The Markets Take, The Markets Give

I’ve had a lovely time away from the markets, and away from the computer. A little vacation always does the soul good.

And while I was gone, the market went crazy. The good crazy, not the bad crazy.

My portfolio, as a whole, is in the green for the year. THE GREEN!

Again, I am not a trader. And I’m not calling a bottom on anything. But I’m happy to see my investment choices are on the right side of good vs. bad.

My best performers have been EIT (Canoe Income Fund), AXA, GALP, PZA (Pizza Pizza), TROW (T Rowe Price), and IFN (The India Fund).

In addition, since I have several high-distribution ETFs, simply collecting the dividend each month has made up for the fall in stock price so far.

For instance, on HYLD (Hamilton Enhanced U.S. Covered Call ETF), I may be down around 6% on the stock from where I bought it. I have earned back 3% in distributions during that time putting me at only a 6% loss. The distributions soften the blow.

So, if the stock market only treads water for the next year or two, giving small 0% or 1% annual gains, my covered call ETFs should continue to earn money while the stocks they hold should retain their net asset value. This could be a good time for this strategy.

A couple of weeks ago, I did a dollar-cost averaging maneuver that brought the average cost for most of my biggest losers down quite a bit. I was able to reduce some of the average purchase prices per share by over $1 in some cases. I am now benefiting from that.

For instance, I doubled my position in OPP at $8.66, and today it trades at $9.16. I bought DLY at $13.00, and it’s now $13.49. And DSL at $10.66, and it’s now $11.39.

I bought ZLB at $37.06, and it’s now $39.09. ZWB at $18.03, and it’s now $19.20.

Again, not saying I predicted it or that I’m some guru. Just saw the prices as being an opportunity for more. They were my worst performers, and I expected they would perform better in the future.