That'll learn me

I meant to reduce my exposure to tobacco stocks once RAI got up just a bit. It turned out I had RAI and LTR, both tobacco stocks. I have known it for quite a while, but I just never did anything about it. Then RAI split 2:1 and I had my out. I was going to sell half when the stock reached just a little higher so I would have a full position left in the company. Well, it leaked and leaked and eventually, today, croaked when the latest lawsuit ruling went against them. RAI and LTR both stopped out for small wins.

That's the good news. ISIG and PWEI got stopped out for significant losses. Yuck! They both lost well more than I allow with my refined strategy. I just would not have bought them where I did if I'd had the strategy adjustments in place back on purchase day. Oh well, live and learn the hard way.

I also picked up an old stock again. NEU was a raging buy, and it did well after I bought it. It had a bottoming looking couple of days going right on its very aggressive trend line. I have a nice tight stop and if it makes it just a little while, I should pull a nice win out.

All in all, I got beat down today, taking a loss on a day the market flew. That said, the stocks I have remaining did very well. This was more of the clipping process to get things straightened out in the portfolio. The clipping now is really close to done. Not many remaining positions are horribly out of place. There are a couple of breakout plays that are a ways out from a trend break-even, but they are healthy at the moment.