2008 Financials Thread

[NoSkillz]

Today was one of those days where it is just a joy to be in the stock market.

I benefitted from some great news on First Quantum Minerals (FM - TSX), as it looks like they have come to some sort of resolution with the Congo government on mining in that country. FM started the day at $77.69 and closed at an incredible $86.15, up 10.9% on the day.

Research in Motion (RIM - TSX) also had a nice day, gaining $4.04 to end trading at $99.04. I sold off a fifth of my shares in the stock just before close at $99.07, gaining about 2.5% on my one month investment (purchase price was $96.62). If the stock continues to go up, great...it just means more money on my current holdings. If it goes down, that's okay too...I'd look to buy back in around $90 or so.

I mentioned earlier my good fortune with Agrium (AGU - TSX) and now hold only a small position in that stock after my selloff. If it goes over $72.00 tomorrow, I'll sell off the rest.

I wasn't as fortunate with Quadra Mining (QUA - TSX), which fell $0.69 to $21.50 on a mediocre profit report. The shares actually plummetted to $20.30 at one point and recovered nicely at the end of the day. My dollar cost average on this stock is around $19.45 so I'm already in a nice position but I still think there is some potential for growth. I'll look to move about a third of my holdings if it reaches $22.50 or so.

Overall, I was up 2.79% on the day, one of my better days in the market for sure. I'm also well prepared should the market fall in the next few days, with over 25% of my investments in cash at the moment after my recent sales.

And the best news is that I'm finally up for 2008 after being down 15% at one point during the huge market falloff in January! The TSX is still down over 2% for 2008 and that's always my goal when investing in stocks - if I can beat the market, I'll continue to invest in equities on my own.

[Flasch186]

wow awesome work sir

end of day

The market seemed to shrug off the bad news of the day and took hold of the fact that it was hard to find real overt concern in the fed minutes release. We'll see if it can keep the upward mobility but there are still tons of bears who say that we must retest the lows before looking to turn things around. My short position means that I end up breaking even most days.

[MikeVic]

What do you mean by short position?

[Flasch186]

Being "short" a stock or the market means you think that that stock is going to go down. Some financial institutions or trading software will allow you "short" a stock meaning that you can borrow or "sell shares" at a higher price and then "buy" them at a later time, hopefully, after the stock has gone down. this is a very very cursory explanation and you should do your own DD.

To be long a stock is the opposite.

Certain ETF's have sprung up allowing you to play this type of position by trading a specific ETF for what youre looking for, IOW these ETF's value goes up as the market or the specific thing you're eyeing goes down. In this case I chose (SDS). Here are a list from another site of some short ETF's:

Short & UltraShort MarketCap ETFs:
ETF Name Ticker Benchmark Index
Short QQQ PSQ Nasdaq-100
Short Dow 30 DOG DJIA
Short S&P 500 SH S&P 500
Short MidCap400 MYY S&P MidCap 400
Short SmallCap600 SBB S&P SmallCap 600
Short Russell2000 RWM Russell 2000
UltraShort QQQ QID Nasdaq-100
UltraShort Dow 30 DXD DJIA
UltraShort S&P 500 SDS S&P 500
UltraShort MidCap400 MZZ S&P MidCap 400
UltraShort SmallCap600 SDD S&P SmallCap 600
UltraShort Russell2000 TWM Russell 2000

UltraShort Style:
ETF Name Ticker Benchmark Index
UltraShort Russell1000 Value SJF Russell 1000 Value
UltraShort Russell1000 Growth SFK Russell 1000 Growth
UltraShort Russell MidCap Value SJL Russell MidCap Value
UltraShort Russell MidCap Growth SDK Russell MidCap Growth
UltraShort Russell2000 Value SJH Russell 2000 Value
UltraShort Russell2000 Growth SKK Russell 2000 Growth

