April 2023 Performance

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%

March 2023 Performance

It certainly did not feel like a big positive month, but a gain is a gain. I have to give credit to Apple for the majority of the gains in March. Still not much going on, but it is nice to have cash generating some decent yield these days. I’m sitting at ~ 5% cash right now and may stay at that level for a while with these rates.

So I’m just hanging tight right now and looking for a nice fat pitch…
 

2023 Performance = +13.02% with the running monthly returns as follows:

January +8.04%
February -1.60%
March +6.31%