Big Bad Bond Bear

By -

I am really, really pleased with how I handled my portfolio today.

Did I make a ton of money? No, not at all. The percentage change was so close to zero we might as well call it zero. The good thing is that I covered most of my shorts at good profits and went long the Euro and shorted the Bond (via TLT) at good prices. So the fact I didn't lose a bunch of money is more important to me today, since repositioning can sometimes be a very costly exercise.

Let me put it another way – – the closing bell just rang. My loss today was 0.07%. My loss on the portfolio with which the day began would have been 2.14%. I'll happily take the seven-hundreths of a percent loss, thank you very much.

I am heavily long the Euro and short bonds right now. I have hundreds of equity charts which will be dynamite shorts only after a very substantial rally. My "bottoms-up" approach told me quite plainly it was time to put on my bull horns (which, being short the bond, is the same thing).

1004-tlt