April was very
quiet for me as I slowed down my options activity. With rates this high, it
just didn’t make sense to push it by selling short puts / calls. I’m willing to
do nothing and just let the cash sit and earn 4%+. I just want to be caught up
in a black swan event, which can destroy a short put / call position. My big
positions are as follows: Apple ~41%, Visa ~23% and Constellation Brands ~19%.
I can’t believe
that I owned a position in First Republic Bank at one point. It was many years
ago and subsequently sold it for whatever reason. The only financials I will own
are Visa and Mastercard as they have proven that they can survive a financial
crisis. I would never have thought in a million years that First Republic Bank
would get into this kind of mess.
I also have not
dabbled into any risk arb plays. I was very tempted to get into Activision
Blizzard based on the rumor of an imminent UK approval. The UK decision to
block the deal was a big big surprise. I’m glad I didn’t play it as I would have
likely gone in big and would be in a little trouble right now.
Looking to add
to some dividend paying stocks…
2023 Performance = +15.72% with
the running monthly returns as follows:
January +8.04%
February -1.60%
March +6.31%
April +2.39%