Closing "Other Picks"

I'll put my money where my mouth is. But wow, these picks did great:

Other Picks
• Bought AA @ $10.48 [11-26-08]
o Closed AA @ 13.34 [3-3-10]
o $2.86 profit/share; 27.3% ROI
• Bought DBA @ $24.80 [11-26-08]
o Closed DBA @ 25.11 [3-3-10]
o $0.31 profit/share; 1.2% ROI
• Bought KO @ $45.90 [1-6-09]
o Sold KO @ 53.9 [3-3-10]
o $8 profit/share; 17.4% ROI
• MSFT @ $20.49 [11-26-08]
o Sold MSFT @ 28.46 [3-3-10]
o $7.97 profit/share; 38.9% ROI
• PFE @ $16.07 [11-26-08]
o Sold PFE @ 17.32 [3-3-10]
o $1.25 profit/share; 7.8% ROI
• VLO @ $23.24 [1-4-09]
o Sold VLO @ 18.63 [3-3-10]
o $4.61 LOSS/share; 19.8% LOSS
• YHOO @ $10.58 [11-26-08]
o Sold YHOO @ 15.57 [3-3-10]
o $4.99 profit/share; 47.2% ROI

17.14% Average ROI

More positioning

Taking a more bearish tone.

Sold VLO for a 40% loss. ouch. I'll get this one back in the low teens.
Sold AA for a 20% profit.
Sold GDX for a nasty 25% loss after the put options I wrote last month got exercised.
Lightened up on AUY/UNG a bit.
Short SSO.

My spec account is now "hedged".

Bought another couple lots of VLO

Tip the hat to RVASpeculator for the hint, a series of higher lows. Lowered my cost basis by $6.

Long (live) commodities

The dollar has broken. As I indicated before, that means commodities are off to the races.
Backup the trucks boys. Gold, Silver, Oil. All the good stuff. Why limit yourself to the physical commodities? The stocks are going bananas too.

Oh my valero

I'm already in VLO for about 1000 shares, so I can't justify jumping on more. But goodness, this chart looks mighty bullish, with an easy stop at 14.50, a short term target of 25 and a medium term target of 35, with some potential resistance around 30. In short, 18.50 to 25 would be a 35% move itself. This is a great spot here even by buy-and-hold fellers for 5 years from now.