First Positions

Monday was a busy day as I established my first positions. Most days won't be this busy. Once I have my 10-20 positions on, stocks will have to get sold before I make any new additions.

No doubt, this will lead to missed opportunities. And this has caused frustration in the past. But the important thing to remember is: You can't catch 'em all. It's impossible. I can "woulda, coulda, shoulda" myself to death easily by recounting the uncountable times I've sat on the sidelines and watched a position double or triple just days after getting out for a tiny profit (or worse, a loss).

The important thing is to stay true to a process, stick to my principles, and focus on putting positions on in stocks that have solid fundamentals and underlying reasons to own them. I'll catch a few...

This being said, here is the rundown of the positions I put on yesterday:

ACI , Arch Coal @ 75.48
ANSS, Ansys @ 48.26
GHM, Graham Corp @ 74.96
GTI, Graftech Int'l @ 27.31
OXY, Occidental Petroleum @ 90.01
PBR, Petroleo Brasileiro @ 70.72
RBN, Robins & Myers @ 45.84

It isn't lost on me that I've embarked on this journey literally two days after the stock markets "officially" landed in Bear Market territory. However, as Jim Cramer likes to say: "...there's always a bull market somewhere!"

As of this writing, Oil & Gas drillers, Metals producers, Energy, and Agricultural themed companies continue to rise in the face of soaring crude, rising inflation, and good old fashioned Supply and Demand. As such, you'll notice that many of the above picks (and many to come) will be focused in these areas in the short term.