Stockcoach's Corner

I'm back from my brief vacation. As far as my portfolio is concerned, last week was pretty forgettable. I sold a few stocks (IFO and COBR) and bought a few stocks (a new position in JOB, and added to my positions in ACSEF and SCOP). All the trades were done through preset limit orders. I basically looked at the headlines for my portfolio before the market opened, put in a couple of orders, and then turned off the computer. All in all, the portfolio gained 0.3 percent last week, outperforming the major indices by a small margin.

This week began on a strong footing as ENPT, a position I opened recently, surged 50 percent after reporting an excellent quarter. Normally, I would take some profits when a stock moves so much in one day, but I think the quarter was good enough that there is still more upside than downside with this stock, so I'll hold my shares a bit longer. Still, despite ENPT's big move, the portfolio finished down 0.1 percent for the day as the overall weakness in the markets sapped into many of my other positions.

On an off-topic note, I finally finished reading Brian Greene's Fabric of the Cosmos. This is the sequel to Greene's earlier book, The Elegant Universe. If you are interested in cosmology (and if you're not interested, that's probably because you don't know much about it), NOVA made the Elegant Universe into a wonderful three hour series, which is available for free viewing through their website.