Overall my personal opinion is that the bull trend
is not over, but I do feel that my
cautious approach of which I wrote in early
January, remains the best strategy. The Middle East
has always been a problem area for the world and
until the day that the world does not run on oil, it
will always play havoc with stocks and bonds.
However increases in volatility through investor
anxiety can assist to beat the market since every
increase means better prices for options which I
sell, and increases my investing profits.
Two years ago I purchased a Toyota Prius hybrid
vehicle, but I can attest to the fact that it still
uses gasoline and by the time it enters the car
cemetery, it actually leaves a bigger carbon
footprint than my SUV or even a Hummer! Alternative
energy fuels are a long way off and they only ever
seem to come to the attention of the world when oil
prices skyrocket and gasoline prices rise
dramatically. Then all the government officials go
back to their “talk” about alternative fuels.
In my opinion, the alternative fuel is more likely
much better gasoline mileage out of the engines of
tomorrow. Personally I would love to own a vehicle
that gets 100 miles to a gallon. The auto companies
all claimed that they could not increase mileage out
of engines until Ronald Regan legislated it. Then in
many cases they doubled gas mileage. I believe there
are lots of alternatives to today engine
consumptions and I just wish the government would
push the manufacturers to get busy producing much
better engines with a lot less consumption.
Back to share prices which continue to be under
pressure. I remain firmly committed to my selling
put options strategy and I placed a number of trades
today including selling puts on
EXXON, TALISMAN on the Toronto Stock Exchange
(TX),
MERCK, TD BANK, also on the Toronto Stock
Exchange, BANK OF NOVA SCOTIA, again on the Toronto
Stock Exchange and
NUCOR. I have lots more puts to sell should the
pullback in share prices intensify.
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