UltraShort Sector:
ETF Name Ticker Benchmark Index
UltraShort Basic Materials SMN Dow Jones U.S. Basic Materials
UltraShort Consumer Goods SZK Dow Jones U.S. Consumer Goods
UltraShort Consumer Services SCC Dow Jones U.S. Consumer Services
UltraShort Financials SKF Dow Jones U.S. Financials
UltraShort Health Care RXD Dow Jones U.S. Health Care
UltraShort Industrials SIJ Dow Jones U.S. Industrials
UltraShort Real Estate SRS Dow Jones U.S. Real Estate
UltraShort Semiconductors SSG Dow Jones U.S. Semiconductors
UltraShort Oil & Gas DUG Dow Jones U.S. Oil & Gas
UltraShort Technology REW Dow Jones U.S. Technology
UltraShort Utilities SDP Dow Jones U.S. Utilities

[st.cronin]

Simplest way to think about it is short means you own negative shares of something. To get to a zero position, you need to buy shares - so to be short is to speculate that something will be cheaper in the future than in the present.

[Fidatelo]

The big thing to remember with shorting a stock is that you have no physical limit to how much money you can lose. When you go 'long' on a stock and buy 10 shares at $10 per share, even if the share price collapses or the company goes under you will never lose more than your initial investment ($100).

When you go short on a stock, the risks are much higher. If you shorted that same 10 shares at $10, and suddenly the stock price quadrupled to $40 per share, you'd have lost $400.

[Flasch186]

February 21

Quite the game to be played this morning as the market awaits 2 economic reports at 10. Theyre lookking for a sweet spot. The markets want the reports to show that the economy will "skirt" a recession but be weak enough to allow the fed to cut rates in March. In the meantime, the futures point to a slightly higher open. I am thinking of cutting my share of Wal-Mart at a small profit if it heads higher to further boldter my belief that we will see a leg downward, sometime soon. Thus keeping my losing short position on. We'll see...

[NoSkillz]

PRE-MARKET

Research in Motion (RIM - TSX; RIMM - NYSE) reported this morning that subscriber additions are up 15-20% from projections and the stock is going CRAZY in the premarket trading, up about 10% or so.

My good fortune continues this week!

The stock ended trading yesterday at $99.04 and is already at $108.50 in premarket trading. I will (hopefully) be moving completely out of the stock today, hopefully getting around $111.00/share and making a very tidy profit. Updates to come...

[MikeVic]

You skillful bastard!

[Marc Vaughan]

Well played NoSkillz - I got in and out of Warner Music (WMG) very quickly yesterday for a quick gain (around 5%) which happily meant I dodged the backlash in that stock this morning.

I'm holding onto NetFlix (NTFX) as I think there's more to go on that run and I couldn't resist buying back into E-Trade (ETFC) as its well below the price I sold on a week or two back, fingers crossed I don't regret it.

All in all today the market appeasr to have been hammered which makes NoSkillz gains look even more majestic imho ...

(personally I'm pretty much at break even today)

[Flasch186]

im up slightly today as Cisco (CSCO) got an upgrade and my short is beginning it's climb that I hope will continue. I am so tempted to sell Wal-mart (WMT) which is still up in an effort to hopefully buy in cheaper whent he fall comes that I am forecasting. ugh

good job noskillz!!

[NoSkillz]

Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in awhile

Just a quick update on Research in Motion...I'll give a full rundown of my crazy (but superb) day at the end of the trading session.

I sold off 3/4 of my holdings in RIM as of 2:30pm today in three separate transactions, selling off at $109.11, $109.34 & $109.85. I had to readjust my strategy at about 10:00am when it became apparent that the stock was unlikely to reach my initial target of $112. Either way, I'm elated with the result, which saw me gain 9.6% on the stock (after commissions) in about 6-7 weeks of ownership. It's even better when you realize I was DOWN about 12% on my RIM holdings just two weeks ago (it fell to about $82 and change last week). What a turnaround!

I still hold a small position at this point, just in case there's another bump in the next couple days. If it regresses, I'll look to buy back in somewhere around $90-$95.

I've been quite fortunate this week to have a lot going my way. However, I do have one real dud in my portfolio, something I'll talk a bit about at the end of the day.

