Into it...

I'm back in the game. I got SLW last week at 7.85 and I'm buying GG at the open tomorrow. I loved the price action and relative performance of the metals today. The broad-based equity run was lead by the metals which were all up big. Both silver and gold crossed their downtrend lines and have a lot of upside to make it back to their highs. I'll keep nice 5% or so stops in case I get it wrong but I'm pretty confident that the market has reached at least a temporary bottom. See the chart below pay attention to the break-through of the downtrend line as well as the MACD histogram indicating a possible crossover.

Out for a while...

I sold my positions in PTR, SU and USGL today all for small losses. PTR was particularly bad. I should have had my stops closer given the market weakness I doubled the problem then, rationalizing the positions because I still think all three are good long-term holdings they just may go down 35% more before they get back to business. I abused Barry Ritholz's number one rule..."Don't let a trade become an investment". Live and learn. I'm waiting to see what the Fed does at the end of the month before I stick my toe in again most likely. If I were in a position I would just short the Dow and Nasdaq with tight stops. I'll look into it more tonight.
Now that's a meltdown!

I had an unfortunate incident this morning. Someone broke into my car and stole some things. Couple of electronics worth 200$ or so. The criminals, in all of their intelligence, left the my 500 or so CD's and my $1,500 worth of golf gear in there. Way to go. Those losers are in trouble if I catch em'. I'm gonna beat em' for taking my stuff and breaking my window. And then I'm gonna beat em' for being so stupid. The city is getting old to me. My buddy Pete's brother and girlfriend just got mugged at gunpoint, another friend got jumped and had his jaw smashed in pieces by a guy with brass knuckles, just for his cell phone. Next time, take the phone leave the jaw. I'm gonna get out of here when my lease is up. I lost my patience with this area.

Home Depot's 180

Well it seems that Reason and Sound Judgement finally got the better of the folks in management at HD. They did an about face this week after shunning the shareholders at their annual meeting roughly a week ago (see Yahoo! article http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/060601/home_depot_shareholders.html?.v=2). It's a pity you get these overpaid CEO's who come in, do nothing for shareholder value (see 1st chart since current CEO's tenure started), lose ground to the competition (2nd chart of Lowe's Co.), take their multi-millions in pay and then have the audacity to tell the shareholders to shut-up and go home at their annual meeting. Remember, these are the people that OWN THE COMPANY! What geniuses at HD decided it was ok to hold a 15 minute meeting and then tell the shareholders they don't deserve answers to legitimate, well-thought out questions? Home Depot was a great company for a long time, with consistent growth, co-founded by Arthur Blank, a responsible and respectible businessman who happened to graduate from the nation's premier entreprenuerial school, Babson College. But, the current company seems to be a shade of it's former self. I haven't done any detailed analysis of HD's fundamentals and financials, but I have a problem with the company not being able to increase shareholder value during the same period as the biggest housing boom in the history of the country occurred. As a shareholder (owner of the business) I demand a certain level of accountability from those individuals I help elect to management. For those same individuals to say I don't deserve that right is a show of arrogance and stupidity. I don't own HD but if I did I would sell my shares. That type of governance has no place in my portfolio. HD may return to be a great company, but I don't see it happening under the current regime.

Charts courtesy of www.bigcharts.com - - A great Chart site...

Oils for the summer...

I plan on adding PTR to the my portfolio tomorrow to go along with SU. I would have liked it 2 weeks ago but I was so damn excited about how low USGL had gotten that I lost my wits (see post http://theskinnyreport.blogspot.com/2006/05/not-bad-day.html). Anyways the current RSI (14) is about 43 which is below my normal trigger point in strong bull markets of 50, but higher than it was recently so I don't consider it a chase. If the summer is remotely like last summer expect oil to go to $80+ and in that circumstance PTR will probably go $130-$140, which would provide approximately a 22%-32% return from today's close. Historically buying under the 50 day MA and around an RSI of 40 has proved a successful buying strategy (see chart below). Anyways, tomorrow is a big day for me potentially. I'll fill you in later when it's all taken care of.