When You Find Yourself in a Hole

Stop Digging

Great advice! I am not quite in a hole since the start, but I am in no worry of acrophobia either! But hopefully today was the start of the turnaround. While it was a dreadful day in the markets, my portfolio held up relatively well.

Ed's Talking Stock Comparison

People may recall that I read the blog of Ed's Talking Stock. It is fun reading, though he is a frantic trader. Back in early December, I set up a portfolio of fifty stocks (my so-called "spiffy fifty" to track against his essentially day-trading portfolio with a heavy commodity bent. My spiffy fifty is handily winning, as shown in the table below:

stock	Initial	Shares	Current	Daily Change	Y-day	Current Value	Total Change
afam	35.17	56.87	35.05	-3.58%	2,067	1,993	-0.34%
agx	8.43	237.25	8.68	-0.12%	2,062	2,059	2.97%
amed	28.49	70.20	33.76	-2.31%	2,426	2,370	18.50%
apol	35.35	56.58	40.04	-0.15%	2,269	2,265	13.27%
azn	47.99	41.68	48.41	-1.88%	2,056	2,018	4.73%
cbst	21.20	94.34	31.61	-2.05%	3,044	2,982	49.10%
ccme	15.87	126.02	11.88	0.00%	1,497	1,497	-25.14%
ceu	3.44	581.40	1.59	6.00%	872	924	-53.78%
chke	19.81	100.96	18.57	0.87%	1,859	1,875	-5.25%
cmtl	30.70	65.15	27.85	-2.25%	1,856	1,814	-8.47%
cnxt	1.43	1,398.60	2.38	0.00%	3,329	3,329	66.43%
coco	4.24	471.70	4.25	-1.39%	2,033	2,005	0.24%
csgs	19.02	105.15	20.11	-1.03%	2,137	2,115	5.73%
dell	13.65	146.52	14.71	-1.41%	2,186	2,155	7.77%
dlx	22.02	90.83	26.50	-2.97%	2,481	2,407	21.48%
eesc.ob	1.90	1,052.63	1.60	0.00%	1,684	1,684	-15.79%
eme	28.02	71.38	29.24	-1.65%	2,122	2,087	4.35%
frx	32.24	62.03	33.22	-2.12%	2,105	2,061	3.04%
gme	21.15	94.56	26.14	-0.98%	2,496	2,472	23.59%
hrb	13.37	149.59	17.67	0.06%	2,642	2,643	34.41%
idcc	34.71	57.62	45.30	-1.95%	2,662	2,610	30.51%
ipxl	18.29	109.35	26.28	-2.88%	2,959	2,874	43.69%
ksw	3.43	583.09	3.52	-1.12%	2,076	2,052	4.66%
lnc	25.12	79.62	28.37	-1.73%	2,299	2,259	13.14%
lo	81.74	24.47	97.83	-1.11%	2,421	2,394	21.27%
lps	31.13	64.25	28.51	-3.22%	1,893	1,832	-7.77%
mail	6.84	292.40	6.95	-1.56%	2,064	2,032	1.61%
mpaa	11.68	171.23	13.52	-0.59%	2,329	2,315	15.75%
mrx	26.88	74.40	34.37	-1.72%	2,602	2,557	28.09%
msft	26.89	74.38	25.08	-1.14%	1,887	1,865	-6.14%
navg	50.17	39.86	50.15	-1.61%	2,032	1,999	-0.04%
nvmi	7.42	269.54	9.89	-1.98%	2,720	2,666	33.29%
osk	30.50	65.57	33.38	-0.77%	2,206	2,189	9.44%
ppd	65.17	30.69	65.90	-0.05%	2,023	2,022	1.12%
prsc	17.48	114.42	14.05	0.79%	1,595	1,608	-19.62%
pwer	10.40	192.31	7.42	-0.40%	1,433	1,427	-28.65%
rtn	48.33	41.38	48.05	-1.56%	2,020	1,988	0.20%
scei	6.76	295.86	4.43	13.88%	1,151	1,311	-34.47%
sndk	48.00	41.67	46.31	-1.01%	1,949	1,930	-3.52%
solr	7.87	254.13	9.32	-3.82%	2,463	2,368	18.42%
supg	2.60	769.23	2.60	0.00%	2,000	2,000	0.00%
ter	12.43	160.90	16.80	-1.87%	2,755	2,703	35.16%
tnav	6.86	291.55	10.91	-1.09%	3,216	3,181	59.04%
tndm	14.71	135.96	14.41	-3.87%	2,038	1,959	-2.04%
tsra	19.93	100.35	17.22	-4.23%	1,804	1,728	-13.60%
uis	24.27	82.41	31.29	-1.76%	2,625	2,578	28.92%
untd	6.86	291.55	6.24	-0.48%	1,828	1,819	-7.58%
usb	24.76	80.78	25.56	-1.43%	2,095	2,065	3.43%
veco	45.07	44.38	46.81	-1.45%	2,108	2,077	3.86%
vr	29.59	67.59	32.39	0.22%	2,184	2,189	11.05%
Totals			-	-1.20%	108,657	107,354	7.72%
Ed	starting 12/3/10						-8.68%