[Marc Vaughan]

I've been quite fortunate this week to have a lot going my way. However, I do have one real dud in my portfolio, something I'll talk a bit about at the end of the day.

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has consistently under-performed for me - I bought it because its a solid multi-national company with decent performance and dividends*, but its down about 5% since I initially bought (and has been as far down as 7% at times).

I've taken the approach (after much deliberation) of deciding its still a decent stock and buying into it at the lower price - the theory being that if it rises anywhere near the original price it'll at least break even for me.

Today it had good news with FDA approval on two of its drugs - its risen about 0.5%, not enough to make much difference but at least its in the right direction and considering the state of the market today I'm happy

*Oh yeah and they had a large plant in Royston, Herts where I used to live - which I have to admit I thought was kinda neat.

[NoSkillz]

Originally Posted by Marc Vaughan

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has consistently under-performed for me - I bought it because its a solid multi-national company with decent performance and dividends*, but its down about 5% since I initially bought (and has been as far down as 7% at times)

You call that bad?!

The stock I was referring to is Uranium One, of of the largest Uranium mining and exploration companies in Canada.

This was the first stock I ever purchased, on a recommendation from my father who is a big player in the market.

"I see big things ahead for this company", he told me, and I eagerly bought 200 shares of the stock that day, May 1, 2007, at $16.15/share. To that point, I had only invested in mutual funds but decided to branch out and start trading equities on the stock exchange.

Nine months (and lots of bad news later), I still hold the same 200 shares. Just the other day, the man who started the company handed in his resignation with immediate effect after a crazy run of bad earnings reports and lower than expected exploration results.

The stock has dropped another $1.23 today and now sits at $5.22/share. I'm down over 68% on that holding!!!

So it's not all roses in my portfolio and that's an important thing to note. Thankfully, I resisted the temptation to buy additional shares as the stock dropped, mostly due to the fact I could see that the company was struggling.

Thankfully, it was a very small investment (relatively speaking) and it hasn't hurt my portfolio too much. There's no reason to sell now so it looks like it will be a VERY long term hold.

[Flasch186]

yeah, not bad Marc, Im down almost 20% on Cisco (CSCO) and I lost more on Sirius (SIRI). This year if youre not down +-10% you should consider yourself up...

[NoSkillz]

Originally Posted by Flasch186

This year if youre not down +-10% you should consider yourself up...

Again, I always base my personal performance versus the performance of the market...in my case, the Toronto Stock Exchange.

The TSX (as of 3:30pm today) is down 2.37% for 2008. So if I can beat that, I figure I'm doing pretty well. Thankfully, after this great week, I'm UP 2.41% overall for 2008 so I'm a happy camper.

I don't keep stats on the NYSE or the DOW, since I've never traded shares from those exchanges but I'm pretty sure they are doing quite a bit worse than the Canadian markets. So again, compare your performance with the market in question.

[MikeVic]

NoSkillz: Where do you go to track only TSX stocks? I've been using Google Finance since I like its simple presentation, and the fact that I can track stocks easily. It also gives me relevant news links.

What do you use again?

[NoSkillz]

Post Mortem - Thursday February 20th

The TSX ended the day down 42.14 points, or -0.31%.

I had a banner day, mostly due to the huge performance of Research in Motion (RIM - TSX), which ended the day at $108.00 (see previous post for info).

I also sold off my remaining shares of Agrium (AGU - TSX) for $73.13/share earlier today. If you recall, I sold off most of my shares of that stock over the past few days at $69.78, $69.80 & $71.35 but kept a small stake just in case the stock continued to rise. I'm now out of AGU completely and I think I did a decent job extracting as much profit as possible today without getting greedy, as it closed at $71.66.

First Quantum Minerals (FM - TSX) continued to rise after the great news from the Congo government came in the other day. It rose another $1.50 to hit $87.65 (+1.7%) but actually got as high as $91.79 early in the session. I missed that number and I tried to sell off my shares at $90.50 a bit later but the stock never reached that number the rest of the day. I'm not too worried...I expect this stock to perform well over the next month and maybe even exceed $100/share.

