Sunday, November 2, 2008

Subscriber Newsletter Features and Portfolio Performance Through October 2008

Thanks to reader input, the subscriber newsletter has undergone several enhancements during the past month.

The Sunday edition of the newsletter continues to incorporate a number of regular weekly sections, including a market commentary, asset class outlook, market sentiment update, current investment thesis, and week in review.

Wednesday’s edition has traditionally been devoted to subjects such as sector rotation, volatility, market breadth, and related market sentiment issues. Recently, I have expanded the focus to include a more global emphasis, incorporated more macroeconomic and fundamental issues, discussed specific VIX options trading opportunities, and highlighted selected stocks and ETFs.

Some of the October features included:

  • Sectors Most and Least Likely to Lead a Rally
  • Hedge Fund Selling and Capitulation
  • Bottoms and Price Discovery
  • A Simplified Approach for Bottoms and When to Buy
  • Combining the VIX and the TED Spread
  • Should You Go Long at Volatility Extremes? A Look at the Nikkei (excerpted on the blog as Should You Go Long at Volatility Extremes? A Look at the Nikkei 225)
  • VIX:VXV Ratio Waiting for Confirmation
  • How to Trade the VIX
  • VIX Bear Call Spreads
  • VIX Bull Put Spreads
  • Capturing Volatility in VIX Options: A Trade Idea
  • Beaten Up Large Caps on the Move
  • Some Oversold Stock Ideas Using the DeMarker Indicator
  • What the Big Boys Were Buying When the Market Rallied
  • The Lack of 52 Week Highs in the S&P 500 Index
  • Evaluating Prospects for a Housing Market Turnaround – Inventory
  • Evaluating Prospects for a Housing Market Turnaround - Affordability
  • Biotech and Health Care Stocks with Offensive and Defensive Potential
  • Recent Sector Weakness
  • Overbought and Oversold ETFs

Since their launch (3/30/08 for the Focus Foreign Growth and Stock of the Week, 8/31/08 for the Focus Growth 2), the portfolios (equities only, long only) have performed as follows:

If anyone has any additional questions about the subscriber newsletter, or is interested in reviewing a sample, please feel free to email me at bill.luby@gmail.com