MARKETS
I think one way or the other the markets will be happy once Greece is decided on. The uncertainty has been dragging markets down. All that silly politics from the prat in charge for the moment in Greece.
He's so childish but he is playing with his country's financial security. I wonder how many euros are hidden in property all over Greece?
I bet most have a massive stack of cash hidden away. The problems in Greece will never be over unless the people feel secure about their money in the bank. Until then they will continue to withdraw cash and stick it under the bed.
Tax collection has to be sorted out too - there is too much bribery and corruption. I would have thought best would be an all party coalition to try and sort out the mess and have some kind of plan for the future. Let's hope they vote yes on Sunday and get rid of the current child in charge.
Whatever happens over the weekend though I suspect markets will settle down pretty quickly. They seem fairly resigned now to whatever happens.
Spreadbet firms are cleverly doubling margins over the next few days which seems sensible to stop people gambling too much on events.
None of this has any interest to me because in the kind of shares I buy, the short-term politics won't make much difference in the longer-ter, As long as interest rates stay low there is nowhere for the money to go apart from stocks.
However so far anyway despite the market coming back I've come off pretty much unscathed and even had some going up!
It was interesting doing the follow up seminar on Monday when the markets were tanking as it was fun looking for some bargains.
It's easier said then done but it's much better to pick up good shares after they have been marked down for not really much reason except that the market expects lots of sellers.
So I ended up doing quite a few live trades during the day. I'm afraid too many to list here but hopefully those that came could see how to pick them and see how supply and demand could help get the good prices, indeed got many "sell" prices as buy during the day using direct access.
The two I immediately thought were bargains were Easyjet (LON:EZJ) and Dominos (LON:DOM) - both marked down too much I thought. In case they ended up being short-term bounces got both on spreadbets.
Not sure how long I will hang onto either but looking for about 810-20 on Dominos, top of its recent range. Greece has no effect on the amount of expensive cheese and tomato on toast people buy.
Despite Character Group (LON:CCT) already going up a lot I bought some live on Monday. The shares still look very cheap - the company produces toys for most of the well known brands such as Peppa Pig and Doctor Who.
Indeed it seems to have nearly all the most loved characters.
It was a fairly obvious trade to pick up some more Telecom Plus (LON:TEP) - looks like the recent not so good news is now in the price while the very large 5% plus dividend does not go unnoticed.
It goes ex dividend soon and I'll pick up a substantial amount from that. The company could easily start growing again and the shares now don't take into account any new growth as it's no longer rated as a growth stock.
I've been buying quite a bit of Poundland (LON:PLND) also getting some live at the seminar. It's fallen quite a lot and now looks very good value up to about 350p.
I'm sure you all use the shops too! If they get cleared to buy up the 99p shop chain, the shares could even go to 400p.
I've also topped up yet again on three of my favourites. Topping up on the good ones long-term has made me most of my money.
So bought more Entertainment One (LON:ETO) - a fantastic share which I think has another 100-200p upside this year. In particular its library of shows continues to boom in value. And also topped up in another of my favourites Pets at Home (LON:PETS). Lovely profits here of more than £20,000 but more to come here.
And final top up is in challenger bank Aldermore (LON:ALD) - already in handsome profit here but more to come and I think this one could easily head up to the 400p mark.
I made more than £25,000 shorting Carpetright (LON:CPR) from 700 to 315 over 2-3 years. Since then the company has got stronger with a turnaround plan.
However it is now on a massive rating at over 600p with, at least short-term all the turnaround so far now in the price. So trying a short here targetting a drop to about 550p, possibly 525. A guaranteed stop looks to be worth trying here in case of the outside chance of a bid. I think I would be out fairly quick if there was strength but for now buyers seem thin on the ground above the 620 level. Some SB firms won't allow shorts in it - spreadex.com/nakedtrader does at the moment though.
I have made some other trades but going to save those for the seminar on Monday so those of you coming will have first look at those. I'll clear those up here in the next update.
Let me try and continue to clear up some trades I was too sick to go into last time... I sold Immobile for a lovely profit of £1,375. Results were excellent but it's reached the target I'd set and it seemed a good time to exit for now. I'd like to buy back on any weakness though.
scs (LON:SCS) just didn't seem to be going anywhere and I exited that for a small profit of £242.. Fxtn just kept coming back so it fell to a trailing stop to bank a profit of £358. Shame as at one point had a profit of over a grand.
Hard to know what to do with AGA (LON:AGA) which is in a bid situation - if the bid goes ahead could be more upside, if it does not, back to a pound so sensible thing I thought was to bank half at just under the 150 area and keep the rest to bank a profit for the site of £2,175 .
That is a total profit banked of £4,150 for the site.
Elsewhere some great gains around the place, we already covered nice gains in Entertainment One (LON:ETO), Pets (LON:PETS) and Aldermore (LON:ALD).
Merlin (LON:MERL) is on the way back after itst roller coaster problem .
OPG (LON:OPG) is on the rise after a decent statement this week. Could be a nice long-term winner. Dignity (LON:DTY) tries to hit 2200 again showing there is money in death. Vectura (LON:VEC) has been on an excellent run up and now doubled and a half on my first buy. With patience, I think personally I'm going to make more than £100,000 on it. Recent buy Redcentric (LON:RCN) reported some nice figures and that one is slowly moving higher. Spire (LON:SPI) is on the way back up after an early backer sold the last of its shares.
Also reporting this week was the lovely GB Group (LON:GBG) and rose nicely after results which were excellent. I've made many thousands on GB and been in since 20p. To see it with another nought on the end is sensational. I still think it will end up being bid for. 250p?
Lovely long-termer Porvair (LON:PRV)reported results this week - another excellent report from this one and I'm staying put! Been in it since 60p and now 320p. Who says long-term investment is a waste of time.
Amino (LON:AMO) stays higher and Energy Assets (LON:EAS) carries on moving slowly higher after a recent pullback. Quantum Pharma (LON:QP.) continues to do well and high risk Xeros (LON:XSG) is having a good run.