I've already talked of my one real dud, Uranium One (UUU - TSX), which closed at $5.33, off $1.12 on the day or 17.4%! Again, I don't hold a big stake in this company so the effect was minimal on my portfolio.

Quadra Mining (QUA - TSX) was also down another $1.26 to $20.24 as the inevitable downturn continued after the subpar financials came in yesterday. I'm still in a position of profit on this holding despite the bad two day run (dollar cost avg = $19.45) and will continue to hold it, looking for an opportunity to move some around the mid-$22.00 mark.

I saw a small gain on March Networks (MN - TSX), a nice-sized 2.3% gain on HudBay Minerals (HBM - TSX) and losses on MGM Energy (MGX - TSX) and Teck Cominco (TCK.B - TSX) to round up the day. With AGU out of the picture, I now have a stake in eight stocks total. I try to never own more than 10-12 at a time.

Overall, I was up 2.05% on the day, quite a spectacular number considering the market was down overall. Again, I got lucky that my risky portfolio of mining & tech stocks came through today. As indicated, my down days usually are much worse than the market but my good days more than make up for it. You have to have a strong stomach but it's worked out for me quite well over the past year.

I'll continue to try to give updates on a daily basis of what I'm doing, even on bad days.

Oh yeah, I think it's important to note that after my sales today, I'm sitting with over 50% of my total portfolio in cash or the money market. So I may be a buyer in the days ahead, especially if the market continues to dip.

[NoSkillz]

Originally Posted by MikeVic

NoSkillz: Where do you go to track only TSX stocks? I've been using Google Finance since I like its simple presentation, and the fact that I can track stocks easily. It also gives me relevant news links.

What do you use again?

I'm with TD Waterhouse for my investments and they have a pretty awesome software package they give to active investors. I usually keep that browser minimized throughout the day and track my stocks on that. It's all real-time so that gives it an advantage over Google or Yahoo.

I do use Google Finance for some stuff and really enjoy their site - the news links there are excellent and I frequently visit the site to check on historical prices for individual stocks when conducting research or filling in my personal spreadsheet.

[Flasch186]

end of day

The day ended with a steep selloff and the markets a roiling in negative sentiment. Oil topped out just over 100 before falling back down and Boone Pickens came out and said that in the short term he see a 10-15% downside to oil. For the moment it seems that the markets are simply trying to hold onto gains but the pressure is on.

Cisco (CSCO) fell slightly at the end of the day after scratching and clawing to try to hang on to early gains.

Wal-Mart fell slightly too and the XLF (Financials ETF) fell sharply and seems to be headed towards more lows before coming back by the end of the year. One analyst forecasted up to 50% more losses in financials so the XLF and Citibank specifically will be under more pressure. Looks like I definitely got in too early there. Once again, tomorrow, I may move out of a long position if I get a pop on something. I almost pulled the trigger on WMT above 50.

The short went up quite a bit.

[Flasch186]

DOLA:

No Skillz, I am beomcing a bear in trying to foresee a monster hit over the next few weeks leading into a rise heading up to the March Fed meeting. This is why I want to get out of WMT.....Stinks that I feel stuck with CSCO and the XLF now. I could get out of the XLF easy and count my blessings if the analysts predictions prove true but I think we come out of this funk by Q4.

[NoSkillz]

Originally Posted by Flasch186

DOLA:

No Skillz, I am beomcing a bear in trying to foresee a monster hit over the next few weeks leading into a rise heading up to the March Fed meeting. This is why I want to get out of WMT.....Stinks that I feel stuck with CSCO and the XLF now. I could get out of the XLF easy and count my blessings if the analysts predictions prove true but I think we come out of this funk by Q4.

Well, at this point I don't expect to see the market appreciate much over the next month or so but while another dropoff is possible, I also wouldn't be surprised to see things hold strong, with the inevitable daily up and downs.

