RF's Financial News

RF's Financial News

Sunday, July 13, 2014

This Week in Barrons - 7-13-2014

This Week in Barrons – 7-13-2014

               


Don't Blink!

Things are moving at an incredible speed, and you can almost ‘feel’ that something big is coming.  Some of the ideas that we have been kicking around are maturing much faster than anticipated.  Six months ago I could count on one hand the number of people talking about the world abandoning the U.S. dollar.  Now – not only is it being talked about, but the rate of abandonment is astonishing.  The question now is: How many of our major global events are a result of the U.S. losing its global reserve currency status?  Could the wars, rumors of wars, currency issues, lies, and manipulations all be because the U.S. is engaged in ‘fighting back’ against those who wish to remove her as the ‘king dollar’?  I believe that this is exactly what is happening.

This week Russian President Putin blasted the ‘West’ for giving Russia ‘no choice’ but to annex Crimea – because NATO was soon to move forces into Sevastopol, and change the landscape of power in the region.  He went on to say that:
-       The Ukraine ‘mess’ is the result of the West's policy of constantly trying to deter Russia.
-       The U.S. fines – levied against the giant French bank PNB (and therefore the French Government) were outright BLACKMAIL, and in retaliation for the French building the Mistral class war ships that Russia had ordered.
-       And ended with: "The time of U.S. world domination has ended, and Russia will be reintegrating the Eurasian landmass [former USSR], while promoting better relations with Europe, which is our natural partner." 

So Putin has come out publically saying that he’s had it with the U.S., and ready to “reintegrate the Eurasian landmass".  But ask yourself: Why did the U.S. (who tells everyone they're all about peace) decide it had to circle Russia with missiles?

Add to Putin’s lashing out:
-       France's PNB facing $9 Billion in fines from the U.S.
-       Austria's largest bank announcing that their bad loan portfolio has risen over 40% this year.
-       Portugal’s largest publicly traded bank missing some large interest payments, causing that stock to be halted and bringing into question the notion of any real recovery in the ‘Club Med’ countries.
-       And not to be outdone, Argentina (having missed a June 30th payment deadline) is now in a 30-day grace period where they need to come up with a $500 Million interest payment or they are legally in default (bankrupt).

So Putin is lashing out, 2 national banks are in the toilet, 1 country is ready to default – what else could one week bring us?  Glad you asked.  The French have signed a Franc to Yuan currency swap with China – with the head of the French Central bank declaring that the “world would be encouraged to diversity away from the U.S. dollar.”  South Korea also joined in a currency swap with China – allowing all 3 countries to avoid purchasing oil in U.S. dollars.   

The U.S. cannot afford to lose Global Reserve Status, but it is being forced upon us.  But who (or what) will we blame for this – when it all comes apart?  Remember, the Federal Reserve is NOT a government owned facility, but rather a private banking cartel.  These Central Banksters are NOT going to want to take the blame when we lose our status and the dollar becomes devalued.  They've seen vivid pictures of masses with pitchforks when they’ve done that to other nations.  The Central Banksters need to blame someone, and it’s my guess that a lot of what we see cropping up around the world is as a result of the Central Banksters looking for ‘bad guys’ to blame.

Factually: if you go to the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) web site, you will find a 10-year plan introducing SDR’s (Special Drawing Rights) as the new global trading currency.  Officials at the World Bank, the Bank of International Settlements (BIS), and the IMF have suggested that the U.S. dollar domination has run its course.  Currently China, Russia, India, Brazil, South Korea, France, England, and a dozen other countries are set up to trade bi-laterally using NO U.S. dollars.  The day the entire world will effectively trade for oil in something other than the U.S. dollar is coming more rapidly than even I would have imagined.

Also, this week the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) finalized rules that would allow money market funds to ‘halt redemptions’ during times of stress.  That’s what I would call a ‘Bail In’.  So, if the economic system goes bump in the night, and you just happen to have $20k in a money market fund – they now have the right to deny you access to your money if they determine that it is ‘disruptive to the system’.

