November - December, 2014 'The odds of making it to a successful retirement usually depend on whether or not you are still married to your first wife.' ~Unknown Poodle in the Grass

The Professional Opinion - Taking a Subscription Vacation for a couple months.

 

Boy, what can you say about Apple... I am very pleased with that one. And Altria,  still has a great yield and very nice share price appreciation. I wish I could say the same about Lithium and Copper.  Been considering buying some silver to replace some of what I sold at @ $36.00 a share a while back.  Maybe I'll wait a little longer.....

Political Correctness run amuck. Earnings all in all, have been pretty good this quarter.  Valuations of the major indices overall are still within reasonable limits, although some equities are starting to get rather pricey when it comes to their individual PE's. Half-way through the year is a good time to do some rebalancing of the portfolio if necessary and for me it was.  Some nice gains on Staples - finally. Later on this month we will see if the Western Lithium ship has come in - this will be worth watching.   Me, I wouldn't be surprised if the start-up gets delayed again but who knows... we could be in for a nice surprise.

Western Lithium - An Organo Clay Delay at the end of this Month?.............Not  Again Not much happening in the organoclay department.  Not really surprising either. At this point I am not holding many shares and I expect to offload the rest if and when some positive news comes out.   The share price has remained relatively stable and that is pretty much normal.  The higher the share price, the less volatility one is apt to see in the short run. I read somewhere a while back the the plant was supposed to be producing something around the end of November.  Well, it is the end of November........... Apple (AAPL) Boy, what can you say about Apple - a 47% return year to date.  That is impressive.  It appears that Apple is going to continue its winning ways with the inclusion of Apple Pay,  and the I-Watch.  If what I hear around me is any indication, that I-Watch could be a much bigger hit than what the pundits would have you think.  I don't think I will be selling Apple anytime soon. Alibaba - a Recent IPO and New Addition to the Portfolio I decided to pick up a 2% position in Alibaba during its minor pullback because I think it has the potential to be be a winner - kind of like a really big Ebay. However these are Chicoms you are dealing with and in my view they lie all the time but to be fair,  so does the teleprompter and its party members.  You can also throw in the IRS, NSA, EPA, 'climate change' and on and on and on. Of course, there is also currency risk to contend with.   Given all that, I think 2% is just about right Asia is a huge market and there were some rumors in about some kind of relationship with Amazon or one of the other major players. Nevada Copper (NEVDF) - Not much going on there either This is a great example of the hazards of investing in the OTC markets in thinly traded stocks.  A stock like this can lose 10% or more in share price in one day after having only a few thousand shares traded during the session.  To date I am down about 35%  and that is not a pretty site. The last sentence in the last paragraph above is what encouraged my to purchase many of the shares at a price a bit higher than I would have liked.  Who knows, it my yet happen.  The Lyon county land bill unanimously passed the house and I thought this would be a no-brainer winning passage in the senate.   I think I may have failed to factor in  Harry and his more and more apparent mental degeneration on ready display each time he opens his mouth.  If the land bill fails passage when congress finally adjourns, the whole thing has to start over again with a new congress. One would think Harry would be interested in actually doing something beneficial for the state and for Lyon county, which I do believe was the hardest hit of all Nevada counties during the recession.  Recovery has been very slow and unemployment rates are still high. Let's hope Harry has a brief moment of mental clarity and gets the bill brought up for votes and passage by the end of the year. Odds, anyone? 12/03 - Update, Believe it or not: I was a little suspicious when the bleeding started reversing trend this morning so I picked up few more shares in the uptrend. If the bill actually passes, this could be pretty sweet. And last but not least, the Capitalist Pigs latest Monthly Newsletter. From Kansas, the largest Wolf Spider in North America.

---