Two more positions closed on Monday.
First up was PHGP (LM015) which was a Gold ETF. Gold's climb seems to have stalled and my weekend checks told me to get out so I sold it for a small loss (£33 or so).
The second sale was of Taylor Wimpey (TW. and LM022) which I had to close for a painful £461.23 loss. It was down massively last week but I hadn't got the signal to close it until over the weekend. Unfortunately it had fallen another 16% on Monday morning.
IDEA (LM020) was sold on Wednesday as it was at a 20% loss. There was no automatic stop-loss so I just logged in and sold it.
I sold Ryanair a couple of weeks ago (3rd March 2020) and took a loss on it. At that point the share price was around €12.
On Monday it had fallen to €8.50. Each morning on the way into work I like to listen to one particular US financial advisor's podcasts. Whilst he is well-meaning and only out to help his listeners, his advice last week that airline shares were "on sale" didn't look too sound at the beginning of this week.
Easyjet, Ryanair and BA were all over the news sites because they'd been forced to cancel hundreds of flights. Consequently their share prices tumbled. Easyjet down 25%, Ryanair 17% and IAG (British Airways) 24%.
Yes they may have been "on sale" last week but anyone who snapped them up lost 25% in a couple of days.
Losing nearly 50% on TW. is painful but I can take some comfort in the fact I got out of several other shares which would have decimated my portfolio if I'd kept hold of them.
As it stands I'm down about 6% on my initial bank. I'm sure others who have taken no action are nursing much, much higher losses.
Oh well, I'm out now and the LM portfolio is left with just 2 open positions.
This website could quickly become very quiet with nothing to report on if I sell these last 2 shares. I can't see any alternative at the moment.
I'm not going to dwell on it too much. These are extraordinary times and some losses are unavoidable.
The short-term outlook is pretty grim.
Code | Sector | Date Bought | Cost | Value | Gain/Loss |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
LM009 LM009-2 |
Gas, Water & Multiutilities | 05/02/2019 04/02/2020 |
£2020 | £1790 | (11.62%) |
LM012 LM012-2 |
Real Estate Investment Trusts | 20/05/2019 28/11/2019 |
£2030 | £2120 | 4.16% |
All the pubs and restaurants were ordered to close on Friday. Gyms and leisure centres have also shut. Further lockdowns are likely on the way.
At present I'm still commuting into work each day. There are far, far fewer cars on the road and this week will be even quieter as the schools and colleges have been closed. Strange times.