Shares digital

Last week we noted that our short position in the Dow Jones had come close at least a couple of times to its target price, but that it had subsequently fallen short. Volatility has continued to be the main theme, but now time is up for our position in the Dow, which closes at -0.38%.

While this has been a disappointment, there were other plays that performed wonderfully. International engineering firm Charter (CHTR), tipped as a buy in the 13 March issue, is yielding us 7.12% at the current 850p. Final results and the outlook statement released that day showed healthy growth and reminded us of the boring notion that it’s often well-funded companies in anti-cyclical sectors that offer good share price performance.

Another win was our short in mortgage lender Bradford & Bingley (BB.). Latest news about mortgage approvals offered a bleak prospect for the sector, with mortgages down by a third from last year. This is obviously bad news for companies such as Bradford & Bingley and our short position bagged a target hit at 188.25p, which corresponds to a 7.83% profit in our coffers.

At the moment our long position in BP (BP.) is also profitable, as the price is moving away from that 495p low posted recently. At 512p the shares of the oil giant are pouring a 2.30% profit in to our coffers.