is $17 Trillion dollars in debt, with a stagnant to declining economy.  Our unfunded liabilities (medical and social security) top $100 Trillion.  And according to the latest polls, only 10% of our population trusts our Government.

I’m hearing that the only way out is to enter a ‘hot war’ with Russia.  That would solve two massive problems: (a) Allow for a shut down of the entire BRIC Banking / Eurasian trade zone, and (b) give the FED someone to blame for our economic demise.  But, try as we might, we haven’t been able to suck Putin into a military confrontation.

As soon as the Malaysian airliner was shot down I thought: “False Flag”.  As expected everyone was blaming everyone else.  The Ukrainian Government and the U.S. were condemning Russia, while Russia was turning blame back the other way.  Why would the Russians shoot down a civilian aircraft?  They know that the entire world would hate them for it, and would turn ‘the court of public opinion’ toward the Ukraine and the U.S.  It would make perfect sense for the Ukrainians to do it, and BLAME the Russian rebels – putting more pressure on the Russians to be seen as evildoers that need to be stopped.

Currently – there are many theories and fingers being pointed:
-       Some say it was the Ukrainians because Putin's own jet was flying that same trajectory, and maybe they thought they could kill him.
-       Some say it was the separatists mistaking a commercial airliner for a Ukrainian military supply plane.
-       There's even evidence that the pilot veered off his standard route to purposefully fly directly over a hotspot.
-       The good news is that Russia has continued to remain co-operative and completely engaged in global dialogue.

I think this recent statement by Putin (to the news agency Itar-Tass) truly sums up what is really going on in the world:  “We are implementing a system of measures that prevent the harassment of countries that do not agree with some foreign policy decisions made by the United States and their allies."

Stay tuned and watch for ‘False Flags’.


The Market...

These are the times that try men's souls.  On Wednesday the market pushed itself to this year’s 17th all-time high.  But Thursday saw the market drop 165 points on the news of Israel’s invasion of Gaza, and the downing of the Malaysian airliner in the Ukraine.  On Friday, one of two things happened – either (a) every investor decided that a blown up civilian airliner in a military hotspot, and a ground invasion of thousands of homes in Gaza meant nothing; therefore, they decided to buy the dip, OR (b) the same hand that has pushed this market higher in the face of every economic ill you can imagine – made it happen once again.  I’m personally learning towards ‘Door Number 2’.

Virtually every single indicator concerning the health of our markets is flashing danger.  Reports tell us that the chance of an ‘outlier event’ preceding a market fall are extremely high.  Numbers prove that corporate buybacks and FED policy have been by far the major influencing factors for this market going higher.  ‘Unidentified futures buying’ by someone with ‘deep pockets’ consistently comes out of the blue to ‘buy the dip’ and rescue the markets.  Banks have virtually created earnings out of thin air by being allowed to mark their assets to ‘model’ rather than to ‘market’.  I wonder, what would cause the market to stop moving higher?  We know that it isn’t: lousy economic reports, bad housing numbers, declining consumer confidence, horrific retail sales, a NEGATIVE Q1 GDP report, companies missing earnings, ground wars, or a downed civilian airliner.

The standard line of thinking is that as long as Interest rates are this low, investors have no choice but to buy stocks, since bonds don't pay anything.  Yes, that is true, but all investors have seen ‘bubbles’ where stocks have fallen 50% or more.  While everyone says: “This time it’s different.”  We all know that: “Bubbles pop with the right pin.”

As the phrase goes: “Don’t fight the tape.”  Therefore, it’s becoming more and more likely that buying the dips will be in vogue through the end of the year.  I continue to look for the ten-year bond to remain below 3.5%.  The U.S. equity markets (in normal times) are simply a discounting mechanism for earnings.  As the old investor once said: “Sell the Bugle, and Buy the War.”  What this means is that, the run-up to a major conflict (anticipation of a war) puts the markets under pressure, but once the war begins the markets tend to rally in anticipation of the war’s end.  Currently the market is anticipating an economic recovery; however if the recovery does not gain momentum, the markets will selloff.

Unfortunately, the more optimistic the market becomes – the easier it is to disappoint.  It is much easier to surprise a market to the upside, when expectations are muted.  So in addition to my worry over economic growth, housing continues to bother me.  Homebuilding is struggling to regain momentum due to tight lending conditions, rising mortgage rates, and a lack of momentum in new household formation.  Additionally, there has been a disturbing decline in the most recent consumer spending numbers. 

Obviously the old quote: “The trend is the trend – until it’s NOT” – still holds true.  I’m cautiously optimistic.  But I’m sitting in a lot of cash right now.  Be safe out there.


