Could Be Better
July 2nd, 2009 by 
reality
I was spanked on my bond short, at least relative to last month, which hurt performance quite a bit. But I’m hanging in there, there are a lot of bonds to be sold and I think the buyers will need quite a bit of incentive to do business.
More energy shares and the commodity positions went over the side. Equity shorts are still not working, despite occasional dashes to the downside. Economic conditions are clearly continuing to deteriorate, but the stock market is so in the spell of the black box boyz that price discovery just isn’t happening. But it will, if today’s job report is any indication. Anyway, I am much shorter now than at the end of last month. Maybe too much so, but what the heck.
| Measure | June | YTD | Inception | Annualized |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Absolute Performance | (4.9)% | 12.1% | 64.8% | 15.2% |
| Relative Performance (vs. FMAGX) | (3.6)% | (3.1)% | 120.7% | 25.1% |
| Relative Performance (vs. HSGFX) | (5.3)% | 5.5% | 59.5% | 14.2% |
| Relative Performance (vs. Fed) | N/A | 10.1% | 51.7% | 12.5% |
Relative performance is based on a relative return fund, FMAGX, an absolute return fund, HSGFX, and, newly added, “the Fed,” CPI-U price inflation as driven by public enemy number one, the Federal Reserve. Inception refers to reporting on the blog, and is based on the close of 2005.
6/30 portfolio.
| Asset class | % Allocated | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Food & Agriculture | 3.4 | AGU, POT |
| Energy | 8.7 | ECA, IMO, SU, CNQ, TRP, ENB, ESI (TSX) |
| Financial Services Shares | 8.9 | BNS, TD, BMO, FAZ calls (a bearish position – long Canadians, short U.S.) |
| Market Timing – Bear | 15.9 | SPX puts, NDX puts, SDS |
| Market Timing – Bull | 0.0 | |
| Metals & Mining | 7.8 | TCK, GG, AUY, AEM, ABX |
| Infrastructure | 2.3 | STN, SNC(TSX) |
| Fixed Income & Currency | 3.6 | FXY puts, TBT calls |
| Cash | 49.2 | Cash, essentially all FDIC-insured. |
Posted in * Portfolio changes, Asset Classes, Retirement, Strategy & Scenarios | 
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