Archive | July 2013
July 9, 2013  

Trades

The portfolio sold its position in IYZ (Telecom) on Monday, July 8, and bought the Fidelity Autos mutual fund FSAVX (the CARZ ETF is unavailable through my broker).  Positions now include:

FSAVX   3810.4  shares  $189,300

MJFOX  12141.5 shares   $185,522

IBB          1253.0 shares    $228,885

Cash:                                    $20,868

July 1, 2013  

Portfolio, July 1, 2013

S&P 500:         1615 (114.9%)

Portfolio: $609,601 (121.9%)

IBB                   1253 shares    $223,647

IYZ                   7150 shares    $184,541

MJFOX     12,145.5 shares    $180,544

Cash                                          $20,868

Notes: The portfolio still holds IBB (Biotech), but sold IYT (Transportation) and ITB (Home Construction) for IYZ (Telecom) and MJFOX (Japan) at the beginning of May.  None of the four funds are up over the past two months, but we were fortunate to move out of ITB (Home Construction) before its 12% two-month decline.

June 3 numbers were as follows:

S&P 500:         1640 (116.7%)

Portfolio: $606,815 (121.3%)

IBB                   1253 shares    $222,319

IYZ                   7150 shares    $187,401

MJFOX     12,145.5 shares    $175,930

Cash                                          $20,868

jul13

July 1, 2013  

Stocks? Pt. 3

Through the first six months of the year, the S&P 500 is up from 1462 to 1606 (9.8%), while the Morningstar value portfolio is up 6.6%.

Applied Materials (+28%), Berkshire Hathaway (+23%), Microsoft (+26%), and Western Union (+23%) stood out as winners, but the portfolio had double-digit losers in Weight Watchers (-14%) and CH Robinson (-12%) as well.  As before, many companies in the portfolio remain good values, but simply are not among the more popular or trendy stocks currently.

Although the portfolio may remain a quality long-term investment short-term performance has been mixed so far.