What did you trade today and why?

[Flieger]

Sold JBBB and JAAA (total of $134k). Waiting for good entry on my mid July Ex-div plays.

Flieger

 

[COcheesehead]

Sold DX. I had two rather profitable positions. One I sold predividend and then today’s sale. I captured a distribution as well. I might reenter, but the opportunity to lock in really nice cap gains in a relatively short time frame was too attractive

 

[Tacitus]

Was not sure if would add to FXAIX (S&P 500) or FZROX (Fidelity Zero Total Market Index). So did both.

 

[Flieger]

Sold DX. I had two rather profitable positions. One I sold predividend and then today’s sale. I captured a distribution as well. I might reenter, but the opportunity to lock in really nice cap gains in a relatively short time frame was too attractive

Looking at DX now. I have a really nice gain and could exit, then re-enter if it drops (all tIRA).

Flieger

 

[Flieger]

Looking at DX now. I have a really nice gain and could exit, then re-enter if it drops (all tIRA).

Flieger

Sold DX. $10.1k gain not including Divs of another $5.6k so far this year. If it drops back I will re-enter.

Flieger

 

[yakers]

Sold small holding of F bought at recent low, made 20%, it has continued to go up. I have, IMHO, a good instinct for when to buy, never could figure out when to sell so will never be a real trader.

 

[Sanstar]

Sold $200k of FNCMX and will buy $100k of FSELX next week to rebalance back to 80% equity. Will compare CD and SPAXX MM rates to decide where the $100k should go.

 

[pizza4me]

Bought several Montana muni bonds and NMCO to mostly replace a blob of positions that matured July 1st.

 

[big-papa]

Sold some IJH in each of our HSAs. Reason: to reimburse for this year's LTCi premiums and Medicare Part B premiums YTD. We do this every quarter. We do this to reduce our baseline MAGI for the year, which ultimately will increase the space for this year's Roth conversion in December, in which we'll convert up to below our best estimate of the 1st IRMAA tier 2 years hence. We intend to do this every year until the HSAs are empty.

In our TIRAs, an equivalent amount that would have been sourced from our TIPS ladders is then used to purchase more of the stock fund that we are Roth converting, thus increasing the amount we will convert over time.

All in all, it's not a huge adder, but it does help some.

Cheers.

 

[toreador99]

Sold some Fidelity Floating Rate High Income Fund - a little nervous about floating rates in this environment
Added to OXY, PDI and NMI - OXY incremental adds to reach a full position as long as stays below $46; PDI building this position slowly; NMI - just started this position a few days ago, diversifying my CEF muni income sources.

 

[drs]

Ended up throwing in the towel on my muni CEF's this week selling PFL (which really has been embarassingly bad for a pimco product) and 1/2 of VMO. Still long NMCO and some VMO. Will probably dispose of the latter during July. Accumulating cash in this particular account for a specific purpose.

Shifting my bond allocation outside of my bond CEF's and MREITS into short duration stuff. Its very hard for me to divine interest rate movements - not my baliwick, although we all need to do it. I do think that powell is "late" to ease as employment data has been pumped up by a technical fluke (see dick's post on the CEF board) and I don't know if that will result in the long end moving up (if we lose control of inflation via tariffs) or down (if we have persistent job losses). So its safer for me to be on the short end.

Furthermore, are y'all looking at precious metals & commdodities besides oil? Platinum up 50% in a year from its lows... that's not a healthy commodity market. Another reason why I don't want to be in any fixed income that is not easily exitable and short in duration because if it isn't compensating me for my risk, I don't want it right now.

Incremental adds to my basket of foreign ETF's (developed EWG, EWU and emerging market EMXC, EWW, ECH, looking for a new entry on EWZ) and slowly accumulating energy names like DVN and OXY on the cheap. Sold off 1/2 of XAR (defense) at the high, looking to buy back in lower. long PM's obviously.

Good luck to all. Just what I'm doing. Never a recommendation or an inducement to buy or sell securities.

 

[dickoncapecod]

Two unrelated observations from weekend reading...
1. In May, the US labor force fell by 813k and in June another 329k. I'll leave it to talking heads to argue why this is occurring, but it's pretty clear something important is going on in the labor market AND ultimately, 1142k --- over a million-one folks --- disappearing from the labor pool will reduce GDP.
2. The administration has carefully/repeatedly used language to maintain the illusion that exporting countries pay tariffs. In fact, they have ALREADY implemented the largest corporate tax increase in history, and those corporate taxesare likely to increase further as negotiations proceed. The negative consequences for corporate earnings are being ignored as equity investors whistle past the graveyard.
Regards, Dick

 

[Flieger]

Ignoring all the politics, I'll be implementing my Div chasing trades today!

Flieger

 

[MichaelB]

1. Month to month employment data is very noisy, it’s better to look at the year over year and trailing 12 month trends. That shows employment growth, but weak. One of the more concerning numbers, avg weekly pay, is almost flat. That points to weakening demand.

2, New tariff income is running around $20B per month. Definitely a tax increase (not the biggest by any means). We don’t know yet who is paying the bill. Eventually it will most likely lead to the bottom quartile of incomes households. The tax is on manufactured goods and they have the highest propensity to consume those.

