Big Run Up – Sell a Higher Open
The rally off the earthquake low 9 days has been impressive price-wise, but anemic volume-wise. It looks like an absence of sellers versus an abundance of buyers. I have used the rally to reposition some portfolios and reduce exposure in others. I continue to believe there are more aftershocks coming later this month and in September.
The securities that worry me the most are the ones that fell into last Monday’s mini-crash, but haven’t rallied with the market. We have a few dogs in that group. Although it’s still summer, tax loss selling is going to become a real theme starting next month. It’s never too late to harvest losses and find something else or walk away.
On Tuesday we learned that inflation at the producer level came in a touch cooler than expected. Today, we will hear about consumer prices. I don’t expect a huge move in either direction. After the run up into today’s CPI, any higher open is an opportunity to sell, trim or reduce exposure. On Twitter yesterday, I was emphatic that Tuesday was not a day to do nothing. And as you can see below, we were very active the last two days.
I am sure people will ask why we sold some UAA and SBUX which were recent purchases. When my year-end upside gets met so quickly, it’s usually not prudent to look a gift horse in the mouth. We bought them well and they ran up quickly. Good portfolio management says to reduce some exposure.
On Monday we bought PCY, FJUN and more levered NDX. We sold KBE, XLE, RYEIX, EMB, FSEP, FOCT, QSPT, some DXHYX, some RYRHX and some UAA. On Tuesday we bought EMB, levered inverse S&P 500 and more DXHYX. We sold some SBUX, some levered NDX and some levered Russell 2000.