A year ago I remember making the statement: “If the Fed really does remove the stimulus – in the face of lousy economic numbers – then something major has changed".  On Wednesday we learned that the Fed is on-track to end QE by October 2014.  Don’t look now, but our Fed is quietly making moves that are normally associated with a rising interest rate environment – which puts our ailing economy on a definite timeline for a reset.  As if to add insult to injury, on Thursday we learned that our Fed is pondering an overhaul of the method used to measure the Fed Funds Rate.  The Fed Funds Rate is a benchmark that underscores virtually every global financial transaction.  The interesting part of the report is that they’re now willing to consider including Eurodollar transactions.  This addition would have a real substantive effect in a rising interest rate environment.  So if the Fed is TRULY resetting the Fed Funds Rate methodology and including Eurodollar transactions – then (fair warning) an interest rate increase could be closer than we think.

Coincident with that, the BIS (Bank of International Settlements) in it’s annual report said: “Bringing forward the downside leg of a cycle should be considered better than letting the cycle get too big and causing more destruction in the future."  Basically they said that it’s best to pop the ‘bubbles’ now, rather than let them get even bigger and be forced to deal with the aftermath.

Boiling this all down:
-       I think the Fed has been instructed to pull the plug on the US stock market, but needs a ‘cover / fall guy’ to do it.
-       Therefore, the Fed is causing a lot of issues around the globe in order to see what will ‘bubble up’ and who they can blame.

Our Fed still needs an escape route for ruining our currency, turning the world against dollars, and inflating multiple bubbles.  It needs a ‘bad guy’ to blame for our ills, and is desperately poking all the sleeping dogs to see who bites back.  Our Fed will NOT take the blame for the U.S. losing reserve status, and crashing the market bubble.  They will find their scapegoats – just don’t blink.


The market...

It's been a choppy week.  3 out of the 5 days were red, and one of the green days was a ‘save’ – as the market was red all day on Friday until the last hour when they took it to green for the close.  I thought that this week would include some ‘backing and filling’ of the previous week’s gains, but you could almost sense a change in atmosphere and attitude.  While it is evident that someone still wants to drive the market higher (as evidenced by the tremendous amount of S&P e-mini's bought near the close on Thursday) the statistics show us that more people wanted OUT than wanted IN the market. 
-       On several days this week the negative to positive pressure was more than 3 to 1 to the downside.
-       The volumes, which have been horrid for many months, are even worse now.
-       It feels as if there aren't too many participants left who feel there's any real good reason to stay fully invested.

Because every single dip for the past couple YEARS has been a buying opportunity, to suggest that this time it’s different is almost suicidal.  Going against this market has been a lesson in frustration.  It is indeed hurtful when everything you have ever learned points to a market rolling over, but instead it simply soars to new, all-time highs.  So it is with great caution that I suggest that maybe we haven't seen the end of the selling.

Ms. Yellen told us that they're going to halt the QE by October.  In the same breath she also told us that they have other tools in their kit that will continue to keep interest rates low.  The truth is – I would suggest that we all keep a close eye on the ‘interest rate’ exit doors.

This week we're going to hear from several HUNDRED companies as they release their earnings; therefore, expect some jolts, bumps and bruises for (at least) the next week or two.  Earnings season is a ‘swing traders’ dream, but there’s no shame in sitting on your hands during a rocky period such as this.  While Friday's green close could signal the beginning of a push higher, it felt slightly strained and contrived.  So be careful out there this week.

Allow me to end with a submission from S.F.: "The Budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, Public Debt should be reduced, the Arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the Assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed, lest Rome will become Bankrupt.  People must again learn to work instead of living on public assistance." - Cicero, 55 BC.  So, evidently we haven't learned a damned thing over the past 2,069 years.


Tips:

This past week started out with us recording all of our daily trades in Twitter and in StockTwits after the market closed – but Thursday and Friday were just too busy.  Apologies, and I will do better this coming week. 