3. Supply chain disruption is lurking in the shadows. It’s very hard to measure but has a strong multiplier effect, as we learned back in the Covid disruption.

 

[aja8888]

Here's the latest data drop and analysis from Wolf Street with the employment (jobs) numbers by in industry and government, if anyone cares to read it.

Total nonfarm payrolls rose by 147,000 in June, to 159.6 million. The prior two months were revised higher, as per the Bureau of Labor Statistics today. The low point was in October 2024 at 44,000 jobs created, followed by two very strong months in November and December, that helped squash the Fed’s urge for further rate cuts (blue in the chart).

The three-month average, which irons out some of the month-to-month squiggles and includes the revisions, rose by 150,000, the third month in a row of acceleration. The low point was in August 2024 at 84,000 jobs created, upon which the Fed cut its policy rates by 50 basis points in September (red line in the chart).

The increases of 147,000 new jobs in June and of 150,000 in the three-month average are near the 12-month average increase of 151,000 and are fine. The job creation machine is running at a decent pace. In a moment, we’ll look at jobs by major industry with charts to see how employment evolved over time; there are winners and losers, for sure.

Beneath the Surface of the Employment Report: How Jobs Evolved by Industry over Time, Winners & Losers | Wolf Street

 

[dickoncapecod]

Probably silly little experiment: bought ETHE at 21.18 and sold late July 21 calls for 1.07. Just want to see how it works out. Will report.
Regards, Dick

 

[dickoncapecod]

1. Month to month employment data is very noisy, it’s better to look at the year over year and trailing 12 month trends. That shows employment growth, but weak. One of the more concerning numbers, avg weekly pay, is almost flat. That points to weakening demand.

2, New tariff income is running around $20B per month. Definitely a tax increase (not the biggest by any means). We don’t know yet who is paying the bill. Eventually it will most likely lead to the bottom quartile of incomes households. The tax is on manufactured goods and they have the highest propensity to consume those.

3. Supply chain disruption is lurking in the shadows. It’s very hard to measure but has a strong multiplier effect, as we learned back in the Covid disruption.

Hi. Gotta disagree on CORPORATE tax hike size. Agree supply chain disruptions at least lurk. But gotta remember tariffs "work" this way, regardless of how prices and margins are affected AFTER corporations pay the tax: police officer to captured bad guy..."on your knees, hands behind your head or I'll shoot myself!"
Regards, Dick

 

[imjustawarrior]

Just sold VTI to fund my new car purchase. VTI was over weighted. VXUS still has some catching up to do despite the good year so far.

 

[TheWizard]

I bought two entire shares of VGT in my Roth IRA to use up dividends from last week...

 

[Flieger]

Bought JFR again for Div, added to CSWC and EIC for Div capture as well.

Will report back after SELL's as to actual Div +/- Price change net.

Flieger

 

[MichaelB]

Hi. Gotta disagree on CORPORATE tax hike size. Agree supply chain disruptions at least lurk. But gotta remember tariffs "work" this way, regardless of how prices and margins are affected AFTER corporations pay the tax: police officer to captured bad guy..."on your knees, hands behind your head or I'll shoot myself!"
Regards, Dick

We are not disagreeing. The importer pays the tariff in all cases, and can be a US corp, foreign business, commodities trader, or even individual.

Corporate profits in the US were $4T in 2024. If the current tariff rate continues it would be 6% of that. I assume it will, the additional tariff revenue is needed to offset the tax reduction.

 

[TheWizard]

I just bought 27 shares of MGK in my taxable account, thus knocking my settlement fund down to around $50.
Goal here is to hold 99%+ stock funds in taxable, up from 95%, thus reducing additional Ordinary Income from MM interest...

 

[aja8888]

We are not disagreeing. The importer pays the tariff in all cases, and can be a US corp, foreign business, commodities trader, or even individual.

Corporate profits in the US were $4T in 2024. If the current tariff rate continues it would be 6% of that. I assume it will, the additional tariff revenue is needed to offset the tax reduction.

Here's a look at the obscene corporate profit gains in the last couple of years in case anyone cares to read this. Looks like they were flat the first quarter due to slowing inflation:

The explosion of corporate profits during the high-inflation years stalled in Q1, according to data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis today. That explosion of profits was quite something. From Q1 2020 through Q4 2024, over those five years, pretax profits of incorporated businesses of all sizes in nonfinancial industries had spiked by 122%, and in financial industries by 97%. Over the same period, CPI inflation rose by 23%. But in Q1, corporate profits remained essentially flat.

In nonfinancial domestic industries, pretax profits of incorporated businesses of all sizes edged up by just 0.1% in Q1, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $2.95 trillion. Year-over-year, profits were still up by 7.9%, due to the surge last year.

The Corporate-Profit Explosion Stalls in Q1, on the Eve of the New Tariffs | Wolf Street

 

[dickoncapecod]

Take Treasury rate increases this week with a grain of salt. Big seller of 3s 10s and 30s -----
TREASURY. NOBODY needs to buy before auctions, and dealers need to sell short.
Regards, Dick

 

[MrMikeCT]

I've been stashing cash in JPST this past year, parking it for future opportunities. Freed up 10% today thinking the market will be a little rocky the next 6-8 weeks creating some interesting buys.
Added to JAAA and NMCO on the income side of my portfolio.
Added to WMB, giving me a full position.