Monday, June 16, 2008

6/16/08 Stock Purchase Update - Sold Potash and Intuitive Surgical

With the market decline of early 2008, these stock purchase updates have not been as fun to write. However, I am going to remain disciplined and do a weekly update until I sell the positions from the portfolios. Since all but one stocking holding has been sold, this will be the last update for this stock buy list. The original portfolio was based on a 10/15/07 updated buy list of Potash (POT), Southern Copper (PCU), CNH Global (CNH) and BHP Billiton (BHP) and a January, 2008 stock pick update of Apple (AAPL), Research in Motion (RIMM), Intuitive Surgical (ISRG), Priceline (PCLN), Core Labs (CLB), and Google (GOOG).

The overall portfolio gained 0.6% last week and now has total return of 21.3%. I sold Potash, to take advantage of a 0% long term gain tax rate, and Intuitive Surgical because its price had been below 50 day moving average for a while. My remaining holding is 20 shares of Google. Here's the current status of the the portfolio:



My Wealth Builder 10/15/07 Buy List
Stock [purchase date]SharesPurchase Price

Price When Sold

Potash (POT) [6/7/07]50

$71.59

sold 6/9/2008 @ 223.56

Southern Copper* (PCU) [11/13/07]40

$108.24

sold 2/19/08 @ 109.05

CNH Global NV** (CNH) [11/13/07]50

$55.22

sold 4/07/08 @ 56.87

BHP Billiton*** (BHP) [11/27/07]50

$71.54

sold 2/19/08 @ $73.98


*On 1/18/2008, the system gave a sell signal for PCU.
**On 2/1/2008, the system gave a sell signal for CNH.
***On 2/15/2008, the system gave a sell signal for BHP.



My Wealth Builder January, 2008 Buy List

Stock [purchase date]
SharesPurchase Price

Current Price 6/13/08

Apple** (AAPL) [1/17/08]25

$160.93

sold 4/25/08 @ $169.06

Research in Motion (RIMM) [1/17/08]25

$88.71

sold 2/22/08 @ 103.23

Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) [1/18/08]20

$261.81

sold 6/9/2008 @ 274.95

Priceline (PCLN) [1/18/08]25

$92.33

sold 5/20/08 @ 132.10

Core Labs* (CLB) [1/25/08]25

$116.25

sold 2/19/08 @ $121.67

Google** (GOOG) [1/25/08]20

$582.66

$571.51

Google** (GOOG) [2/1/08]10

$521.27

sold 5/12/08 @ 582.12

Google** (GOOG) [2/26/08]10

$457.44

sold 4/29/08 @ 552.99


*On 2/8/2008, the system gave a sell signal for CLB.
** On 3/7/2008, the system gave a sell signal for AAPL and GOOG. However, instead of selling at a loss, I will move this portfolio's remaining 20 shares of GOOG to my core holdings.

The market continues to be choppy. As of the close on 6/13/08, the Dow, Nasdaq and S&P 500 indices were respectively down 6.09%, 7.46%, and 6.47% year to date. Although significantly up from lows of 9.37%, 16.58% and 11.86% in my 3/17/08 Stock Purchase Update, the Nasdaq and S&P 500 are down about 0.8% from the previous week.

I continue to believe that the probability of a recession in 2008 is relatively high, if we are not already in one. The multitude of negative factors will eventually outweigh any actions by the government and financial institutions. Originally, the Fed interest rate cuts and other actions led me to expect that the bull market would last through summer, 2008. However, the economic data in early 2008 has caused the bull market to end earlier. For either case, I expect the market to continue to be choppy in 2008 with many short term rallies and declines. For now, I plan to close out the 10/15/2007 and January, 2008 buy lists. The remaining Google shares will be moved to my core holding portfolio. Hopefully, they can be sold in the future at a gain.

Overall, I am happy with the 27.9% gain from the sold shares. I will be updating the modified Unemotional Investor Growth stock buy list to identify new potential purchases for my trading portfolio.

Full disclosure: At the time of publication, I own shares of Google.

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This is not financial or investment advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2008 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

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