For this coming week – let’s discuss ‘Pinning.’  The phenomenon of a stock ‘pinning/closing’ at a specific price – that ‘just happens’ to be a particular options expiration ‘strike price’ is a frequently witnessed occurrence.  Some have waived the conspiracy flag.  It is (in a sense) a ‘market manipulation’ technique, but it’s not as nefarious as you might think.  Pinning is the result of the ‘market makers’ hedging their portfolios to keep their portfolios neutral.  You see, when you buy a call option, often there is not one just sitting there ready to buy, but rather the market maker for that stock must create a particular call option to sell to you.  That’s the job of the market maker.  They will (in essence) take the other side of your trade.  The market maker does not want to have the risk associated with your specific call (with nothing to back it up), so they will (as a hedge) create another trading position to back them up – and often these other trading positions aggregate around a particular group of option’s strike prices.

As options expiration approaches, the most important thing for the market maker is to keep their position neutral.  But, as options expiration nears – small changes in the stock can result in major portfolio changes.  As the stock rises, the market maker’s portfolio will become more positive.  By buying and selling stock (to become ‘more’ and ‘less’ positive), the market maker is trying to protect the particular set of option prices that they chose above – and to above all else – remain neutral.  However, the result is the same – and that is that the stock price naturally navigates to a common strike that all market makers agree to – and the corresponding stock ‘PINS’ at that price.  So, if you listen to a market maker tell the story, they are just managing their risk – but to rest of the world it looks like manipulation.  The fact remains that pinning is very real and does occur.

Below is an options chain on Apple (AAPL) for this coming Friday July 18th.  As you can see, the price that market makers would ‘overwhelmingly’ like Apple to reach (186,749 call options & 99,723 put options) on Friday is $100 per share.  Using this as one of your strategies for monthly expiration is not a bad idea.  




To take advantage of this – with Apple currently trading at $95.22, you could: (a) purchase the stock, (b) purchase the monthly $94.29 or $95 call options, or (c) (the solution that I prefer) is to purchase the July 25th $94.29 calls and sell the corresponding $100 or $102.14 call options (in order to reduce the premium that you’ll pay for the $94.29 calls directly) – often called a Call Debit Spread (CDS).  Good luck as Apple plays out this week – before our very eyes.

It was an interesting week last week.  We had some large winners (where we stayed within ourselves) with the Put Credit Spreads, and a couple losers (NFLX and FEYE) where we got a little too far ‘out over our skis’.

This week is monthly options expiration, and normally stocks trade sideways to UP on this type of week.  Therefore, I’m again looking to sell premium on Put Credit Spreads, along with a ‘Pinning’ play on AAPL, and some interesting earnings plays.  I’m still holding:
-       AAPL – Bought: October $85, and July 25th - $92.86, $93.57, and $94.29 Calls / Sold the $100.00 and $102.14 Calls to reduce the premium,
-       AMZN – Sold the July, $315 / $310 Put Credit Spread (PCS),
-       BITA – Bought the August, $45 Calls,
-       BWLD – Sold the July, $150 / $145 PCS,
-       COST – Bought the August, $115 Calls, and the October, $125 Calls
-       FEYE – Have stock, Sold: July $31 / $29 PCS, ad the $36 CC’s (Cov. Calls),
-       GOOGL – Sold the July, $150 / $140 PCS,
-       LNG – Have stock
-       MNKD – Have stock, Sold the July $9 / $8 PCS, and the $10.50 / $11.50 CCS,
-       KO – Bought: November $39, $40, $44, and $45 Calls
-       NUGT – Have stock, Sold the July $46 / $44 PCS, and the $55 / $57 CCS
-       SHPG – Sold the July Monthly $205 / $200 PCS, and the $265 / $270 CCS
-       USO – Bought the January 2015 $41 Calls
-       VIPS – Sold the July Monthly $170 / $165 PCS
-       WWAV – Bought: October $30 & $37.5 Calls

