Today we are going to keep the profits rolling by selling a defensive covered call in a recent earnings winner.

Sparked by an inflation data point that showed some signs of cooling, the market surged higher last week. The S&P 500 gained 6%, the Dow rose 4% and the Nasdaq gained a whopping 8.8%.

Last week’s “big” market-moving events (Federal Reserve and Jobs Report) brought further selling as the S&P 500 fell 3.25%, the Dow lost 2.25%, and the Nasdaq dropped 5.88%.

Ahead of the “big” Federal Reserve announcement on Wednesday, the market surged higher last week. The S&P 500 gained 4%, the Dow rose 5.7%, and the Nasdaq rallied 2%.

Maybe, just maybe, last week was the start of a fourth quarter market run, as the S&P 500 gained 4.75%, the Dow rose 4.9%, and the Nasdaq added 5.22%.

The market has had many ups and downs in recent days, though stepping back, the indexes have been trending lower. Essentially, while there have been some strong days for the indexes, we are in a bear market until proven otherwise.

A very promising start to the trading week, which saw the indexes surge higher by 5%, was somewhat washed away by last Friday’s post Jobs Report sell-off. And while the steep declines Friday were worrisome, big picture the S&P 500 still managed to gain 1.5% on the week, the Dow rallied 2%, and the Nasdaq added 0.7%.

The month of September was flat-out ugly for the market as the S&P 500 fell 9.3%, its worst monthly drop since March 2020 (Covid). And the numbers were similarly negative this last week as the S&P 500 and Dow lost 3%, and the Nasdaq fell another 2.7%.

As central banks around the globe aggressively raised interest rates, the stock market had its second straight awful week of trading. The S&P 500 fell 4.6%, the Dow lost 4%, and the Nasdaq continued its ugly slide, falling another 5.1%.

Before we dive into this week’s idea, let’s clean up a couple of positions that expired last week. Because of the general market weakness, today we are going to sell our stock positions in Qualcomm (QCOM), Oak Street Health (OSH), and Global Foundries (GFS). Once these sales are made, we will no longer own a stock or option position in these stocks.

Coming off three straight weeks of losses, the bulls staged a rebound last week as the S&P 500 gained 3.65%, the Dow rose 2.66% and the Nasdaq rebounded by 4.1%. Though of note, the market is down across the board this morning following a “hot” inflation report. The expiration of our September covered calls is this Friday. Expect to hear from me Thursday afternoon or Friday morning on how we will manage these positions.

The traditional last week of summer on Wall Street went out with a whimper, as the market fell for a third straight week. The numbers weren’t pretty for the bulls as the S&P 500 fell 3.3%, the Dow declined 3%, and the Nasdaq fell another 4.2%.

Today, a whopping eight Profit Booster positions will expire. Most are “slam-dunk,” full-profit trades, while others will go down to the wire.

The big takeaway, before we dive in, is we are going to let the situation play itself out, and come Monday/Tuesday of next week we will revisit our profits, as well as how we will manage the remaining positions.

The Cabot Profit Booster portfolio has three positions set to expire this afternoon. My plan is to simply let these calls expire, and then we will evaluate where we stand with the stocks come Monday/Tuesday morning, depending on market conditions.

August and September have brought plenty of ups and downs for the stock market, and not surprisingly the Profit Booster also had its ups and downs. One of our trades didn’t work, two are good, and two will expire for full profits. Let’s dive in …

Five of our Profit Booster positions expired on Friday. Two expired for full profits, while in the case of three covered calls, the stock closed below our short strike price.

Today is the expiration of our August covered calls. While last month was nearly perfect in terms of our trades, this month was a bit choppier. Let’s dive in …

On Friday the July calls that we sold against our JD and EQT stock positions expired worthless. Today, both stocks are trading higher, and I want to sell a new set of calls against each. Here are those trades, and approximate prices.

Today is the expiration of five of our July covered call trades. And despite the market having some ups, and even more downs, the Profit Booster portfolio had a pretty good month. Let’s dive in …

Despite many ups and downs, and a trade that went south fast (ZIM), the CPB portfolio held up fairly well during the most recent market rout. Not all trades are winners, but big picture, given the carnage, I’m fairly happy with June expirations trades. Let’s dive in:

The market has been a mess for the past several months, as countless stocks have completely fallen apart. It’s been UGLY.

Today is the expiration of April options. Because I am on vacation this week I won’t dive deep into the profits, and one potential loss, for these positions until next week. However, most importantly, for today the “headline” is that you don’t need to act on any of our April positions.

Despite the market falling dramatically the past month, the Cabot Profit Booster portfolio had a great March expiration cycle as three trades will close for full profits, while one is at a loss.

Today is the expiration of our three February covered calls. The big picture takeaway is that all three will expire for full profits, you don’t need to act on any of these trades, and come Monday we will no longer own a stock or option position in MRO, TECK and ABBV.