Weekly: Thoughts and prayers for Paris France

First, our thoughts and prayers go out to the people of Paris France. Events on that scale, that keep investment losses or gains in perspective. 

The U.S. stock market tumbled. Some stocks such as Nordstroms JWN got hit incredibly hard. Part of me wants to say I saw it coming, but that might be revisionist hindsight thinking. Just a week ago, I wrote about missing the boat for the most recent rally. 

 

In any case, it was a decent time to be a chicken, and that may have been the best description for my market stance. I was down for the week, but the damage was modest. I some some strangles on AAPL, AMZN and FB, and went far out of the money. I believe every new position for the week is in the red, but that will tend to happen when the market moves down sharply.

Here are the trades: (c = calls, p = puts, sell means sell-to-open, all are third week expiration unless noted).

Mon 11/9/15 Sell BRKB Dec 125 p 53

Wed Sell CMG Nov 580 p 75

Sell AAPL Dec 90 p 25 (strangle)

Sell AAPL Dec 130 c 53

Sell AMZN Dec 550 p 136 (strangle)

Sell AMZN Dec 800 c 58

Thu Sell IWM Dec 100 p 21 (strangle)

Sell IWM Dec 124 c 17

Sell FB Dec 92.5 p 25 (strangle)

Sell FB Dec 125 c 20