Reviewing our Past Week’s Performance:
-       Mannkind Pharmaceutical (MNKD) – just filed a document with the SEC asking for approval of a merger / partnership arrangement – so watch for that stock to move a little on Monday – and then 4 to 6 weeks down the road.
-       FireEye (FEYE) – corrected this past week – loosing 15% of its value.  We continue to sell both PDS’s and CDS’s – but our stop loss is in the $33 area.
-       Apple (AAPL) – closed at $95.22 on Friday – with tremendous open interest at $100 for this coming Friday, July 18th.  We’re playing Apple very directionally (higher) – but still selling premium where we can.
-       Cheniere Energy (LNG) – took a slight pause to catch up to it’s own 8 EMA (exponentially moving average).  We continue to marvel at how easy this stock is to manage.
-       My energy portfolio (comprised mostly of small energy companies) continues to perform nicely, but we are thinning the heard – taking profits and letting our larger winners run (see below):

My current short-term holds (returning > 15.7% for June) are:
-       AAPL (Tech) – in @ $92.86 – (currently $95.22),          3% increase / 0.25 mo.
-       COST (Retail) – in @ $115.12 – (currently $118.01)    3% increase / 0.25 mo.
-       DRTX (Drug) – in @ $13.61 – (currently $16.68),         23% increase / 2.25 mo.
o   (Put Credit and Call Credit Spread Premiums not calculated into results)
-       FEYE (Tech) – in @ $28.05 – (currently $33.62),          20% increase / 2.25 mo.
o   (Put Credit and Call Credit Spread Premiums not calculated into results)
-       LNG (Energy) – in @ $57.40 – (currently $71.12),        24% increase / 1.75 mo.
o   (Put Credit and Call Credit Spread Premiums not calculated into results)
-       MNKD (Drug) – in @ $6.35 – (currently $10.07),           59% increase / 2.5 mo.
o   (Put Credit and Call Credit Spread Premiums not calculated into results)
-       NUGT (Gold) – in @ $46.10 – (currently $50.75),         10% increase / 0.25 mo.
o   (Put Credit and Call Credit Spread Premiums not calculated into results)
-       ASX (Tech) – in @ $5.81 (currently $6.62),                     14% increase / 1.75 mo.
-       FET (Energy) – in @ $30.53 (currently $34.79),            15% increase / 1.75 mo.
-       GTAT (Tech) – in @ $18.09 (currently $16.05),             -11% increase / 0.5 mo.
-       HK (Energy) – in @ $5.25 – (currently $6.78),               29% increase / 1.75 mo.
-       KOG (Energy) – in @ $12.98 – (currently $14.23),        10% increase / 1 mo.
-       LSCC (Tech) – in @ $7.85 – (currently $8.10),              3% increase / 0.75 mo.
-       LSG (Gold) – in @ $0.92 – (currently $0.1.19),              29% increase / 0.5 mo.
-       PQ (Energy) – in @ $5.87 – (currently $6.92),               18% increase / 1.75 mo.
-       RFMD (Tech) – in @ $7.96 – (currently $9.63),                         21% increase / 1.75 mo.
-       SLV (Silver) – in @ $20.17 – (currently $20.57),            2% increase / 0.5 mo.
-       SPIL (Tech) – in @ 7.20 – (currently $8.28),                  15% increase / 1.75 mo.
-       STKL (Energy) – in @ 13.35 – (currently $13.70),         3% increase / 0.5 mo.
-       SIL (Silver) – in at 24.51 - (currently 14.70) – no stop,
-       GLD (ETF for Gold) – in at 158.28, (currently 128.78) – no stop ($1,339 per physical ounce), AND
-       SLV (ETF for Silver) – in at 28.3 (currently 20.57) – 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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Sunday, July 6, 2014

This Week in Barrons - 7-6-2014

This Week in Barrons – 7-6-2014


                











The HERE and NOW…

Most people live in a very ‘Now-focused’ world.  From alarm clocks in the morning to the 11 o’clock news in the evening – working virtually around the clock, being on call all weekend, and answering texts and emails 24/7.  This is our current measure of progress.  There’s a certain irony in the fact that the largest selling drugs are for: Hypertension, Antacids, Anti-depressants, and Erectile Dysfunction.  Evidently we've progressed ourselves into a nation of worried, upset, depressed, and libido challenged individuals.

