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This Friday is the expiration of our six April Covered Call positions. I would categorize these six positions as a good, but somewhat mixed bag, as only one trade looks like it will expire for its full profit potential (ANF), while four (TRIP, SUM, AMKR, AZEK) are in good shape but may need attention in the week to come, and one (ZI) which is mostly trading at a breakeven. As is always the case, I will update on where we stand with these expiring positions Thursday afternoon or Friday morning.

This week’s covered call idea is a company that is growing fast, and is doing the good work of helping families overcome a problem.

The stock market added to its gains last week up for a second straight week with the S&P 500 up 1.2% while the Nasdaq jumped 1.7%. Of note, February expiration is upon us this week. And all three of our February positions (Alcoa, Kohl’s and Snap) are in great shape, and likely to expire for full profits. But rest assured I will send you a full breakdown of these positions on Friday morning prior to expiration.

For the past several weeks, we have bought oils and commodity stocks. Today, I’m going to diversify our portfolio a bit, adding American semiconductor supplier, Onsemi (ON).

Retail investors may be “buying the dip” but institutions aren’t convinced the bottom is in. These three ETFs can help you weather the storm.

Two of our stocks reported earnings last night.

The major indexes have put together a positive week, with the S&P 500 up about 0.8% and the Nasdaq up around 1.6% for the week as we write this, mostly on low, late-August summer volume.

The ping-pong action of the market has continued this week, with quick, sharp fluctuations based on daily (and often intraday and even overnight) news and rumors of the progress (or not) of the U.S.-China trade negotiations, including this morning’s good-looking pop. Frankly, we are encouraged by the action, but to this point our stance hasn’t changed.

Our position hasn’t changed much since the start of the week. We’re relatively cautious (though not outright defensive) and stepping lightly as we wait for the market to confirm a new uptrend for leadership to take shape.

Once again this week, the real action came under the surface—last week’s modest rotation out of growth stocks and into the broad market turned into a gusher on Tuesday and Wednesday morning, with high-relative performance stocks getting hit very hard while cyclical areas surged.

It’s been a volatile week for the market, with some churning seen earlier in the week, a huge up day after the Fed’s dovish stance, and then today’s big wave of selling on economic fears and a newly-inverted yield curve (as of this morning).

Onto the market, the major indexes had a relatively quiet week ahead of the G20 summit, which is (mostly) taking place over the weekend.

As for the market, it’s been an interesting week and a crazy month. After last Friday’s plunge, stocks have bounced back strongly, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq both up more than 3%.

We discussed a couple of weeks ago how early January is usually volatile, and this year has been no different—in fact, with the headlines out of Washington, D.C., Georgia and more, we’ve seen even more whippy action than normal, with big moves in the indexes and especially among individual stocks and sectors, with 4% moves up and down happening nearly every day.

The iffy up-down-up-down action in leading growth names starting in late January led to some key breakdowns last week, and this week, growth stocks have been routed—the Nasdaq is down nearly 4%, but most leading names are off much more than that, with many coming completely unraveled.

AppLovin (APP) reported Q3 2021 results that surpassed expectations on the top line and missed on the bottom line. Maravai (MRVI) reported Q3 results yesterday that surpassed expectations.

Dividend stocks are often dismissed as being boring. But history shows that the returns aren’t boring. And this boring dividend stock is as reliable as any.

Long before the advent of the stock market, the ancient Greeks had a story about the benefits of long term investment options.

Black Swan events are unforeseen, improbable occurrences that can have a massive impact on the stock market. And we may have just dodged a big one.