My Stock Picks Up 4.94%, Market Up 1.59%

Thanks for visiting my new and improved blog!  Now, let's make some money together...

The Wilshire 5000 closed at 11,680.30, down from 11,735.70, or .47%, since my post on 8/2/10.  The Wilshire 5000's 200-day moving average currently sits at 11,567.13, or .98% below Friday's close.  The Wilshire 5000 has now closed above it's 200-day moving average for the 5th day in a row.  In addition, the 10-day, 20-day, 50-day, and 200-day moving averages are all in an uptrend, which is bullish.

The Investor's Intelligence Survey was released on Thursday night. This week's reading was 38.9% BULLS, and 33.3% BEARS, for a spread of 5.6%. This is in comparison to a reading of 38.2% BULLS, and 34.9% BEARS, for a spread of 3.3% on July 27th.  In recent weeks we have seen the reading of BULLS increase, and BEARS decrease, this is a bullish sign.

The Volatility Index closed Friday at 21.74, down from 22.01 back on August 2nd.  All of the important moving averages for the VIX are currently in a downtrend, also bullish.

Now for the portfolio...
1) Verizon at $29.55, down 3.29% for the year, inclusive of dividends.  FTR, the recent spinoff, recently closed at $7.65/share, worth $53.55 to this portfolio currently.

2) AT&T closed at $26.54, up 1.14% for the year, inclusive of dividends.

3) GE closed at $16.45, up by 9.36% for the year, inclusive of dividends.

4) TBT, the doubleshort U.S. Treasury ETF closed at $35.78, down by 18.04% since my buy. 

5) FXP, the doubleshort China ETF, closed at $34.54, down by 20.55% since my buy, and after a 1:5 reverse split.

6) GOOD closed at $16.97, up by 26.05% since my buy, including the reinvestment of dividends. 

7) NLY closed at $17.50, up by 1.60% since my buy, inclusive of a reinvested dividends

8) AAPL closed at $260.08 up by 34.23% since my buy. 

9) January '12 Citigroup Calls closed at $.21, down by 52.27% since my buy.  Still long-term bullish on Citi, and I will reiterate this from now until January 2012.

10)  GS closed at $155.18, up by 14.02% since my buy.

Overall, the portfolio is up by 4.94% (4.27% for the DOW Dogs), versus 1.59% for the Wilshire 5000. The current basket of ten stocks that I am currently invested in, including dividends, is down 1.22% year-to-date. The spread between my performance and the overall market (Wilshire 5000) is at 3.35% outperform.