Factually we do live in a ‘dot com’ era where everything spins at incredible speed, but basic elements are falling through the cracks.  For example – I worry:
-       About a recent study showing that children are now only capable of mental focus for 30 seconds at a time – a period remarkably similar to a TV commercial.
-       About a recent poll showing that 63% of those polled thought that Belgium was a craft beer.
-       About us continuously spending less time on ‘RE-search’ and more time on ‘ME-search’.
-       About our Federal Reserve telling us that they’re worried about ‘DE-flation’ – while anyone who’s shopped for food, gasoline, insurance, education, or clothes in the past decade continues to be worry about ‘IN-flation’ and making ends meet.
-       About Wal-Mart being the nations top employer.  Because I'm not sure how many people are worried that the velocity of money has crashed, or that J.P. Morgan has a derivative book of $70 TRILLION – which is 5 times more than the entire United States GDP.
-       About Oracle thinking that it was a good investment to use $21 Billion of their own dollars to buy back their own stock – and then proceeded to badly miss earnings.

I worry that we’re spending too much time in the ‘here and now’ and not enough time analyzing the future impacts of some of our decisions:  For example – I worry:
-       About California, where the biggest shortage in hospitals (right now) is the lack of language ‘translators’ to deal with the flood of Spanish speaking patients.  Many hospitals are seeing more than 1,000 additional patients per week (due to Obamacare) and over 70% do not speak English.
-       About more states pushing to legalize marijuana, presumably for tax income purposes.  Do we really think that a 6-month legalization period in Colorado is enough time from which to set a benchmark?
-       About our coup in the Ukraine failing, but succeeding in turning their gas supplies off and bankrupting the country. 

One small news item did prove to me that others are ‘aware’ of our ‘sound-byte’ culture, is that an Israeli lawyer has asked the U.S. courts to shut down Iran's Internet DNS addresses.  This particular law firm finds Iranian assets, seizes them, and then distributes the money to the victims of Iranian terror groups.  They have sued to have the Internet domain name managers shut down the destination ".ir" (which is Iran).  If Iran’s goes Internet dark, it would make it very hard for any news to be released.  Could this be the prelude to Iran being attacked, and someone not wanting pictures and videos to be seen? 

I understand why so many of us live in the ‘here and now’, and are only focused on the next day.  Things are moving incredibly fast, and it takes valuable time to take a break from the ‘here and now’ and look at the other side of the picture.  Unfortunately, it’s only by estimating and planning that you get a real view of what really matters.  On this holiday weekend, give yourself a break from the Matrix, because there’s nothing more interesting than the truth that surrounds you.


The Market...

Monday was the end of the 2nd quarter.  This is when stockbrokers like to ‘Paint the Tape’ (otherwise known as ‘Window Dressing’).  This is where brokers buy the winning stocks (right before quarter-end) in order to look like they were geniuses for being in on all of that quarter’s winners.  That way when the quarterly statements go out, everyone looks and says: "Wow look at this, my guy had XYZ stock, and it did great!"  In addition to the ‘Window Dressing’ activity, the FED was more than happy to help the cause by doing the biggest reverse-repo in history of over $340B.  On Tuesday that giant repo unwound and the animal spirits were unleashed within the trading pits.  Between the ‘First of the Month’ money and all those billions rushing back into banks from the FED, they were able to put together a nice 120 point DOW gain.

