NEWMONT MINING (NEM)

I sold my position in Newmont Mining yesterday Sept. 26 at $45.53 for a 9.5 percent profit. I held it for 4 months. I still like Gold but with it at an 18 year high we might have a pullback before going higher.

NEW TRADES Citigroup, BDV, & DOG

Today the Fed cut rates by 1/2 percent point and the stock market skyrocketed by over 300 points. Financial stocks have been hammered during the past several months because of the sub-prime loan problem and the weak housing market. The Fed cut signals that they are going to address the problem, thus the big upswing in the stock market. Right after the Fed announced I bought Citigroup and Black Rock Dividend Achievers which is heavily invested in Finanacials. I have been waiting for a sign to get into some of the big banks and this could be it. There are several other financials I like such as Washington Mutual, Bank of America, and Wachovia.
I purchased Citigoup (C) at $47.74 and it pays a 4.6 percent dividend.
Citigroup operates through a network of 8,140 branches, approximately 19,100 automated teller machines, 708 automated lending machines, and the Internet. A truly global powerhouse in the Banking & Investment world and a blue chip company.
Black Rock Dividend Achievers (BDV) was purchased at $13.90 per share and pays a 6.5 percent dividend. I already own shares in BDV so this is an addition to shares already owned.
My other trade was DOG which is a bet that the stock market will go down. I sold my position at $58.36 for a 2.7 percent loss. I am no longer so pessimistic on the stock market, especially if the Fed keeps cutting rates.

Hawaiian Electric & Cental Fund of Canada

I made new purchases Friday of Hawaiian Electric (HE) at $20.86 which now pays a 6.0 percent dividend. I made previous purchases of this company at a much higher price and hope this is the bottom.
I sold shares in Central Fund of Canada (CEF) at $9.40 for a 4.1 percent gain. I held for 3 months and again will wait for a price below $9.00 for another purchase.

ishares Dow Jones US Technology (IYW)

I made my first purchase in over a month today. I bought shares of ishares Dow Jones US Technology (IYW). This is a ETF or Exchange Trade Fund and the top ten holdings are Google, Apple, Microsoft, Intel, Cisco, Hewlett Packard, Dell, IBM, Oracle, and Qualcomm.
The investment seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the Dow Jones U.S. Technology index. The fund uses a representative sampling strategy to try to track the index. The index measures the performance of the technology sector of the U.S. equity market. The index includes companies in the following sectors: software and computer services and technology hardware and equipment. It is nondiversified.
Shares were purchased at $60.98 and will most likely hold long term.

NEW TRADES

On July 27 I sold several long time positions. I think we are in order for a downturn in the stock market.
Sold positions
Gabelli Utility Trust (GUT) $9.55 Held for 1 year and 7 months for a 19.7 percent profit
Wasatch International $23.36 Held for 3 years 6 mo. for a profit of 98 percent
Wasatch Strategic Income (WASIX) $11.29 Held 5 months for a loss of 1 percent
Wasatch Ultra Growth $25.89 Held for 5 years for a profit of 77 percent
Third Avenue Real Estate (TAREX) $32.93 Held 3 years for a profit of 91 percent
Third Avenue International (TAVIX) $24.54 Held 3 year 6 mo. for a profit of 60 percent
Third Avenue Small Cap Fund $26.66 Held 5 years 6 mo. for a profit of 101 percent
Netflix (NFLX) $17.26 Held 1 month for a loss of 12.7 percent
Sara Lee (SLE) $16.11 Held 1 year 6 month for a loss of 2 percent
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) Held 1 year 3 months for a 6.8 percent profit

New Buys
HRPT Properties Trust (HRP) $9.28 pays a 8.9 percent dividend
Wells Fargo Cap IX (JWF)$21.60 pays 6.4 percent dividend
Flaherty Preferred Income (PFD) $15.30 pays 6.6 percent dividend
Short Dow 30 Pro Shares (DOG) $59.87

As you can see I sold several long time positions, most at a nice profit. Many of the positions I sold were mutual funds. My exposure to the stock market has dropped rather dramatically, but I feel I need to take some profits now rather than watch them evaporate in this choppy market. I still own several stocks, mostly large stable companies like Coca-Cola and GE.

