Day 80: Up again - 5.72%

The Mother's Little Helper portfolio was up today (+0.23%) for a GAIN of +$1,437.87. Overall gain to date: +$34,496.01 (+5.72%). 76 stocks in the black, 45 are still in the red. This is the fourth day the MLH portfolio is beating the S&P 500.

I hope everyone is enjoying March Madness. What I know about basketball can be written on a post it note, but after the first round I only missed one game in my bracket picks; Virginia vs. UNC Wilmington. No big deal I predict Villanova goes all the way to the championship anyway.

So what happened today? I was initially predicting a sell off, the morning started out that way so I confidently went and got my morning coffee and jumped in the shower; only to emerge and find the market flat, and then up for a while during the day only to close down -15.55. Seriously, what happened? No rally, no sell off with great bargains screaming Buy me! Buy me! Nope we got a market that received exactly what it wanted and expected. In fact Janet Yellen clearly signaled what we can expect for the rest of the year. The fed is no longer a major factor in the minds of investors as interest rates should be fairly predictable until 2018; until their not.

I've been asked why I keep holding all the losers, like Investors Title Company (ITIC), "Come on Clay, nobody is going to knock you for selling that dog. Put the money to work somewhere already". In my own portfolio, with my money, I might trim ITIC back a little and invest somewhere else but that would defeat the purpose of the MLH portfolio. Buy, forget and hold for a year. Besides I still think ITIC has room to run this year. In fact all of the companies that are currently in the red have the potential to turn around an run much higher if we see a rally in defense spending, higher oil prices, infrastructure spending, more lending and an environment where drug companies can get their products to market faster. Wow I sound like I'm running for office.

Stay Invested,

Clay Baker