Monday, August 16, 2010

August 16, 2010 The Stock Exchange with Church Hours

BAGAKOAA; August 16, 2010 The Stock Exchange with Church Hours


I know it sounds weird but think about it. So far this year 300 Billion dollars have left the equity market (Stocks) and headed to more fertile ground in the Bond market. I had a chance to enjoy a cup of tea this morning and watched about 27 minutes of Bloomberg. The used the word double dip 11 times in 27 minutes. So for the 6 and half hours the market is open we might hear the DD at least 143 times. OK allowing for commercials maybe 120 times. I can’t blame the talking heads for saying DD so many times. Today we had mostly bad economic news and the market was down and up and down and well nowhere. The volatility is driving even the most experienced investors and traders (Yes there is a difference boys and girls) batty.


On top of the volatility, you also have the memory of the Flash Crash fresh in our mind when the market strangely dropped almost 1000 points in a matter of minutes. (Way way way back in May) I can’t blame aging baby boomer for taking their hard earned or not money and moving it to BONDVILLE. I have to admit it is nice to see your cash balance make a nice jump and you don’t know why so you go into history and see the DIV (Dividend) with a nice big hunk a chunk a change next to it. No homework, no SEC filings, No chart analysis, just buckets of money coming into the account.


Plus now you as a trader and/or an investor, you have know about all those other places and their markets like China, Russia India and Brazil (AKA the BRIC nations or CRIB nations). And of course you need to know what is going on in the Eurozone and the PIGS Portugal Italy (or Ireland, heck fill in any country starting with the letter I except India) Greece and Spain. (BTW, hot tip here you can buy a 10 year sovereign bond from Greece with a yield of 10.86% Just kidding, I mean you can buy but it could be a little risky.) So there is so much to know and so much news coming at you everyday, but I have a solution besides entering BONDVILLE. (Keep in mind the SL portfolio is about 35% bonds).


How about we only open the market for one hour on Friday afternoon, say 4:00 EST to 5:00EST. Heck move it up an hour sot the folk in south Manhattan can get home a bit early to the family. Just one hour of trading. You have all week to figure out your trades, volume would be massive, you would have to worry or react to each and every crazy headline. It could work.


But until then, here is what we did today. Some positive news in the banking stocks had me add to our BAC and WFC positions. The credit loss situation for JPM and BAC and we must assume others slightly improved so we picked up a few more shares on the last weeks weakness.


HD reports tomorrow and I know quite a few of you have it. We are currently out (Except for maybe one of the kids portfolios-I’ll check), but they should hit the 71 cents a share in earnings they are looking for. (Thank you Mr. Cramer). If it does not hit and you won it, I would be picking some up on the weakness. If you don’t own it, might be a good time to start doing some homework.


The portfolio is getting a little stung AGAIN on its Natural Gas Plays. Rumors of a mild winter are taking steam out of the commodity. We are still pumping this stuff all over the states so we need more places to store it so we added to our position in PNG. We grabbed some more at 25.05. As a reminder, PNG PAA Natural Gas Storage, LLC develops and operates underground natural gas storage facilities. The company was formerly known as Energy Center Investments Corporation. PAA Natural Gas Storage, LLC is based in Stamford, Connecticut. It has operations in Michigan and Louisiana. As of September 15, 2005, PAA Natural Gas Storage, LLC is a subsidiary of PAA/Vulcan Gas Storage, LLC.


Looked at our Coke situation and decided the last four days or so created a decent buying opportunity so we added a few shares at $55.56.


We have been getting spanked in our AAPL position, but after the lackluster RIMM Torch numbers this morning we could only see it as a buying opportunity. We picked up more in most portfolios at the $246 range. (Come on Steve you can figure out what to do with the 46 Billion in your pockets, hint dividend before the tax reaper changes the rules on January 1st)


Again, the last few days created a nice buying opportunity for Boeing so we grabbed more at $64.26.


We also added to our FLS positions. Just as reminder, FLS Flowserve Corporation develops, manufactures, and sells precision-engineered flow control equipment, as well as provides a range of aftermarket equipment services. The company operates in three divisions: Flowserve Pump, Flow Control, and Flow Solutions. The Flowserve Pump division offers engineered and industrial pumps and pump systems; submersible motors; replacement parts; and related equipment primarily to industrial markets. The Flow Control division provides industrial valve and automation solutions, including a range of isolation and control valves, valve automation systems, diagnostic software, positioners, actuators, switches, steam traps, condensate and energy recovery systems, and boiler controls. The Flow Solutions division offers mechanical seals, sealing systems, and parts principally to process industries. Its products include cartridge seals, dry-running seals, metal bellow seals, elastomeric seals, slurry seals, split seals, gas barrier seals, couplings, and accessories and support systems. The company also provides aftermarket equipment services, such as installation, diagnostics, repair, and retrofitting. It serves oil and gas, chemical, power generation, and water treatment industries. Flowserve Corporation operates in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, and the Asia Pacific. The company sells its products through direct sales force, as well as through distributors and sales representatives. Flowserve Corporation was founded in 1912 and is headquartered in Irving, Texas. (Thanks FINVIZ and I believe Flowserve) we packed more into most portfolios today at the $96 range.

And in our White House Photo of the day:

"I liked the product so much, I had the Senate buy the company"

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