August 2010 Trading

Another month, another 31 days of disappointment. Actually it wasn’t that bad. The market was slow, but I still managed to receive positive realized income. In fact, I had 0.90% return on total cash available. That‘s 11% annually, which is not too bad. But there are lots of unrealized losses to go with it, so this must also be considered.

Only one sale again this month:

• TOTAL S.A. (ADR) - I closed out this position with a 10% gain, then bought back in later in the month.

Current holdings and unrealized gains/losses are as follows. Note that I also included the gain/loss from June, July and August to demonstrate trends. Those trends were not always positive.  The numbers represent cumulative movement since buy in, not monthly movement.

• Exxon Mobil Corporation - Down 11.6% (-10.7 in July and -14.7 in June)
• Exelon Corporation - Down 9.6% (-7.1 in July and -15.7 in June)
• FirstEnergy Corp. - Down 3.5% (-0.4 in July and -6.9 in June)
• TeleCommunication Systems, Inc. - Down 30.7% (-26.4 in July and -31.5 in June)
• Sempra Energy - Up 8.2% (+5.7 in July and -0.6 in June)
• Harsco Corporation - Down 14.3% (-10.0 in July and -8.7 in June)
• Universal Corporation - Down 2.4% - New acquisition in August
• The Buckle, Inc. - Down 9.2% - New acquisition in August
• EnCana Corporation (USA) -Down 0.6% - New acquisition in August
• Lockheed Martin Corporation - Down 1.3% - New acquisition in August
• Nokia Corporation (ADR) -Down 9.0% (+1.1 in July and -13.4 in June)
• National Grid plc (ADR) - Down 5.5% (-9.0 in July and -17.4 in June)
• TOTAL S.A. (ADR) -Down 2.6% - New re-acquisition in August

Dividends were collected on the following:

• Harsco Corporation
• National Grid plc (ADR)

The following stocks wend ex-div in Aug with payments expected in September:

• FirstEnergy Corp
• Exxon Mobil Corporation
• Exelon Corporation
• Lockheed Martin Corporation