The market is fueled primarily on emotion right now (pretty much like always) and any good or bad news will move the market in that particular direction.

Guess I'm saying that anything can happen and I'll be prepared for either situation!

[NoSkillz]

PRE-MARKET

Futures retreated in pre-market trading in Canada but I continue to get positive news with respect to my own portfolio.

First Quantum Minerals (FM - TSX) reported record sales in their 2007 year-end financial report yesterday and also announced a dividend to stockholders which likely will propel the stock north once again. Things continue to look up for this company, which got great news from the Congo government earlier in the week about mining for copper in their country.

Otherwise, things look pretty bleak to start due to obvious overall nervousness in the US Market.

[Flasch186]

Originally Posted by NoSkillz

PRE-MARKET

Futures retreated in pre-market trading in Canada but I continue to get positive news with respect to my own portfolio.

First Quantum Minerals (FM - TSX) reported record sales in their 2007 year-end financial report yesterday and also announced a dividend to stockholders which likely will propel the stock north once again. Things continue to look up for this company, which got great news from the Congo government earlier in the week about mining for copper in their country.

Otherwise, things look pretty bleak to start due to obvious overall nervousness in the US Market.

thanks I had a meeting this morning and missed my update.

Tough day for the markets today as the market's down over 100 in the DJIA. My short is way up today (SDS) +2.24% but the XLF is losing ground. I was way too optimistic that we had seen the worst in the financials as it's down 1.39%. Wal Mart hangs in and so does Cisco so overall not too bad but Id love to sell Walmart over 50 hopefully before a tank. The same tank I foresee over the next few weeks before a runup to the FED.

[Flasch186]

racing to the end of the day

....on word that AMBAC will work through the weekend to possibly announce a "bailout" on Monday or Tuesday the market not only reversed it's losses but like a bullet. From down 100 to up 40.

My short ends up even while WMT, CSCO, and the XLF all tick higher. Again, I could now sell WMT for over 50 but the profit is so small I feel silly. ugh, Im the worst at making decisions. IF I think the market is going to take that leg down I should get out of WMT and rebuy it after a sell off. who knows. Like stated above there is so much emotion, volatility and money on the sideline I think Im just going to sit back and drink some Sweet Tea.

[Flasch186]

end of day

WOW how things changed! The dow finished up almost 100 and my short finished down almost a buck.

As usual I finish even for the day but not in the way I expected. I have to commit to one way or the other. If we're going to have that leg down I need to get out of the WMT position?

If the AMBAC bailout occurs the XLF could be getting locked and loaded for next week.

ugh.

[NoSkillz]

Post Mortem - Friday February 22, 2008

Strange, but pretty typical day today, as the Canadian markets swung up and down almost by the hour. A late rally led to the TSX gaining 76.38 points (+0.57%).

My portfolio lagged a bit behind the market but I still was up marginally for the day (+0.37%).

Interestingly enough, my pick for the hot holding of the day, First Quantum Minerals (FM - TSX) fell at the end of trading by $0.97 (-1.1%). It was up and down all day but the market must have sided with analysts who expected slightly better profits from the company, even though they had record sales for the past year.

The dud I spoke of yesterday, Uranium One (UUU - TSX) continues its freefall toward penny stock status, dropping another 13.1% today alone (!!!) to end the day at $4.63. Crazy!

Thankfully, I was able to offset those losses with gains on MGM Energy (MGX - TSX: +8.7%), HudBay Minerals (HBM - TSX: +1.3%), Teck Cominco (TCK.B - TSX: +2.1%), Quadra Mining (QUA - TSX: +2.0%) and Research in Motion (RIM - TSX: +1.2%).

It was a spectacular week for me in the market. The TSX was up 2.72% but my portfolio was up an incredible 6.7% overall for the week.

Things will slow down for me next week unless we see the market drop substantially. If that happens, I'll be a buyer but if things stay relatively static, I'll likely be just an observer, especially with so much sitting on the sidelines at the moment.

[Logan]

Owning a pretty small piece of Ambac, this was certainly an interesting day.