The middle of the week put us into ‘pause mode’ because with the holiday shortened week – the initial jobless claims and the non-farm payrolls reports would come out on Thursday rather than Friday.  People were worried that if the jobs report came out too strong, then the markets would sell-off because it could signal oncoming FED rate hikes.  On the other hand, a bad jobs number might be rewarded with more buying as ‘just maybe’ the FED would end the taper.  This market likes free FED money a lot more than it likes a solidly functioning and growing economy.  Good news often causes the market to panic because they fret over the FED's pulling the punch bowl away, while bad news often causes a sigh of relief.  It’s upside down, but it’s reality.

While the market was anticipating Thursday’s jobs numbers – it appears that one of our predictions (concerning the status of the U.S. dollar as the global reserve currency) is beginning to come true.  Last week, the Chief Executive of France’s largest oil company, Christophe de Margerie said he sees no reason for oil purchases to be made in U.S. dollars – adding that it makes sense to expand the use of other currencies in transactions, especially outside the U.S.  “Nothing prevents anyone from paying for oil in euros,” de Margerie told journalists at the Cercle des Economistes conference in Aix-en-Provence, France.  “The price of a barrel of oil is quoted in dollars.  A refinery can take that price and using the euro-dollar exchange rate on any given day, and agree to make the payment in euros.”  What sparked this debate is the $8.97 billion fine that the U.S. slapped on the French bank BNP Paribas (BNP).  French Finance Minister Michel Sapin said this week that the BNP fine raises questions about the reach of U.S. laws because the bank’s transactions were not illegal in Europe.  Sapin said European countries should look for ways to use the euro more frequently and that he will raise the matter with fellow euro-area finance ministers when they meet in Brussels on July 7.  “Shouldn’t the euro be more important in the global economy?” Sapin asked journalists in Paris.  “We have to consider the weight of the dollar and the consequences of pricing things in dollars when it means that American law applies outside the U.S.”

Then on Thursday the jobs numbers were released, and outwardly it was a good report – showing a gain of 288K jobs and the unemployment rate dropping from 6.3% to 6.1%.  As we looked inside the jobs number we found:
-       U.S. Birth/Death Model added 121 thousand (42%) of those jobs.
-       The labor force participation rate remained low at just 62.8%.  A reading this low has not been seen since the 70’s.
-       The number of people holding part time jobs for "economic" reasons increased by a whopping 275K.  What are economic reasons?  First - potentially those are the only jobs that they can find.  And second - companies are changing full-time workers into part-time workers to avoid Obamacare.
-       Hourly earnings increased by 0.2%, but I’m not sure we can call that a win given we’re moving a lot of people from a 40-hour to a 29.5-hour workweek.
-       The unemployment rate fell from 6.3 to 6.1% - due to a staggering number of people leaving the workforce.
-       And, for the 5th month in a row the ‘job-LESS’ number came in higher than anticipated.

When analyzing the unemployed – it appears that 40% of unemployed workers (4.6M) are Millennials (according to the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce).  The millennial unemployment percentage is greater than Generation X (37% = 4.2M) and Baby Boomers (23% = 2.5M).  And a staggering 2 Million of the 4.6M unemployed millennials are termed 'Long-Term Unemployed'.

This Jobs number did put the market in a Holiday mood and it responded by hitting yet another all-time record high – with the DOW topping 17,000.  But (as it has done lately) it has gone a bit too far too fast.  So I'm in the camp that suggests we'll probably see a bit of ‘backing and filling’ this week as the market digests its gains.  So don't be surprised to see some red on the indexes this week.

While the biggest mistake someone could have made this year was not being ‘IN’ the markets – honestly, this continued rise (on low volume) to all-time highs day after day is simply unsustainable.  A pause (or shallow pull back) is likely and I think it might hit this week.  Soon we're going to enter earnings season, where companies will be reporting their second quarter results, and you can bet there will be a lot of pops and drops to celebrate.


Tips:

This past week I have been very diligent about putting a summary of all of my daily trades out in Twitter and in StockTwits between 4:15 and 4:30 EDT each day. 

