Blog Post

Well it's 11:43 Sydney time and the All Ords is down 130 points! What's more, the Yen is trading at 97 (yes, a dollar bounce is probably coming but I'm enjoying it while it lasts) and gold is $1020! This bodes ill for those carry traders and US bulls. Will be very interesting to see what happens on the US markets when they open in a few hours.

My US shorts, believe it or not, have been languishing since January. My timing was dreadful, and I've been stopped out for steep losses on TS, BCO, and ERF. However, I'm still alive on TYC, CBSH, FRT, HIG, MKL, OSK, SUN, TEG, AXP, BBV, and EEA. If the markets tank this week, as they should given the news on BearStearns, my trades should all come good. JPMorgan's buyout may encourage some diehards, but surely only for a short while. I guess we'll see. In the meantime, I'm just loving the volatility and especially the ride on Gold and the Yen. Just hoping I can walk away with the profits at some point in the future before it all comes crashing down.

So far today my Oz longs are at breakeven despite the big drop. My gold stocks are counteracting the drops in my other longs. CGX, especially, is holding up. And, given its relative weighting in my portfolio, its action has a disproportionate effect on my long position.

Looking forward to the days when Covestor incorporates CFDs and other instruments. Hopefully they'll reconsider the merging of accounts as well.