In Southern California, the weather during May is often described as May Gray, because of a morning overcast most days. The stock market advance falters. The QQQ gave up a good chunk of its 2021 gains. SPY still holding on. GLD advanced. I eek out a tiny gain, grade C+.
I’ve been doing more over writes, buying a few shares, selling way out of the money call to get close to delta neutral. More than a few stocks came out with stellar earnings then flopped. AAPL AMZN FB were some that I did the over writes with. I took a loss in WDC. I took profits in ASAN, which I have had since its first trading day. I still have a tiny position in PLTR.
Some ETFs year-to-date, best to worst
IWM Russell 2000 12.2%
SPY SP500 11.0%
QQQ Nasdaq 100 4.2%
SLV silver 3.9%
EEM emerging market 2.8%
GLD gold -1.3%
TLT US20 yr treasury -12.7%
My account up 6.3%, so I have moved ahead of QQQ for the year, but still lag SPY. Again, after my 2020 debacle (margin call and -67% drawdown), the new normal for me, is less overall risk, more overall cash.
Here is Southern California, May gray is often followed by June gloom. Will the stock market come out of its funk? Or will a real storm develop? Or will it be blue skies? As always, my predictions are no better than coin flips. My money is made by managing risk.