[Flasch186]

February 25

This is a charged week with a lot of data: PPI, Housing data, and Fed speak

...but it seems what is looking to effect the market is the possibility of a "bailout" solution for the Bond Insurers. Supposedly theyre close to having it in place but nothing official right now. It seems the Bulls want to use this as a placement of "the bottom", we'll see.

I just dont see the market moving up when the data comes out so Im keeping my short on.

[Flasch186]

data

housing data was ugly, a climb in inventory, a drop in median price, and a lateral move in sales. ugly ugly stuff and the market slides a bit on it but only slightly and we tick higher at a few points too. EDIT - Market has begun a steady climb.

I sell out of my Wal-Mart position at a small profit.

I truly believe that we will have a leg down and need to reload (3 days) to be able to take advantage should that occur. This, HOWEVER, exposes my short position and could maximize losses should the market start to climb and not take my XLF with it.

[Flasch186]

WHAT!?

Explain to me how the housing data can be interpreted as a bottom as some people are trying to infer!

EDIT: 230 pm - news popping about positive comments from the ratings agencies about the bond insurers and now the markets are high flying, up 175. Figures.

[Flasch186]

end of day

On an affirmation of the Triple-A rating for Ambak and MBIA sends the markets higher. Of course my short is down, again.

Im pulling my WMT off of the table to re-double my thoughts of a leg down. Boy so far this has not been a good bet.

[Flasch186]

breaking news

MBIA is eliminating it's dividend. so they keep the rating but give up the dividend. How will this be interpreted by the market considering the huge rally today?

[Flasch186]

February 26

Inflation PPI numbers come out at 830.

Id also like to point out that Sam Zell, a fairly famous investor, called the housing bottom as now to THIS SPRING! Woah. Im a doubter but this is the second positive call Ive heard in a week (the other being Hovnanian calling the end of '08).

[NoSkillz]

Belated Post-Mortem - Monday February 25, 2008

Sorry...was in meetings all day yesterday and wasn't able to really follow the market much.

Overall, just a solid, workmanlike day in the market, with the TSX up 111.52 points (+0.82%). The TSX continues to roll, with only three losing sessions out of the last twelve.

I have over half of my portfolio on the sidelines right now, looking for another re-entry point but I still saw a 1.11% increase on the day, riding First Quantum Minerals (FM - TSX) which was up $4.27 (4.93%) on the day.

My big dud in Uranium One (UUU - TSX) bounced back somewhat yesterday, increasing $0.42 (9.07%) to $5.05. I don't expect it to exceed $6.00 over the next month or so as the company tries to regroup after the resignation of their CEO last week.

All in all, it was a fine day, with only one loser in Research in Motion (RIM - TSX), which was down a marginal $0.82 (-0.75%). My other seven holdings all increased.

If we see the market rise yet again today, I'll be looking to offload some of my First Quantum stock and my Quadra Mining stock. If the market drops a bit (I'm almost HOPING for it to fall somewhat), I'll look to put some money back into the market.

[Flasch186]

--wanted to point out that due to my selling of Wal-Mart (WMT) it's gone on the typical Flasch sold rally.

[MikeVic]

What do Duke and Duke think?

[Flasch186]

huh?

[MikeVic]

Sorry, I was trying to make a Trading Places reference.

[Flasch186]

so the inflation news comes out and the market holds it's own. Consumer Confidence #'s are terrible. Target (TGT) barely beats it's lowered estimates and warns on the future and retail stocks surge. MBIA and AMBAK are rumored to have worked something out to hold onto their ratings and theyre making the tough decisions. The financials are weathering another round of bad warnings....

Is this the beginning of a bottom?

[Flasch186]

---again, I reiterate my recommendation to do the opposite of me. My friend calls me every day to see how Im feeling about things and what I might do and he's been very successful doing the opposite. It's unreal the HUGE moves that occur in the opposite direction of what I want and anticipate.

