Difficult to Stay Positive

Wow, was Friday an ugly day or what? Barron's says we will have a recession now. Many economists are saying we need a 50 basis point drop. At times it seems the US economy is going downhill fast. My portfolio dropped faster than the benchmark last week. As I said, difficult to stay positive.

I am just finishing "The World is Flat". And while the US economy may dip a bit, anyone who thinks the world economy will go backwards is crazy. Listen to this statistic: Beijing is adding 30,000 new cars to the roads every month! Here is another one: 16 of the 20 most populated cities in the world are in China. Their energy consumption is up 65% from 2002 to 2005. We have not seen anything yet.

When I read statistics like those, I think if you buy a stock in anything that China needs you have a built-in floor. That is why I hold TCK, TGB and NXG. I really need to add a steel producer as well. The appetite for stell as infrastructures are built in India and China will be insatiable.

Here is my weekly graph:

Then here are my holdings and how I am doing. I did sell my VPHM on Friday. I did not re-invest it all yet, but I did add to my GVHR position a bit as I did not quite buy a full amount of it in March.

Current Portfolio
Stock	Purchase Date	Cost	Current	Gain
TGB	4/16/2007	$2.64	$4.41	67.0%
ASEI	10/5/2006	$45.85	$66.63	45.8%
FDG	3/8/2007	$25.45	$34.01	36.0%
FTO	1/10/2007	$35.16	$40.50	15.3%
TCK	8/16/2007	$36.50	$40.65	11.4%
KSW	5/10/2007	$6.48	$7.20	11.2%
LRCX	7/3/2007	$47.51	$52.11	9.7%
VALU	5/29/2007	$44.01	$46.90	7.2%
DGX	3/17/2007	$52.11	$54.67	5.3%
CHKE	7/17/2007	$36.70	$36.84	2.4%
THO	3/26/2007	$40.30	$41.04	2.0%
NXG	12/20/2006	$3.04	$3.08	1.3%
VSNT	7/27/2007	$19.52	$19.61	0.5%
UNTD	5/1/2007	$14.51	$14.04	-0.9%
JTX	4/9/2007	$28.70	$28.00	-2.0%
RAIL	2/16/2007	$45.54	$44.43	-2.2%
WNR	7/27/2007	$53.64	$51.62	-3.8%
WSTG	5/15/2007	$14.98	$14.11	-4.1%
KSWS	7/27/2007	$23.94	$22.87	-4.5%
TGIS	11/30/2006	$9.18	$8.65	-4.7%
HGG	8/3/2007	$13.48	$12.80	-5.0%
BBSI	9/7/2007	$24.13	$22.52	-6.7%
PNCL	2/9/2007	$17.07	$15.18	-11.1%
CHCG.OB	6/5/2007	$5.93	$5.16	-12.9%
UG	6/13/2007	$12.09	$10.19	-15.7%
AEO	7/10/2007	$28.42	$23.82	-15.8%
PACR	1/3/2007	$25.46	$21.12	-16.3%
NOOF	4/27/2007	$8.59	$6.79	-19.5%
USHS	6/25/2007	$11.22	$7.92	-29.4%
GVHR	9/12/2007	$15.91	$10.86	-31.1%
IVAC	11/23/2006	$23.52	$15.58	-33.8%
EGY	12/13/2006	$6.42	$3.72	-42.1%
Gain/Loss Open Positions ($):				($15,694)
Gain/Loss Open Positions (%):				-2.7%
Gain/Loss Closed Positions ($):				$35,911
Gain/Loss Closed Positions (%):				7.0%
Total Gain/Loss ($):				$20,217
Benchmark Gain/Loss ($):				$45,793
Annual IRR:				3.9%
Total Gain/Loss (%):				3.5%