I took a week mostly off from the markets. My trading continues to be rather boring. CAKE was one position causing consternation, but ended the option cycle ok.
Here are a few etfs, best to worst, 2021 year-to-date, no dividends included:
SPY SP500 18.6%
QQQ Nasdaq 100 17.2%
IWM Russell 2000 9.9%
EEM emerging market -4.2%
TLT US20 yr treasury -4.6%
GLD gold -6.5%
SLV silver -13.1%
My account up 10.4%, grade B- for this cycle. Stock indexes are the leaders. I have been extra cautious in 2021 because of the disastrous 2020. So I’ll take 10.4%. If at the beginning of the year, someone said you can have a 10% gain, with minimal stress, I would have signed up. Of course, onlookers may throw rocks, but I don’t care.
It is surprising to see precious metals lagging with all the talk about inflation. Recent news regarding the COVID delta variant and upheaval in Afghanistan, create more uncertainty.
If you look at the one year SPY chart, the trend is higher, with a nice channel uptrend. Of course by the time I spot trends, it sometimes reverses.
Afghanistan by itself is unlikely to have much impact on American markets. What comes next may. Will the Russians or some other foreign power move in to fill the power vacuum?
As I said in recent conversations, some days it is better to be a dog, and only have to ponder when the next snack treat is coming. Dog days of summer indeed.
