July 5th Trades: TIP, NZT, Natural Gas, Russell Rebalance

I thought we'd see more follow-through on Thursday's rally. Markets moved to the upside because of two factors: beginning of quarter buying and the post Fed interest rate hike and economic commentary announcement from last Thursday.  I seem to be wrong so far. 

Today I added to my iShares Treasury Inflation Index ETF (TIP) at $98.26.  I bought these with the proceeds of some fixed rate treasury bonds that matured.  I just don't think regular fixed rate treasuries offer enough yield at just over 5% to compensate me for inflation risk.

I've been writing about NZT ,so I had to put some money where my mouth is.  I added to my New Zealand Telecom (NZT) position at $19.75.   I think the panic out of both the Kiwi Dollar and New Zealand Telecom is at a frenzy. I might as well buy some more. I am not quite at a full position after this purchase so I left a Good-Till-Canceled order down below at $15.75. I don't know if the stock will ever get there but just in case of some silly panic, I'm happy to add a little more.  That would be my last buy, however.

Added the last bit to my long position in Natural Gas.  At $6.00 I'm now at the maximum position I want in natural gas futures.  Now all I have to do is sit back and wait for some global warming or a summer heat wave to get those air conditioners cranking and drive up gas prices.  A hurricane that interrupts gas production in the Gulf of Mexico would also drive up prices but if it means people being displaced and killed like last year I'd rather not make any money in the position.

I exited some of my short term positions from the Russell Reconstitution:
Sold Exxon (XOM) (Bought - Friday Close $61.33 sold $61.83.  The stock closed even higher.
Bought back half of Las Vegas Sands (LVS) short .  (Sold Short - Friday close $77.86 bought today $74.75) - left a buy order for the remaining LVS at 70.25.

I'm am still in the other positions from Friday.  Though I have entered Good-till-canceled limit orders for all the other Russell Rebalance positions.

Disclosure: Nothing in this blog is meant to be a recommendation to buy or sell.  I do not give investment advice.  Do your own research.  Do not rely on anything in this weblog to make investment decisions.  I do not log all my trades here. I only those that I think might be interesting. Consult your own investment professional before buying or selling any security. 

I own all the positions described above.