Category: Portfolio Update

What a week for the Big-Build Out portfolio?  Break-outs everywhere.  I can get use to +7% weeks.  If you are new to the Big-Build Out portfolio – it’s designed to capture growth in the emerging markets by buying stocks in companies that provide the stuff they WANT.  For more info read the backgrounder. 

Obviously, the stocks were all over the headlines.  I joined in and wrote one myself.

Supply and Demand: If China Wants It, You Should Buy It – Published on Yahoo Finance, Seeking Alpha and Financial Sense Online.

Here are some of this week’s highlights:

Continue reading “Commodity Stocks Break-Out”

It was a great week in the commodity patch Gold, Silver, Copper and Oil were up 3.2%, 4.0%, 3.9% and 1.5% respectively for the week.  Gold and Silver are quietly off to an excellent start this year.  Silver is leading the charge (+7.3%) with Gold right behind (+4.6%).  Interestingly the Gold and Silver mining companies aren’t coming along for the ride.  Take a look at these two charts.

Continue reading “Week in Review 2/9 – Gold Closes over $670/oz”

This thread tracks real trades in one of my portfolios. Refer to backgrounder for more info. 

We blew the doors off of the S&P 500 this week, as the Real Money Portfolio was up +2.6% vs. -0.7% for the S&P 500.  The star of the week was BHP Billiton up 5.4%.  That’s an amazing move for such a large company.  I wrote a separate article on the catalyst behind BHP’s move.  The article is making its way around the web as it was published on two of the leading financial web sites: Financial Sense Online and Seeking Alpha. 

The portfolio has been churned quite a bit over the past months while attempting to establish positions in anticipation of a major move.  With Gold closing over $670/oz and Oil flirting with $60/barrel, we may finally have the wind at our backs.  The first few days of next week will be critical. 

If this is not the start of something big - we have some cushion to whether a minor storm without too much damage.  Let’s take a look at the charts.

Continue reading “Real Money Portfolio – Update 2/10”

This thread tracks real trades in one of my portfolios. Refer to backgrounder for more info.  No trades this week.  How about that?  The objective is to get fully invested and ride the trend for awhile.  We have been fully invested for 8 trading days.  If we can survive this week without selling anything - I will feel a little better about possibly having the wind at our backs.

Let’s take a look at the charts.

Continue reading “Real Money Portfolio – Update 2/4”

We have had very little snow this winter in New England.  That’s great for me, but it stinks for the ski resorts.  Since the resorts can make snow, they have been open and looking for business.  However, psychologically New Englanders need to see snow in their back yards to get the mood for skiing. 

The same is true for oil prices.  Until winter truly arrived, investors were in no mood to buy oil.  As we suffered through our coldest week this winter, oil prices shot up 6.5% for week.  It moved up 5% on Tuesday alone.  The volatility of commodity prices always amazes me.  A 5% one day gain in the DOW would be talked about forever, but for commodities it was just another day.

Oil’s little brothers Gold and Silver started off the week following big brother higher.  However, those gains were wiped out on Friday as Gold and Silver fell 1.75% and 2.5% respectively on rumors of possible gold sales by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). 

So, how did our stocks fare in such a volatile week?

Continue reading “Week in Review 2/2 – Oil Continues its Rebound”