Spring is Here

I saw a few blossomed crocuses that are always the first sign of Spring here. Finally. They are a few weeks late as the overnight cold temperatures here were consistently about 20F for all March. Good news indeed, a change of weather will be quite welcome as the winter was very long and very cold this year.

A change in the markets would be welcome, too.

Here are the year to date results for my funds:

Krypto Fund: -3.03% ytd, a bit better than the results as of February 29, and hugely superior to the stock markets as a whole. This is the benefit of the massive asset class diversification investment policy of the Krypto Fund and the active rebalancing used. The prior large gold & silver holdings were sold near the highs in March as directed by the re-balancing policy. So this performance is really remarkable and proves the entire strategic investment policy of this fund works under times of great stress.

Alpha Fund: -14.4% ytd, again a bit better than the results as of February 29. This fund is very aggresive and now is 150% long after the partial sales of BAC, JPM and GE on rips. I had doubled down on those in a washout and so got a much lower average price. Hence my current holdings are properly sized to long-term investment and show nice profits. Big losses still extant are in C and WB and a small loss in GOOG.

I started making a few trades in the Alpha Fund after about a year's cessation to get myself over the psychology of wanting action. I'm using options to preserve capital and keep the activities from affecting my stock positions. Don't do this unless you understand options, including the approximate "delta" of the position and how the delta and the option value will change with the underlying stock price. I normally use in-the-money calls with a few months to go to expiration. I size the position based on the total value of the stock optioned, not the actual cash value of the options purchased. This keeps me from buying and risking too much money on these very risky securities. I've been trading options for over 25 years and understand the risks quite well.

So I averaged into a few LEH July calls yesterday. I think the bears are wrong and way too short this fine company. LEH sold $3 billion in a convertible preferred after the close and the issue was greatly oversubscribed. So this should settle the matter of the survival of LEH. I bought the calls when LEH stock was about 90% of book value. In my experience this is a very low price for a quality firm like LEH. Obviously this is a risky speculation. Now the waiting.

Word of the Day

"Chignon" - noun [$10] pronounced shen - yen' with both e's short as "set"
Chignon means a roll or knot of hair worn at the back of the head or nape of the neck.
Sentence: The mask of Sargon the Great of Akkadia [c. 2300 BC] shows that he worn his hair with a chignon.

"Anchorite" - noun [$10]
Anchorite means 1. a hermit; a religious recluse; 2. a person of secluded habits.
Sentence: There is no doubt that Bunkerman is a 21st century anchorite living in his well-defended and well-stocked survival abode. [joke]
Compare to "Coenobite" [US "cenobite"], being a member of a monastic community.