taxbaby

More ProShares Ultrashorts Tomfoolery

Quite right, in fact a sizable short term capital gain, inter alia.

www.proshares.com/fund...


On Dec 31 10:04 PM sethjs wrote:

> i believe that they paid a dividend overnight.

More ProShares Ultrashorts Tomfoolery

Yes, I've had mediocre results using these as hedges in my Fidelity IRAs beginning in January 2008 but they have certainly contributed to keeping my annual loss well below the S&P's 30 something percent decline. This was, however, primarily due to a continuously managed SKFcall position closed completely by the end of October for a 100%+ overall return. (Fidelity made almost $200 in commissions on the 20+ SKF trades alone)

What has been successful though is selling (in my taxable account) way OTM calls (lopsided strangles and straddles) on EEV, FXI during expiration week. I usually had offsetting (taxable) positions in calls on SDS or other US indices including, as mentioned, the SKF.

Why Do Regional Banks Hold Fannie and Freddie Preferreds?

see the excellent Bloomberg article,
www.bloomberg.com/apps... which states in part,

Banks bought Freddie and Fannie preferred stock because they can be used as capital that regulators require to cushion against losses on loans. Banks also get a tax break on 70 percent of the securities, making them attractive to own, said Midwest's Wiest.

``These are the only two companies that the regulators have allowed banks to hold in their portfolios,' Wiest said. ``Everybody knows we have them. It seems like every bank has them.''

Today, Lehman noted the following recent disclosures of
preferred GSE stock holdings:
JPM ($1.2 bln), FITB ($55 mln), MTB ($162 mln), and USB ($79 mln).

The Bloomberg article says Sovereign Bank holds $632 mln.