Tips:

For this coming week – we are into earnings season.  A common technique of making money during earnings season is to (the day before a specific company’s earnings to be are announced): SELL a weekly Iron Condor (specific to that company), that is 1.5 to 2 standard deviations (SD) away from the current stock price.  For example: NetFlix (NFLX) has earnings after the bell on Monday.  NFLX is currently trading about $445 – with a standard deviation of $35.  This means that this week, NFLX should move a maximum of $35 (either higher or lower) than it’s existing $445 stock price.  Now multiplying $35 by 1.5 and 2, yields $50 and $75 respectively.  Therefore using the 1.5 SD numbers – the range for NFLX is between: $395 and $495.  You could SELL the $390 / $385 - $500 / $505 Iron Condor – netting you almost $0.90 per share.  SELLING 20 contracts would net you a little over $1,750 at the end of the week – providing that NFLX remained LESS than $500 and MORE than $390.  Using the 2SD numbers – the range for NFLX is between: $375 and $515.  You could SELL the $375 / $350 - $515 / $540 Iron Condor – netting you almost $1.20 per share.  SELLING 20 contracts would net you approximately $2,400 at the end of the week – providing that NFLX remained LESS than $515 and MORE than $375.  In principle – what you’re doing – is taking advantage of NetFlix’s high ‘implied volatility’ (IV) that proceeds their earnings release (as nobody knows what numbers the company will report) – and then the immediate IV ‘crush’ that happens after earnings when the world immediately knows the numbers and has settled on a firm (new) price per share.  Some other examples for this week are:
            CMG               -525 / +522.5 & -660 / +665           Iron Condor OR
            CMG               -495 / +475 & -690 / +710              Iron Condor
            SBUX             -74 / +72 & -82 / +84                       Iron Condor
            FFIV                -99 / +96 & -112 / +125                   Iron Condor
            WYNN            -192.5 / +190 & -210 / +212.5       Iron Condor

Last week certainly was an interesting week, and could foreshadow things to come.   Apple (and the pinning play) was obviously a complete disappointment to me – and I ended up holding some Apple shares as they head into their earnings announcement on Tuesday of this week.  I also did NOT like the action in the IWM (a small cap index) early last week – so I sold out of most of my small company stocks before the market’s move downward.  We continue to hold MNKD and DRTX, even though Ms. Yellen (during her testimony to Congress) did single out social media and bio-tech stocks as being over-valued.  #ThanksJanetYellen.  Our other option plays worked out nicely including:  AMZN, BITA, BWLD, GOOGL, NUGT, SHPG, and VIPS.  I’m currently sitting in an over-sized cash position – ready to ‘pounce’ upon such earnings plays as:  NFLX and CMG on Monday, AAPL and APD on Tuesday, MMM and FFIV on Wednesday, SBUX on Thursday, and WYNN on Friday – to name a few.

My current short-term holds are:
-       AAPL (Tech) – in @ $92.86 – (currently $94.49),          2% increase / 0.5 mo.
-       ADSK (Tech) – in @ 55.25 – (currently $57.36),            4% increase / 0.25 mo.     
-       COST (Retail) – in @ $115.12 – (currently $117.74)    2% increase / 0.5 mo.
-       DRTX (Drug) – in @ $13.61 – (currently $15.08),         11% increase / 2.5 mo.
o   (Put Credit and Call Credit Spread Premiums not calculated into results)
-       FEYE (Tech) – in @ $28.05 – (currently $34.52),          23% increase / 2.5 mo.
o   (Put Credit and Call Credit Spread Premiums not calculated into results)
-       FET (Energy) – in @ $30.53 (currently $35.72),            17% increase / 2.0 mo.
-       KO (Beverage) – in @ $41.17 – (currently $42.43),      3% increase / 0.25 mo.
-       LNG (Energy) – in @ $57.40 – (currently $72.83),        27% increase / 2.0 mo.
o   (Put Credit and Call Credit Spread Premiums not calculated into results)
-       MNKD (Drug) – in @ $6.35 – (currently $9.80,             56% increase / 2.75 mo.
o   (Put Credit and Call Credit Spread Premiums not calculated into results)
-       NUGT (Gold) – in @ $46.10 – (currently $47.83),         4% increase / 0.5 mo.
o   (Put Credit and Call Credit Spread Premiums not calculated into results)
-       PCLN (Tech) – in @ 1211.10 – (currently $1212.78),  0% increase / 0.25 mo.
-       TLT (Bonds) – in @ 112.32 – (currently $114.52),        2% increase / 0.25 mo.
-       TTWO (Tech) – in @ 21.10 – (currently $23.22),           5% increase / 0.25 mo.     
-       SLV (Silver) – in @ $20.17 – (currently $20.02),            -1% increase / 0.75 mo.
-       SIL (Silver) – in at 24.51 - (currently 14.24) – no stop,
-       GLD (ETF for Gold) – in at 158.28, (currently 126.13) – no stop ($1,339 per physical ounce), AND
-       SLV (ETF for Silver) – in at 28.3 (currently 20.02) – no stop ($21.48 per physical ounce).

To follow me on Twitter and get my daily thoughts and trades – my handle is: taylorpamm. 

Please be safe out there!

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