Jul

31

Daily Market Wrap 31JUL07

July 31, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Today was a very worrying day for the market. Despite the fact that inflation data came in benign and there were some positive earnings reports, stocks got hammered again on more negative news about the mortgage market and some less than helpful comments from Fed president Poole. I view the comments by Poole as particularly damaging because they raise serious doubts about a future rate cut.

As I said yesterday, I am watching the dollar for clues […]

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Jul

30

Portfolio rebalancing update 30JUL07

July 30, 2007 | 2 Comments

I made a number of significant moves to cut my exposure and reposition my portfolio today. My trading was perhaps a bit rushed and the results somewhat less than optimal, but I feel the portfolio is now better position both to capture upside and to limit risk in the case of further downside. Below is a summary of my moves:

Sells

KSW–cut the position in half at $7.89

URME–closed the position at $3.48

AYSI–cut the position in half at $0.41

HRBN–cut the position […]

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Jul

30

Macro outlook–the dollar is the key indicator this week

July 30, 2007 | 1 Comment

I’ve just returned from a two week trip to China, which was instructive in refining some ideas of the Chinese economy. During my time away I did not make any moves in the portfolio, and thus I have been caught by last week’s sharp selloff. Although the month had been looking solid before last Thursday, two sharp down days have dragged my portfolio moderately into the red for the month. The losses are not very severe, but […]

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Jul

12

Daily Market Wrap 12JUL07

July 12, 2007 | 2 Comments

This is my first market wrap in a while, so I am going to simply comment on a number of pertinent issues for trading in the past few weeks:

Subprime–Somewhere out there exists a tipping point where subprime losses have the potential to force liquidation in other asset classes. A correction (or worse) could be in the cards if subprime continues to worsen even if the economic impact of subprime remains small.

This week’s rollercoaster ride–Today’s gain in the markets appears […]

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Jul

10

Market update

July 10, 2007 | Leave a Comment

I am currently travelling and will be back at my screen more tomorrow, but it looks as if the portfolio had a solid day on Monday. I will have a more complete review prepared tomorrow evening.

Jul

6

Stepping up to the plate with NTRZ and AYSI

July 6, 2007 | 1 Comment

In recent weeks, shares of both NTRZ and AYSI have been taking it on the chin. Both stocks reported less than stellar earnings for the first quarter, and the stock prices have suffered as a result. However, in the grand scheme of things, the current pricing on these stocks appears very attractive, and therefore I decided to step up and add to my positions in both yesterday.

In the case of Nutracea, it is obvious that the public is […]

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Jul

3

Rotating from BSIC to take advantage of NINE breakout

July 3, 2007 | 4 Comments

This afternoon I decided to close my position in BSIC in order to free up more capital and capitalize on the breakout in NINE. I continue to like BSIC’s valuation, but the stock appears to be stuck in the low $1.40s for the moment and NINE looks to be pushing a breakout by retaking its 50 day moving average on substantial volume. Therefore, I decided to sell BSIC at $1.415 and bought a moderate position in NINE at […]

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Jul

2

Selling out of US Gold…for now

July 2, 2007 | Leave a Comment

This morning I decided to close out on my entire holding of UXG at $5.79. Readers of the blog will probably be a bit confused by the move, given my bullish take on the gold market from last week and the fact that I doubled my position last week at $5.05. However, while I continue to be a gold bull over the long term, I have also sat by as a UXG shareholder and watched the stock oscillate […]

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Jul

2

Taking profits and closing my holding of Northwestern Minerals

July 2, 2007 | Leave a Comment

This morning I decided to take my profits and close my holding of NWTMF.OB at $1.01. The stock has cooled off recently after posting very nice gains last month, and it looks to me as if the stock will be taking a pause for a while (barring more positive news). While I continue to like the prospects for Northwestern’s Niger uranium properties, I am looking to free up some capital to enter other trades at the moment. […]

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Jul

2

KSW awarded $15.6 million in new contracts

July 2, 2007 | Leave a Comment

KSW announced this morning that it has been awarded $15.6 million in new contracts to install HVAC units at a new development site on the Brooklyn waterfront. The contracts come from a real estate development group headed by Jeff Levine, with whom KSW has already cooperated on several projects.

The news is obviously quite bullish for KSW, as it adds some 15% to their backlog. Additionally, the contract reaffirms the quality of KSW’s work, as they continue to be […]

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