Bookkeeping: Closing Monsanto (MON)

This is not a market to hold weaklings in;  I will only partake in the highest of relative strength at this moment.  If you show vulnerability you are going to be kicked to the curb.  Such is the case with Monsanto (MON) after the company tightening guidance today.  The stock has been acting weak the past few days, breaking below (but still hovering near) key support last week - but today's news did the trick.   I had already cut the position in half August 12th once the broader market began to break down, and did some very light culling last week just to reduce risk, so all I had remaining was about a 1.4% exposure which will be all going today (at 8% loss, most of it coming due to today's action).  I had gains on the earlier position size that I sold so all in all - probably a wash since we restarted the position mid July.

• Monsanto Co., the world's largest seed company, said Tuesday it expects full year earnings at the low end of its previous expected range and is cutting up to 700 more jobs.
  
• The St. Louis company expects ongoing earnings, which excludes some items, between $2.40 per share and $2.45 per share for the fiscal year that ends Tuesday.  The previous expected range was $2.40 to $2.60 per share. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial, who tend to leave out one-time gains and losses from their estimates, on average predict a profit of $2.49 per share.
  
• The job cuts will lead to $90 million in severance and benefit costs, $60 million in facility closure expenses and $30 million in asset write-downs.
  

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