We’re seeing wild swings in the market following the banking crisis. The market has rebounded off the morning lows, giving us a chance to make a few adjustments to our current positions. Most of our positions are trading higher this morning. Below are two position updates.

Gilead Sciences (GILD): 79.70

Gilead is one of two pharmaceutical positions in the portfolio paying an almost 5% dividend when we first started trading it. As the stock price rose during the last four months of 2022, the yield has come down to less than 4%. Still, we want to continue to trade this position and take the dividends each quarter.

If you were assigned Gilead Sciences stock over the weekend, no action is needed. We will sell a covered call later this week.

ACTION: If you do not own GILD stock, buy at market today ahead of the ex-dividend date tomorrow, March 14.

CLOSE PUT
Vale S.A. (VALE): 16.27

 Vale is one of the largest mining companies in the iron ore space that will benefit from the re-opening of China this year. The stock has made a steady climb since hitting lows below $12 per share while still paying a 7% to 8% dividend semi-annually.

As we discussed last week, VALE announced its ex-dividend date (tomorrow, March 14) after we had opened a 17 Mar 17 put position. Let’s buy back the 17 Mar 17 put and purchase shares, and we will sell a covered call later this week. Vale has weekly options with solid trading volume, which will allow us to collect cash each week by rolling our covered calls.

ACTION: Buy to close the VALE 17 Mar 17 put for around 1.05 to 1.14 and buy VALE stock at market.

If you do not own VALE, purchase shares at market for a very good price under $17 per share.