Crying "Uncle!"
Sell in May and walk away
17-May-04. As the saying goes, If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging. Observers of the stock market have also noted that the summer months generally produce lackluster returns, and this has given rise to another maxim: Sell in May and walk away.
Since January, the markets have gone nowhere but down. The DJIA is down about 5%; the Nasdaq is down about 6%.
My own results have been even worse. Although I've tried to shift my strategy a bit in accommodation to the vagaries of the market, it hasn't been successful. I've just gotten caught in too many sudden sell-offs for no apparent reason. I can only surmise that all the turmoil in the world has got everybody spooked.
I'm crying "uncle!" and putting my shovel away. I have put trailing-stops on all the stocks in my portfolio. If they go up, terrific; the stop will move up. But if they go down, the stocks will sell. I'm still well up from where I started a year and a half ago, but there's no point in watching it all drip away.
Sell. Rather than write up each stock separately, I'm simply going to summarize in a table. Que sera sera.
| Stock | Bought on | Buy price | Sold on | Sell price | Gain (-Loss) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AIRN | 04-Mar-04 | $5.50 | 17-May-04 | $4.85 | -12% |
| AIRN | 05-Mar-04 | $6.30 | 17-May-04 | $4.85 | -23% |
| BLUE | 15-Oct-03 | $6.02 | 19-May-04 | $4.25 | -29% |
| BLUE | 6-Nov-04 | $5.40 | 19-May-04 | $4.25 | -21% |
| BLUE | 09-Jan-04 | $5.30 | 19-May-04 | $4.25 | -20% |
| CAPA | 03-Feb-04 | $5.50 | 18-May-04 | $5.5936 | +2% |
| CZR | 10-Mar-04 | $13.35 | 19-May-04 | $12.79 | -4% |
| CZR | 12-Mar-04 | $12.75 | 19-May-04 | $12.79 | +0% |
| CZR | 17-Mar-04 | $13.11 | 19-May-04 | $12.74 | -3% |
| CZR | 04-May-04 | $13.50 | 19-May-04 | $12.74 | -6% |
| EWJ | 30-Mar-04 | $10.75 | 17-May-04 | $8.93 | -20% |
| EWJ | 05-May-04 | $10.41 | 17-May-04 | $8.93 | -17% |
| HDTV | 03-Feb-04 | $5.35 | 18-May-04 | $4.05 | -24% |
| HDTV | 08-Mar-04 | $4.90 | 18-May-04 | $4.05 | -17% |
| IPIX | 06-May-04 | $9.00 | 17-May-04 | $7.76 | -14% |
| IPIX | 07-May-04 | $8.25 | 17-May-04 | $7.76 | -6% |
| LVLT | 25-Sep-03 | $5.50 | 18-May-04 | $3.42 | -38% |
| LVLT | 06-Nov-03 | $5.41 | 18-May-04 | $3.42 | -37% |
| LVLT | 06-Jan-04 | $6.20 | 18-May-04 | $3.42 | -45% |
| SONE | 06-May-04 | $8.95 | 20-May-04 | $8.46 | -5% |
| TLCV | 23-Apr-04 | $12.78 | 17-May-04 | $9.86 | -23% |
| ULGX | 06-May-04 | $11.75 | 17-May-04 | $10.68 | -9% |
| VASC | 05-May-04 | $13.45 | 17-May-04 | $11.56 | -14% |
| ZRAN | 04-Jun-03 | $20.74 | 17-May-04 | $16.392 | -21% |