Howdy Tackle Traders!

Now I am in Finland! It’s an amazing country with no poverty, progressive taxes, and no ultra rich basis. Its a bit pricey but the quality of life and infrastructure available is amazing. My first impression was that I have never seen so many people smiling, chatting, and socializing. It was a like a fairy tale. However, according to most Finnish people when winter hits the fairy tale changes and everyone turns into werewolves and vampires and there is a great battle, although I personally have not confirmed this. I suppose the extreme cold and 3 hrs of sunlight has an affect on a person’s spirit. That said, the country is a social Utopia and is absolutely beautiful—I’d highly suggest a visit. They take absolutely amazing care of their natural environments and their social environment is incredible.

But in the words of Coach Noah: “Utopia is more realistic with a relatively homogeneous population of 5.5 million. Their national debt to G.D.P. is healthier than that of the United States. Although high, the cost of living is “afjord-able”. If there is a Helsinki on earth you’ve found it. Don’t worry, no more jokes, I’m finish.” Haha!

Now lets talk trading. Last week we went over the Covered Call again in effort to allow those who are new to Environmental Hedging to catch up and start making trades with us. This week, however, it is business as usual and our trades have been hitting and hitting hard, assuming you are consistent in reading the blog on Tackletrading.com as it is posted every Tues. Yes, timing is important, folks. Especially if you are trading along with me.

This week is a shorter than usual trading week due to Labor day. I have a sneak suspicion, however, that the newly inflamed North Korea issue will weigh on it. Between an I.C.B.M. being hurdled over the Japanese mainland and Kim Jong Uno’s detonation of a Hydrogen bomb this weekend I anticipate a similar market reaction as last time, maybe even worse. I mean, as of Monday night Gold Futures (/GC) were already up .68% and the S&P Futures (/ES) was down .25%

Truthfully I don’t believe the United States has much of a card to play in the Bad Korea issue, but if cooler heads do not prevail we may find ourselves in an enlarged trade war with China or conceivably an all out war with Bad Korea… The war bit I am not so sure of since it would be incredibly costly and could lead millions of lost lives, both in the South and in the North. It would be an absolute tragedy and the bleakest moment in modern history since World War II—I have a bit more faith in global leadership, even though current leadership is questionable, at best. Stay Frosty folks, it could be a wild ride in the markets.

Robin Hoods: Naked Put Stocks / E.T.F.(s)

AMD—Advanced Micro Dynamics

Well, that puppy hit last week and hit hard and broke back above the $13 per share mark. If Geo-politics does not drag it down and AMD moves north of $13.50 I can see it running to $15.50.

FCX—Freeport McMorhan

Last week I suggested realizing gains and waiting out a bearish retracement. On Thursday, however, we saw economic data coming out of China indicating that there may a large copper shortage in China in the near future. This most certainly be beneficial to FCX and I am now going back to a bullish posture on the stock. Once again, assuming geo-politics doesn’t weigh on the overall marketplace.

GDX—Vanneck Vectors Gold Miner’s E.T.F.

Bullish, bullish…bullish!

X—United States Steel

Last week I submitted the proverbial: “it could go both ways” call. Well, it moved north and moved hard, settling at $27 per share and I can see it hitting $30 per share mid-week. As of now I am bullish on X, but cautiously bullish. Geo-politics very easily could drag it back down to $25 per share. Let’s see what happens.

USO—United States Oil Fund

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I am still bearish on crude for the time being, partly because of Hurricane Harvey and partly because crude is still in a bearish technical trend. This very well could change, however. Long term support levels are approaching and supply levels may drop which may turn crude bullish. I good opportunity for Naked Puts may be presented here soon. Stay tuned.

Targeted Stocks—Covered Calls

FSLR—First Solar

I’m still covered on First Solar and will be waiting for either a break-down of some sort or the end of a bullish retracement. I anticipate receiving confirmation this week sometime.

SPWR—Sun Power

Same goes for Sun Power as FSLR.

TSLA—Tesla Motors

Well, there is a bit of a “W” formation setting up on the 3month/ Daily Chart, which typically means and upward move is in the near future. But, like a few of my other sections, I am concerned the Geo-political environment may be problematic.

Environmental Hedging: The Categories of Authentic Travel—The Idea of Curiosity

This blog is not only effort to teach the reader how to invest in a manner which incrementally lends itself to the environment but it is also an attempt to inspire the reader to travel as well as fund the enterprise itself. Travel can be expensive in this day and age but I feel travel is important because it acts as a reverse Colombian exchange, if you will. That and it stimulates a persons mind in a way that allows for openness, for compassion, and, most importantly, fosters curiosity. As Gimbattista Vico once said: “curiosity is mother of invention, the daughter of ignorance, and opening the minds of men, gives birth to wonder.”

The majority of my readers and students are from the United States and if you have been paying attention over the last 16yrs America has been a focal point, and, an unfortunate cause of many wrongs throughout the world. Now, there are an enormous amounts of institutional and systemic reasons for this—things like the military industrial-complex, corporate greed, a polarized political and media basis, and, most notably, sub-par public education.

A famous Hungarian economist I had the pleasure of staying with a couple weeks ago, Ava, (who is well traveled and was married to an American for 20 sum years) told me many Americans are plagued by a “wide-eyed trust that everything they hear is true”. That and “many do not have enough curiosity in their blood to exist beyond the bubble they find themselves in.”

For example, if I had stayed in my home town and did not leave for the latter portion of my life I most certainly would be a completely different person, on every level, for better and for worse. But because I was curious of the world at large I left and was able to take the charming aspects of home abroad and later return home with a broader perspective of what home really is. Plus, I very well may have learned more from my travels than I did in college. Who knows.

But the idea of curiosity goes far beyond viewing the world through the “big-picture” filter of experience, if you will. Hegel in his Philosophy of History has much to say about this: he asserted that history is a messy business and is never a streamlined process. Its a process which has its ups and downs and progress itself can be good or bad progress. He said the masters of history are the ones willing to recognize the perspective of the Other for what it is. In other words, what Hegel was getting at, was that if one is really to understand the Truth of the matter one will understand precisely how the other side of the spectrum sees it. It is as difficult to dive into the logos of the “alt-right” as it is as difficult for a self proclaimed “alt-right” persona to dive into the perspective of a “lib-tard,” and so and so forth. I mean, the mere existence of such Orwellian Newspeak terminology is, in and of itself, troublesome. This applies both to the school of “conspiracy” as well as the school of “what you see is what you get”.

But if we can step back and view curiosity for what it really is you will find that it is a very basic idea. When you see hate its better to be curious of where that hate is coming from rather than responding with a different version of hate. Or, for example, when someone carries a different political perspective than yourself, allow curiosity to foster itself in the form of study and, hopefully, understanding. Good progress cannot be achieved without discourse. But it is important that discourse is not confused with argument—so called “centrics” make this mistake all too often. The real trick is to foster curiosity in the Other and allow that curiosity lead them to a conclusion of their own—this is done through the art of narrative according to Vico and Cicero.

And from a more objective point a view, in the study of anthropology and genetics, the RN-15 genome (dubbed the curiosity genome) was a major contributor to humanity’s dominance of the planet. The simple, yet ancient desire to see what was “around the bend” helped people migrate beyond the fertile-crescents and throughout the world—read the Nat-Geo on the Mars Curiosity Rover for further clarification. And in terms of trading and investing, curiosity will create a more informed, more capable trader at the end of the day. But in terms of being human, it is essential to be curious rather than entrenched in one’s convictions. That wont take you anywhere, intellectually or physically.

Cheers,

Bob Shannon