From first entry point of $12.00, BAS today crossed the $24.00 mark, making it an official 2X return on investment.
Of course, the market is caving in here; no one wants to hold long going into World-Cold War 3.2 over the weekend.
But, let’s look past that, and not let it ruin our getting drunk to celebrate.
Comments »The run higher continues, with CCJ and BAS both up over a percent again today. AEC and NRP are trading flat. UEC is north of 4% gains, but it’s small so no one cares.
HCLP is down, naturally. That’s my pick for March madness; so it has to be the lone skunk of my portfolio. Not to worry, not to worry. Just as soon as any chance of personal glory is off the table, it too will continue the run higher, making me a silent, very non-public, fortune.
Can’t give me marketable material that easily, now can we?
Just sit back and enjoy the show. The indices no longer matter to me. Rather, the public storytelling is shifting into my corner now. This is the Atomic Year, the Fracking Year – financial journalists need something to yap about, and my assets will be it.
And accordingly, that makes this the Thaler Year.
Comments »I spent last night running around Detroit, doing what-have-you. I rolled into bed around two after midnight, and have spent the day in a stupor, daydreaming longingly of dreaming today.
CCJ is easing off a bit, but look at the move it made. This isn’t a problem, it’s earned a small nap. Much like the one I want to be taking.
Markets look tranquil, and I’m just waiting for the blaze higher to resume. Foreign debt is calm; holy hell! Greed 10 years are back below 7%. How did this happen?
Who would have guessed going long Greek debt in 2012 would be the trade of the decade?
ZZZzzz
Comments »Here’s a quick review of where things stand. I took a cash position of around 30% towards the beginning of February. In spite of that, it really hasn’t affected my performance noticeably; actually, it’s down to a 27% cash position just from watching the rest of my asset values take off.
BAS is leading the charge higher, no contest. The natural gas cycle is back underway.
Of course, where would well servicing be without the frac sand that makes it all possible? HCLP continues its uninterrupted run, refusing to touch the short range moving averages for more than a few hours before blessing her stakeholders with further gains.
The multifamily space has been a source of strong performance for years. You wouldn’t know it if you looked at a long time frame. Analysts love to hate on these companies, because they lack vision. But I love them.
I sold this next one out entirely on February 10, while I raised cash. I’ve missed the last stretch there, but still made out handsomely, especially because my shares were favorably converted from CLP last year in a corporate buyout. I’ll look to get back in down the road.
Today’s windfall profits were brought to us by CCJ; it took the reigns and sprinted higher by 8%. UEC (not depicted) was also up 9%.
In case you missed it, this move was led by a report out of Japan confirming nuclear energy’s importance to the economy and intent of Japan to restart their reactors.
The government on Tuesday unveiled a draft energy policy that characterizes atomic power as an important electricity source, although the draft waters down some wording in an earlier version that was seen as strongly pro-nuclear in tone.
In the draft, the government said nuclear energy is an “important base-load power source” that usually supplies electricity continuously through the day, while vowing to push for the restart of reactors that have satisfied new safety requirements introduced after the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi complex disaster.
Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, who is responsible for compiling the draft of the so-called Basic Energy Plan, told a press conference that the direction of the policy has “not changed in principle” despite the revisions.
The draft is expected to become official with Cabinet approval in March, after consultations with the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition ally, the New Komeito party.
The cost to Japan for trying to navigate away from nuclear power is enormous. The UK’s Andrew McKillop, former Chief Policy Analyst of the European Commission, in The Market Oracle is estimating the total cost of decommissioning Japan’s nuclear fleet at $500 billion…before power production replacement.
Outside of Japan, the effects of nuclear fuel shortfalls are beginning to be felt. The end of the Megatons for Megawatts program with Russia is beginning to sink in.
Meanwhile, very much not in accordance with the wishes of anti-nuclear activists, Kazakhstan is busy setting itself up as the global trading desk of nuclear power, by creating a low-enrichment fuel bank in cooperation with the IAEA.
The negotiations on Kazakhstan’s bid to host the international bank of low-enriched uranium are nearing their final stage, Tengrinews reports citing the press-service of the Foreign Affairs Ministry of Kazakhstan.
“Kazakhstan is going to be hosting the International bank of low-enriched uranium of the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) and the negotiations of the Country Agreement on the bank’s placement are nearing their end. We believe that development of a comprehensive approach to nuclear fuel, including creation of guaranteed reserves of nuclear fuel, will contribute to promotion of peaceful use of nuclear energy,” says the Ministry’s message timed to the 20th anniversary of Kazakhstan joining to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Kazakhstan plans to take an active part in the upcoming Nuclear Security Summit (NSS), to be held in Hague on March 24-25, 2014. Kazakhstan supports the idea of starting the negotiation process and soonest development of the Fissile Materials Cutoff Treaty that will become an important step towards nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation.
The goal here, of course, is to disarm the arguments against broad adoption of nuclear power, world wide, over the concerns of rogue nations enriching their own fuel to the point of producing a bomb. It’s also designed to make it possible for countries that lack the sophistication to enrich uranium to gain access to nuclear power.
If the IAEA’s new bank approach is broadly adopted, nuclear reactors will for the first time be a possible solution in many places that would never have had the luxury to consider it before now.
Silver’s rebound brings up the rear. The metal is back above $20 an ounce, and looks good, following a black year and a 33% price drop.
Here’s my only bad investment so far this year – NRP’s 21% drop has cost me 2%.
I also have small (and increasingly smaller) positions in TSLA puts and PGJ puts. The TSLA puts have had no effect on my YTD performance as they blacked out last year – they expire in January of 2015. The PGJ puts were 1-2% of my account and are currently down 50% of where I bought them.
Their purpose is simply to provide absurd gains in the event of the unpredictable. But with a limited downside, neither is big enough to hurt me.
Comments »Now it’s uranium’s turn to takeoff. CCJ is lifting 7.5% today, and counting. UEC is up 8.8%. This is much more serious money for me.
On the natural gas side, HCLP and BAS are both full sized positions. But CCJ is a mammoth stake; we’re talking 20% of my book alone. Today’s move is adding 1.5% to my gross account change (which is slightly being offset by minor corrections elsewhere).
I have a big bet on uranium prices and the miners. If they make it this year, it will be one for the records.
Comments »BAS, HCLP, APC, CHK, COP…let’s be clear here, if it has to do with energy extraction, it is running hot and long. The natural gas plays are especially sweet here, and BAS and HCLP are making you rich, if you’ve been playing with me.
On Friday HCLP and BAS both bleed out and I was worried. But today, they’re right back where they started and there’s not a cloud in the sky.
If this keeps up, it will just be a matter of time before the major publications, scared of looking out of the loop, start putting out pieces declaring natural gas to be “in”, flooding small money retiree accounts and speculative, low-information traders into the sector.
I’m not missing out on the excessive gains this time. My trades tend to be wildly profitable anyway, but I can’t help but notice that just after I check the door, that’s when the really stupid offers start coming in. Why it happened in RGR just last year.
This time around, I will be the recipient of my 12X PE stock getting bid to 40X FPE stupid levels by your local college Bachelor of Arts student, making investment decisions with his tuition money based off Motley Fool articles. I’m so deep in profits on these positions and the story is so good, it’s just worth my time to wait.
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