The stock market continues to climb as investors digest inflation news. But it is worth noting that eight stocks are keeping the S&P 500 in positive territory for the year while the other 492 are not. The FAANG plus MNT stocks (see chart below) are doing the heavy lifting.

While we’re not sure exactly what this means for the future direction of the market, we remain cautious.

We have several positions to manage before the weekend. And keep in mind the U.S. stock market is closed on Friday, April 7.

Blackstone (BX): 87.88

Blackstone stock is up today, but we’d like to see a few more positive days before we sell another call. We will let our 31 March 96 call expire worthless and look at selling another call next week.

ACTION: Allow BX 31 Mar 96 call to expire worthless.

COVERED CALL
Cardinal Health (CAH): 75.07

Cardinal Health goes ex-dividend today earning us a 0.49 dividend. Shares continue their steady march higher as analysts upgrade the stock. We like CAH as a defensive play in this market environment. With the ex-div date behind us, we can get back to collecting premium by selling a covered call.

ACTION: Sell to open CAH 14 Apr 76 call for a net credit of around 0.80 to 0.85.

NetApp (NTAP): 63.59

NetApp goes ex-dividend on Wednesday, April 5, and we want to earn the 0.48 dividend. We will let our 31 Mar 61.50 put expire worthless today and buy the stock early next week.

ACTION: Allow the NTAP 31 Mar 61.50 put to expire worthless.

ROLL CALL
Vale S.A. (VALE): 15.90

Iron ore futures are up for the fourth day in a row due to rising demand forecasts from China. Vale’s stock price has been inching higher on the expectation of China’s reopening. This allows us to roll our call out for a generous credit.

ACTION: Roll the VALE 31 Mar 17 call to the VALE 14 Apr 16 call for a net credit of around 0.35 to 0.38

Buy to close VALE 31 Mar 17 call
Sell to open VALE 14 Apr 16 cal

Have a good weekend.