Is That It?

After what appeared to be the beginning of a healthy correction in the early part of August, stocks held true to form and rallied back this week even as Ukrainian forces engaged and attacked a Russian armored convoy today. When news leaked about the attack, the markets did reverse their earlier gains and dropped meaningfully only to find support and rebound off sessions lows. The Nasdaq (chart) actually finished the day in the green. If you are long this market and are bullish for the remainder of the year, you have got to feel pretty good about how the markets have responded this week to a very unstable geopolitical global environment. For the week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (chart) gained 0.66%, the Nasdaq (chart) finished the week up 2.15%, the S&P 500 (chart) +1.215% and the small-cap Russell 2000 (chart) closed the week up 0.91%.

Does this mean we are out of the woods yet? I am not so sure. One thing that I believe will continue is market volatility. There is headline risk and equities are certainly reacting to sudden headlines that come out of Ukraine as well as the middle east. The surprise I think is how resilient the U.S. stock market remains in the midst of the geopolitical risks that are upon us. However, this is the one thing that continues to concern me is the escalation of conflict in not just one region but now in two. One way to insure a portfolio is to buy some protection in the form of S&P 500 puts, and more specifically puts on one the most popular ETF that tracks the S&P 500, the SPDR S&P 500 (NYSE: SPY) (chart). So if you have a long portfolio in equities, by buying put protection with the SPY’s, it is like buying an insurance policy should the equity market experience a correction. Put options go up in value should the equity or index you buy puts in goes down in value. Options are not for everyone and it is usually wise to consult with a certified financial planner(s) before implementing any investment strategy, I am just illustrating one way to protect a long portfolio by way of insuring it to a certain degree.

As far as I am concerned, I will continue to monitor the technical conditions of the aforementioned indexes and look for any signs of overbought or oversold conditions to act upon. As of right now the key indices are not in either condition. Good luck to all 🙂

Have a great weekend.

~George