I have been rather active in the last few days.  I have been trying to resist the urge to be greedy.  I am going against my mantra of “Don’t turn a trade into an investment and don’t turn an investment into a trade!”.  I did sell some long term plays last week, but avoided my past mistake of simply putting the proceeds on the sideline.  I sold out of some dead money positions (so I thought) and moved into a couple of firm plays that are also dividend plays (BLK, PFE, BP, GS).  BP has been a solid winner and has a yield above 6% a year.  Thanks for the BP call Teddy!!

I am currently in a TimothySykes.com short of DRGZ.  I will stomach the short term pain over the next couple of days since I don’t expect to be able to find shares to short.  Short them while you can.  I had some success with a past call where shares were available during the run but not during the fall (GWSC).

I am speculating on the earnings of FNFG (First Niagara Financial Group).  They are a regional bank (In my back yard) who have been clicking on all cylinders for the past 6 months.  They did 2 offerings during the worst of it.  Took TARP and were one of the first to pay it back.  They report earnings on Friday.  My option play is a speculation that the numbers will be good and will move this stock back up to the level the reached in late April.

I also placed a buy of ERX (energy bull).  This is a volatile way to play oil and the energy sector.  As I write this, half of my position sold off (7.48% gain in 1 day).  I am holding the other half to speculate on the EIA petroleum status report due at 10:30 today.

I have written many times about how much I like Corning.  I placed an option trade and the shares got caught in the market downturn.  I bought 10 more contracts.  I sold 8 of the 10 contracts yesterday for a 33% gain.  I am holding my last 9 contracts for a longer term play. If the recovery is real, Corning will be a big winner.  These are Nov 15 call options.  Plenty of time left and well into the money.

Bob

Check out my trading log to stay up to date with what I am up to.   I might not be writing lengthy articles regarding each move, but you can catch up on my thoughts with the Bob and Scott Twitter feed.

BTW: Scott has been on Vacation.  He’ll be back to share.