Yup, the market’s giving me a beating. Lost another 4.3% for the month, now running a -1.6% year-to-date. Since the Dow is off -4.5% for the year, I’m still beating a standard index fund, so no complaints. Markets just do this. 😛
Holding for another month:
| Ticker | Bought | Now | Months | Return | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AC | $47.05 | $44.53 | 1 | -5.4% | Alliance Capital Management |
| FDG | $91.85 | $90.32 | 2 | -1.7% | Fording Canadian Coal Trust. Oddly enough, this stock started as a loss but it’s improving. |
| NUE | $57.77 | $51.14 | 1 | -11.5% | Nucor Corp. Ow, ow, ow. Screen says hold it another month. |
| VLO | $67.28 | $67.30 | 2 | +0.0% | Valero, oil & gas. Was a 16% gain last month, gave it back. |
Selling these:
| Ticker | Bought | Sold | Months | Return | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AAPL | $26.345 | $36.39 | 6 | +38.0% | Apple Computer, adjusted for the 2:1 split. Best stock of 2005 so far, sold off profits twice to keep the portfolio balanced. Total return was 43.8% over 6 months, or an annual rate of 140.7%. But it’s lost 11.2% this month so *poof* now it’s gone. |
| APA | $63.76 | $56.36 | 1 | -11.6% | Apache Corp. Well. Now that didn’t do me any good, did it? |
| CMC | $24.965 | $25.99 | 4 | +4.1% | Commercial Metals Company. Up 36% last month, almost all the gains were erased this month. |
| KBH | $61.585 | $57.44 | 2 | -6.7% | KB Homes, homebuilder, adjusted for split this month. |
| KMG | $76.20 | $77.62 | 2 | +1.9% | Kerr-McGee, oil & gas exploration. |
| LDG | $34.19 | $36.72 | 1 | +7.4% | Long Drugs. Huh. A winner this month. |
| VPI | $33.02 | $29.13 | 1 | -11.8% | Vintage Petroleum, Inc. It would have been faster to burn the money, I think. |
| XTO | $35.32 | $30.11 | 1 | -14.8% | XTO Energy. I should file a burglary in progress with the police. |
New stocks for this month:
| Ticker | Bought | Sold | Months | Return | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AET | $75.60 | $N/A | 0 | N/A% | Aetna. Looks like I’m moving out of oil and homebuilders and into healthcare. |
| AYE | $24.58 | $N/A | 0 | N/A% | Allegheny Energy Inc. |
| BMHC | $55.40 | $N/A | 0 | N/A% | Building Materials Holding Corp. |
| CAI | $64.13 | $N/A | 0 | N/A% | CACI International Inc. IT and communications. |
| ESRX | $89.67 | $N/A | 0 | N/A% | Express Scripts Inc., an “independent pharmacy benefit manager.” Benefitting from prescription drug benefits, I suppose. |
| ITRI | $37.25 | $N/A | 0 | N/A% | Itron Inc. Wouldn’t want unincorporated itrons, of course. Looks like they make those electricity meters on the back of your house. |
| SPF | $73.05 | $N/A | 0 | N/A% | Standard Pacific Corp |
| SPY | $116.31 | $N/A | 0 | N/A% | S&P 500 Index fund. I had some cash left over. When I rebalance next month, I’ll sell this and move it back into a stock. |
| URI | $18.87 | $N/A | 0 | N/A% | United Rentals, Inc. I don’t know what they rent. Used industrial equipment, it appears. |
New options for this month:
| Ticker | Bought | Sold | Weeks | Return |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No new options until October. | ||||
Next trade will be June 6th.
Chasing the Wind 
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