A positive month for the June option cycle, but that big 6% down day hit hard. I was up about 3% for the month, but this lags the approximately 7% gain in SPY, 9% in QQQ. My severe March losses still dominate the year and I am at -48% for calendar 2020. QQQ is now up nicely for the year, and SPY is only down 3% or so. Again, that’s what tends to happen after a severe drawdown.
ETF summary, year-to-date numbers:
TLT +19.9% US 20 year Treasury bond etf
QQQ +14.9% Nasdaq100 US mostly tech
GLD +14.8% gold
SLV +2.8% silver
SPY -4.1% S&P500 US large cap
EEM -11.0% Emerging market equity
IWM -24.6% Russell 2000 US small cap
Again I sit at a dismal -48% because of the -67% margin call month in March. I continue to sell naked strangles, with low capital utilization (high cash reserves). With the extended rally then the big down day, I was overly cautious and lagged buy and hold for the June option cycle. That’s the bad news. The good news, is that I was positive for the third month in a row.
Wall Street is looking ahead. Main Street is only starting to recover from the quarantine, while broad market indexes are close to recovering all losses for 2020. Businesses are just starting to open up. As always predications are mostly for entertainment, especially when there remains a great deal of uncertainty in the economy and society.