[NoSkillz]

Originally Posted by Flasch186

---again, I reiterate my recommendation to do the opposite of me. My friend calls me every day to see how Im feeling about things and what I might do and he's been very successful doing the opposite. It's unreal the HUGE moves that occur in the opposite direction of what I want and anticipate.

I'm wondering if you can explain your thoughts on buying a short for the market when you clearly have had some major holdings that help steer the US exchange (Walmart). Which do you root for? Your holdings to go up or the short to go up? I don't mean disrespect...I just don't understand the strategy.

It's almost like taking both the Patriots and the Giants in separate Super Bowl bets just to make sure you come out close to even but in the end, you have no chance of making money.

This thread is about learning and I just want to try to understand your strategy. Maybe there's something that I just don't see...

[Marc Vaughan]

It's almost like taking both the Patriots and the Giants in separate Super Bowl bets just to make sure you come out close to even but in the end, you have no chance of making money.

I'm presuming that Walmart is a long term bet whereas the short isn't.

In sports analogies - its a bit like betting on Liverpool to beat Man Utd in a single fixture but also taking Man Utd to win the league at the end of the season

PS - Personally I've stuck to the simple stuff, 'tis hard enough without trying complicating things

[Flasch186]

The Wal-Mart play was to be long however with an impending leg down that I think is coming I put the short on and hoped to sell WMT above 50 and then to re-enter when the entir market is drug down. Thus I simply overlapped my plays there.

--Marc's got it.

The XLF is a small long for me but one that I think has turned out to be one of averaging in for the year.

And CSCO I almost ignore since Ive owned it so long.

So I guess Im playing for the short in the short term and think that that may be the beginning of the end of the bear run.

[NoSkillz]

Originally Posted by Flasch186

The Wal-Mart play was to be long however with an impending leg down that I think is coming I put the short on and hoped to sell WMT above 50 and then to re-enter when the entir market is drug down. Thus I simply overlapped my plays there.

--Marc's got it.

The XLF is a small long for me but one that I think has turned out to be one of averaging in for the year.

And CSCO I almost ignore since Ive owned it so long.

So I guess Im playing for the short in the short term and think that that may be the beginning of the end of the bear run.

Ok, got it. Thanks for the explanation!

My only 'long' plays are those that are losing money right now!

I'll sell off anything where I've made a reasonable profit and where I feel I can soon get back into the stock at a price lower than I sold it for. Definition of an active, aggressive investor I guess...

[Flasch186]

keep in mind because im short in the short term you all are due for a monster run up, then when i buy into Apple (AAPL) which is where I'd love to be we will have a monster sell off and I'll be working nights at a restaurant.

[Kodos]

At Applebees?

[Flasch186]

i have learned that the ritzier the restaurant the less effort the wait staff has to exert and the more money you make. I have learned this from experience....some of the hardest workers in our country work the midnight shift at Denny's.

[Kodos]

I worked at a Denny's for about 2 weeks when I was in college. I was terrible. But at least some guy tried to pick me up.

[NoSkillz]

Post-Mortem - Tuesday February 26, 2008

Higher oil prices and a bounce back in financials fueled the TSX today to another positive day, this time gaining 99.56 points (+0.73%).

I had my seventh positive session in a row but lagged slightly behind the benchmark index, with my portfolio only gaining 0.43%.

I made one move today, selling half of my holdings in First Quantum Minerals (FM - TSX) at $93.17/share. My dollar cost average was $86.60 so I made a little over 7% on those shares in about two months of ownership. To give you an idea of how much this stock has moved in the last month, on January 21st, the share price was $65.82. It's increased an incredible 41.6% in a little over a month. Crazy.

Research in Motion (RIM - TSX) fell $2.65 today (-2.4%) and joined Uranium One (UUU - TSX) and MGM Energy (MGX - TSX) as my three losers on the day.

Five of my stocks were up on the day, with FM and Teck Cominco (+$0.96 +2.6%) being the biggest gainers.

I'm still looking to get more money back into the market and may be getting close with stocks like Potash Corporation (POT - TSX), which fell about 3% today so there may be some opportunity there.