In a post elsewhere last week (Revisiting a Losing Market-Neutral Trade), I mentioned a market neutral trade where I got stopped out of the short side for a loss. I got stopped out of the short side of a more recent market neutral trade (Short TRGL, Long IMO) for a gain, but I missed an [...]

This is a specialty chemical market neutral trade. More details at the link.

In a post here in December (“Market Neutral Investing in China’s Fast Food Industry“), I mentioned a market neutral trade I had entered going long Yum! Brands, Inc. (YUM), the largest fast food operator in China, and shorting Country Style Cooking Restaurant Chain, Ltd. (CCSC), a start-up fast food chain in China. I figured the [...]

On Tuesday morning, I shorted USG at $15.09 and bought an equivalent dollar amount of IFSIA at $18.55. I e-mailed the trade idea to those on the market neutral trade notification list before market hours Tuesday.
USG Corporation (NYSE: USG) manufactures Sheetrock and other times of wallboard. I shorted this one last year, and got stopped [...]

– Thursday was a good day for new Portfolio Armor subscriptions. It may also be a good time to consider hedging, since volatility (as measured by the VIX) is near its 2-year lows. That’s a point I made in a couple of Seeking Alpha articles this week, Hedging the Dow: An Update, and Another [...]

Update: I bought IMO at $51.40 today and shorted TRGL today at $10.90.
Toreador Resources Corp. (TRGL) is an oil & gas E&P based in France. I shorted TRGL as part of a market neutral trade (paired with a different long position) last July, when it was trading below $6 per share. I got stopped out [...]

12/30/10 Update: There were no shares of ASCA available to short today, and my current brokerage firm doesn’t allow synthetic shorting, so I haven’t placed this trade yet. I may move the account to a firm that allows synthetic shorting, and place the trade there, but I won’t be able to do [...]