image owner: Business Insider

Hey, folks. Hope you’re having a great 2020 so far.  If you’re like me, it’s all about new challenges, personal growth, and constantly improving my investing strategy.   For this update, I’ll catch you up on what I’m holding in my Robinhood brokerage account and a few thoughts headed into next week.

OK, last week did not end so well, but also not so bad.  Thursday was unbelievable with SPY and many stocks finishing at all-time highs.  What could possibly go wrong?  Oh, yeah… the killing of Soleimani thing.  Now Iran says screw the nuke deal and Iraq tells us to leave. Yeah, not #winning.   But, let’s focus on market reaction.

Most of Thursday’s gains were given back on Friday’s gap-down. However, the open candle implied buyers did step in as investors weighed the economic impact.  It wasn’t conviction buying, however, so we’ll just have to see what happens on Monday.  At this point, it’s hard to predict Monday’s action because of the endless news rolling outa Iran.  For me, this means tightening stops and reducing number of new positions that are extended (hard to buy breakout stocks if market is weak).  My guess is that market will be negative this week and, overall, that may not be a bad thing as many of the stocks I want to own are a little overbought.

Not sure if Trump thinks this help…

The United States just spent Two Trillion Dollars on Military Equipment. We are the biggest and by far the BEST in the World! If Iran attacks an American Base, or any American, we will be sending some of that brand new beautiful equipment their way…and without hesitation!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 5, 2020

I don’t, but let’s see – next few weeks may kill or expand the market.  There is still a lot of cash on the sidelines so the necessary fuel to move up is there. However, global tensions could force traders to the sidelines.

 

Robinhood Activity:

Sold ULTA. Ugh. Can’t get an edge here, but I will buy if it breaks out of this consolidation pattern.

Sold some AMT small gains.

Sold some MRVL small gains.

Sold some SLB for some good profits.

Added some JPM.

Added some CRNT.

Added some IDXX.

 

Positions:

Cash 60%

SBUX

TWLO – full position

GLD – full position

T

AMT – half position

SHOP

IDXX

ROST

SLB – half position

LULU

DPZ

MRVL – half position

FNKO

LOW

ZM

PYPL

JPM

GPRO

CRNT