A fairly easy method of making money in an ‘up market’ is to SELL premium.  Often that is accomplished by selling a Put Credit Spread (PCS’s) on a particular stock or index.  A couple thoughts along those lines are as follows:
-       SELLING premium is a good thing, as 80% of all options sold expire worthless – and you would like to be on the ‘SELLER’ of those trades. 
-       Often you can sell ‘Call Credit Spreads’ when a stock appears to be falling or ‘topping’ and sell ‘Put Credit Spreads’ when a stock is rising or putting in a ‘floor’. 
-       A Put Credit Spread is where you sell a PUT Option at a given strike price, and buy another PUT option at a lessor strike price as protection.  If the stock continues to rise – you will gain the difference between the premium you sold and the option you purchased for protection.
-       Buying the ‘protection PUT option’ somewhat slims your profits, but guarantees a much smaller loss if you’re wrong about the direction of the stock. 
-       For example: Cheniere Energy (LNG) – appears to be firing on all cylinders with its stock more than doubling over the past 12 months.  It is currently trading at $72.52 per share.  If you believe that it will continue along the same direction – then you can SELL the weekly $70 PUT option for $0.27 and BUY the $65 PUT option for $0.05 (as protection against any bad news).  As long as the stock remains above $70 / share this week, you would ‘pocket’ the $0.22 / share at the end of the week.

We had a tremendous week last week, and this week I’m looking for the markets to (in general) trade sideways and down.  Therefore, selling premium on Call Credit Spreads (CCS’s) should be on the menu.  I’m still holding:
-       COST – Bought: October $115 Calls
-       AAPL – Bought: October $85 Calls
-       FEYE – Sold: July Weekly $41 CC’s (Cov. Calls), & $36 / 33 PCS
-       MNKD – Sold: July Weekly $11 CC’s, & $9 / 7 PCS
-       BWLD – Sold: July Monthly $150 / $140 PCS
-       GOOGL – Sold: July Monthly $535 / 530 PCS
-       HD – Bought: September $77.50 & $85 Calls
-       KO – Bought: November $39, $40, $44, and $45 Calls
-       NUGT – Sold: July Weekly $49 CC’s, & $42.5 / $39.5 PCS
-       SHPG – Sold: July Monthly $205 / $200 PCS
-       TLT – Bought: September $110 & $116 Calls
-       USO – Bought: January 2015 $41 Calls
-       VIPS – Sold: July Monthly $160 / $150 PCS
-       WDC – Bought: July $90 Calls
-       WWAV – Bought: October $30 & $37.5 Calls
-       X – Bought: July $24 Calls

Reviewing our Past Week’s Performance:
-       Mannkind Pharmaceutical (MNKD) – continues to be manipulated and pinned at exactly $10 on Friday – so we are resigned to just collecting weekly premium by SELLING the Covered Calls (CC’s) and Put Credit Spreads (PCS’s) until they announce their major partnership / merger in 4 to 6 weeks.
-       FireEye (FEYE) – continues to be a real horse – even after pulling back slightly this week.  It has its sights on $40+ and in the meantime we’re collecting premium by SELLING CC’s and PCS’s.
-       Durata Therapeutics (DRTX) – closed at $17.90 on Friday – allowing us to pocket the entire premium that we sold.  We’re continuing to hold onto our position a little while longer and SELL CC’s and PCS’s.
-       Cheniere Energy (LNG) – is continuing to look like the poster child for a rising stock chart.  Nothing much to do with LNG other than ‘sit on our hands’ and SELL CC’s and PCS’s.
-       My energy portfolio (comprised mostly of small energy companies) continues to perform nicely (see below):

