The Runaway Trader

If you’ve been reading this rag in recent days, you’ll know that I’ve been playing the Hartford consistently. Better yet, I’ve consistently been making money with this stock to finance my travels.

It’s up almost 12% today and that’s stupendous! (and I don’t often use exclamation marks). But whoooa. Isn’t that a trifle much?

This stock, like so many others, has been mercilously pummeled n recent months. Down from a six-month high of around 60, it brushed a puny $4 earlier but now is rebounding smartly. As it write, HIG is hovering around 19.40, up 2 bucks from its morning low. In my book, that’s too much. I’m expecting a neat pullback (and your chance to buy) the first “down” day we have. But keep this stock on your radar. I think you’re going to make mucho dinero. My hunch is there might be a bunch more of those 10%+ days ahead. And I’ll be there to catch them.

A Few Words about my Long Term Trading Account

Some months back, I decided as a test, to take some money out of CDs and place it in some long-term stocks, just to see if they could beat the paltry return I’d earn otherwise. To date, the answer is “no.” My few stocks are showing some strength but two of three remain underwater.

So what did I buy? Halliburton, Chesapeake Energy, and First Third Bank. Only HAL is showing any pizzazz. At best I think I’ll only break even by the time February rolls around. More on that around May 1, when I will have held these turkeys for 6 months.

And Now a Few Words for Thinking People . . .

Last night I was invited to a showing of Lost and Found in Mexico,  a slick hour-long documentary by San Miguel resident Caren Cross. She’s an absolute delight to chat with, and her film really gets you to wondering what life on this blue marble is all about. Sprinkled throughout her piece are interviews with Cross, her husband, and other San Miguelos about why they abandoned their American and Canadian lives and decided to relocate here. Their revelations are eye-opening and sure to get you to rethinking about the frantic lifestyles and the frenetic pace so many of us think of as the way it’s “supposed to be.”

I bought a copy of Cross’s film at the standing-room-only showing, but now I’m in a quandry about who best to give it to. I have several good candidates that I think should view it. Decisions, decisions.

Trading Today and Tomorrow

Frankly, I keep waiting for this market to drop its other shoe. We’ve been on a terror here recently, and I could use a -400 trading day. Not that being in Mexico gives me a yen for such faux-Mexican eateries like Chipotle, but CMG did take a huge upswing lately, and it pulled back today for reasons which are unclear to me. I may take a small flier on that stock. Otherwise, I’m hanging tight to HIG, and yes, FLSR when it drops back to 150.

Muy bien,

Charlie, the RT

Perfect trading morning. Stocks fell at the open—just what I both wanted and predicted. And if you jumped in around a half-hour after the open,  you were almost sure to make some money.

While I recommended you get into FSLR, I actually played the game with the Hartford. In at 16.3. Held on to cash out at 17.22. Nice runup and since it’s a cheap stock with ample sales volume, you can buy plenty. And I did.

But here’s a cheery note: had you taken my advice and bought First Solar on the opening pullback, you could have earned at least 10 points, and that’s not bad for a morning’s work.

This Afternoon, it’s on to the Movies

While you might think I’m going to see that 1940s classic Bogart flick, Treasure of the Sierra Madre since it was filmed a few hundred miles east of San Miguel (Remember: “Badges, we don’t need no stinkin’ badges”) I’ve been invited to a viewing of Lost and Found in Mexico, by “local” filmmaker, Caren Cross. It’s showing at Biblioteca Publica, San Miguel’s town’s community cultural center.

I say “local” because like so many San Miguel denizens, Ms. Cross, a former psychotherapist, is actually a transplanted Americano. Cross and her husband “ran away” from what some expats call the “absurd predictability” of living in their country of origin, to strike up a richer, fuller existence in San Miguel. New language, new foods, new culture, and most important, a new and exciting way of thinking about yourself.

Cross joined with some pros in the filmmaking business, and created a documentary about her experience. Since San Miguel is really beginning to grow on me, I’m anxious to see their treatment.

Could Cross have experienced Albert Einstein’s revelation on the trip inward”?

“Affirmation of life is the spiritual act by which people cease to live unreflectively and begin to devote themselves to their lives with reverence in order to raise them to their true value. To affirm life is to deepen, to make more inward, and to exalt the will-to-live.” I’ll find out later.

Meanwhile, there’s a pleasant little sidewalk café down the way I’d like to revisit for a latelunch. Plus, there’s an ATM machine nearby where I can download some of the $1500+ I earned this morning.

Hasta luego,

Charlie the RT

Over years of day trading, I have developed a dependable circadian rhythm that largely reflects trading opportunities in the stock market. I’m always up by 6:30 a.m. (CT), well before extended trading opens, and I need no Westclox to rattle me from peaceful slumber.

Now, whether I need one or not, I have an alarm clock: the bells of La Parroquia. La Parroquia by far the tallest structure in this hilly town. It’s massive spires and bell towers form a convenient telltale to orient all visitors to San Miguel, as well as a hot spot for los turistas.

And these bells are loud,  easily heard over all of San Miguel. And if you sleep with a window or two open to court the nightly breeze, they will wake you up.

I presume the bells are a call to an early morning mass, much like the call to prayer from a mosque in Dubai. I am unsure who rings those bells, yet I am sure he or she never attended the Regina Tower Bell Ringer school. They play no Christian hymns (I didn’t know bell tower music is usually written in the key of “C”).  They do not sound on the hour and half-hour.  Just a few stately Bong! Bong! Bongs! And then a rapid series of bongs rendered in an unfamiliar meter.

And beside the chimes of 6:30 a.m., they seem to occasionally peal without reference to event which I know.

That’s just as well. Some folks like to sleep late.

Monday’s Market

All of which brings me to the other half of my commentary:  getting a handle on tomorrow’s stock market. I’m expect, nay, I’m hoping for a serious retreat in the indexes—particularly so since the Israelis are unloading on the Gaza. Much as I hate to see that bloodshed, the market is due for a reversal. And by the way, what ever happened to “peace on earth, good will toward men”?  (Actually, I may have found the answer to that eternal problem. Try this link.)

When the market does pull back, I’m keeping my eye on FSLR, which has been rising phenomenally the past several trading days, and I’d like to join the upswing. And if the market doesn’t pull back, then perhaps Exxon Mobil l (XOM) will benefit from the global turmoil.

More tomorrow morning when I get a glimpse of the pre-market index numbers. In the meantime, I’ll study my espanol.

Hope your Sunday will be as pleasant as mine.