My new purchases are nice dividend payers. The Wells Fargo Cap IX (JWF) is a preferred stock which is more like a bond than a stock. Preferred stocks are mostly issued at $25 per share and have a call date in the future where the company can buy them back at $25 per share. The call dates are usually around 5 to 10 years out from the issue date. The payout on dividend is $1.38 per year, which means that when it was issued at $25 per share it's dividend payout was 5.5 percent. You can now collect 6.4 percent if you buy at $21.60 because the payout never changes and if you divide $1.38 into $21.60 you get 6.4 percent. Now the kicker is someday it will be called at $25 per share which represents 15 percent upside from this price. So you can collect 6.4 percent with a guaranteed 15 percent gain on top unless Wells Fargo goes bankrupt, which doesn't seem likely. Preferred stocks are great to buy in an enviroment like this because you can collect your Quarterly dividend while you wait to be called. The underlying price will go down if interest rates go up and they will rise if interest rates go down. But you can never lose if you hold them until they are called.

Short Dow 30 Pro Shares (DOG) is a bet that the stock market will go down.

A lot of money I made in my sold positions is now held in a Money Market account, I'll collect my 4.5 percent until I find some buys out there, but right now there seems to be too much risk in the market for my taste.

ETF IShares Global (IXC) (IOO)

I purchased two ETF's today. ETF's are Exchange Traded Funds and are basically like a mutual funds where they hold a basket of stocks but the expense ratio is much cheaper and the holdings typically don't change like a managed mutual fund. They are traded just like stocks. For example the IShares S&P Global Energy Index (IXC) which I bought today for $138.00 per share has a miniscule expense ratio of 0.48 percent. It holds energy companies and the top 10 holdings are Exxon, British Petroleum, Total, Chevron, Royal Dutch Shell, Schlumberger, ENI SPA, Occidental Petroleum , BG Group. . The other ETF I bought was IShares S&P Global 100 Index (IOO). Purchase price was $83.32 and the top 10 holdings are Exxon, GE, Citigroup, Microsoft, BP, HSBC, Total SA, Chevron, Proctor & Gamble, and Johnson & Johnson. This ETF holds the 100 largest Global companies.
ETF's are a great way to diversify, low expenses, and great liquidity.

Ruth's Chris Steak House (RUTH)

I bought shares today in Ruth's Chris Steak House (RUTH) at $17.27 per share. It trades at a P/E of 16.40 and has $1.05 per share earnings. The 52 week trading range is $16.72 to $23.00.
I owned this company previously on a short term basis and made a nice profit in a short amount of time.
Ruth's Chris Steak House, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates a steakhouse company. It operates company-owned and franchisee-owned restaurants in the United States. The company's restaurants offer food, beverages, and other services. As of July 1, 2007, it owned and franchised 107 locations worldwide. The company was founded in 1965 and is headquartered in Heathrow, Florida.
The nation's largest upscale steak-house chain was based in New Orleans when it made its Nasdaq debut in early August 2005. Three weeks later Hurricane Katrina hit.
Shares that opened at $19.80 lost more than a fifth of their value by the middle of November of that year. Ruth's stock has struggled to remain above water ever since, despite offering a robust growth rate and a compelling valuation.
Ruth's, now based in Heathrow, Fla., has a total of 106 company-owned and franchised restaurants. Expansion plans put it on track to have as many as 250 locations in six to eight years, and those restaurants are extremely productive. Ruth's return on capital stands at 19%, according to Reuters data, more than three times that of Morton's (MRT: 17.87, -0.09, -0.5%), its nearest competitor, and well above the 14% industry average. Meanwhile, return on equity stands at a very healthy 40%, almost twice the industry average.
Furthermore, the long-term investment thesis sounds persuasive, based on brand strength and Ruth's ability to replicate its highly productive restaurants in a variety of markets, both here and abroad.