My current short-term holds (returning > 15.7% for June) are:
-       DRTX (Drug) – in @ $13.67 – (currently $17.90),         32% increase / 2 mo.
-       FEYE (Tech) – in @ $28.05 – (currently $38.95),          39% increase / 2 mo.
-       LNG (Energy) – in @ $57.40 – (currently $72.52),        26% increase / 1.5 mo.
-       MNKD (Drug) – in @ $6.35 – (currently $10.00),           57% increase
o   (Covered Call Premium / Income Plays in all of the above…)
-       AKRX – In @ $30.96 – (currently $33.91),                      10% increase / 10 days
-       ASX (Tech) – in @ $5.81 (currently $6.87),                     18% increase / 1.5 mo.
-       BAS (Energy) – in @ $25.94 (currently $28.95),            11% increase / 2 wk.
-       BRS (Energy) – In @ $75.07 (currently $80.26)                        7% increase / 1 wk.
-       FET (Energy) – in @ $30.53 (currently $36.33),            19% increase / 1.5 mo.
-       GTAT (Tech) – in @ $18.09 (currently $19.55),             9% increase / 10 days
-       HK (Energy) – in @ $5.25 – (currently $7.36),               40% increase / 1.5 mo.
-       IDTI (Tech) – in @ $15.03 – (currently $15.56),             4% increase / 1 wk.
-       KOG (Energy) – in @ $12.98 – (currently $14.36),        10% increase / 3 wk.
-       LSCC (Tech) – in @ $7.85 – (currently $8.50),              8% increase / 2 wk.
-       LSG (Gold) – in @ $0.92 – (currently $0.92),                 0% increase / 1 wk.
-       PQ (Energy) – in @ $5.87 – (currently $7.43),               27% increase / 1.5 mo.
-       PVA (Energy) – in @ $14.57 – (currently $16.34),         12% increase / 1.5 mo.
-       RFMD (Tech) – in @ $7.96 – (currently $9.88),                         24% increase / 1.5 mo.
-       SLV (Silver) – in @ $20.17 – (currently $20.29),            1% increase / 1 wk.
-       SPIL (Tech) – in @ 7.20 – (currently $8.59),                  19% increase / 1.5 mo.
-       SQBC (Retail) – in @ $13.81 – (currently $14.04),       1% decrease / 1 wk.
-       STIKL (Energy) – in @ 13.51 – (currently $14.07),        5% increase / 1 wk.
-       SIL (Silver) – in at 24.51 - (currently 14.39) – no stop,
-       GLD (ETF for Gold) – in at 158.28, (currently 127.02) – no stop ($1,320 per physical ounce), AND
-       SLV (ETF for Silver) – in at 28.3 (currently 20.29) – no stop ($21.18 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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Views expressed are provided for information purposes only and should not be construed in any way as an offer, an endorsement, or inducement to invest and is not in any way a testimony of, or associated with Mr. Culbertson's other firms or associations.  Mr. Culbertson and related parties are not registered and licensed brokers.  This message may contain information that is confidential or privileged and is intended only for the individual or entity named above and does not constitute an offer for or advice about any alternative investment product. Such advice can only be made when accompanied by a prospectus or similar offering document.  Past performance is not indicative of future performance. Please make sure to review important disclosures at the end of each article.

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PAST RESULTS ARE NOT INDICATIVE OF FUTURE RESULTS. THERE IS RISK OF LOSS AS WELL AS THE OPPORTUNITY FOR GAIN WHEN INVESTING IN MANAGED FUNDS. WHEN CONSIDERING ALTERNATIVE INVESTMENTS (INCLUDING HEDGE FUNDS) AN INVESTOR SHOULD CONSIDER VARIOUS RISKS INCLUDING THE FACT THAT SOME PRODUCTS AND OTHER SPECULATIVE INVESTMENT PRACTICES MAY INCREASE RISK OF INVESTMENT LOSS; MAY NOT BE SUBJECT TO THE SAME REGULATORY REQUIREMENTS AS MUTUAL FUNDS, OFTEN CHARGE HIGH FEES, AND IN MANY CASES THE UNDERLYING INVESTMENTS ARE NOT TRANSPARENT AND ARE KNOWN ONLY TO THE INVESTMENT MANAGER.

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