Bookkeeping: Closing Blackstone Group (BX), Morgan Stanley China A Share Fund (CAF)

Closing two more positions as "winter cleaning" is in full effect

We're taking our $330 position in Blackstone Group (BX) and going home! This position, one of our really nice winners in 2009, was cut back severely at the end of November once chart support was broken, and has done nothing since.  Similar to Discover Financial, now that I've added a slew of new names - I don't want the portfolio bulging with too many stock so I'm punting BX for now although the company remains very attractive to me.  I expect to return to this name sometime in 2010.

I've had Morgan Stanley China A Share Fund (CAF) around a long while, but rarely trade around the core position.  It just sort of gets lost in the mix since I tend to focus on the individual equities more.  With the discount / premium game involved here, there are easier ways to play such as Claymore Alphashares China Small Cap (HAO) which are more interesting.  Since I am not employing a solid "core" + "trading" position strategy with CAF as I do with individual stocks, I've decided to cut it and focus more on individual names in China.  This is more of a sale due to my not paying enough attention to trading opportunities in the ETF rather than the chart.  HAO is another consideration as it gives broad exposure to both China stocks available in the US and in China, but it's chart is not looking that good either.  We're selling CAF and its 0.6% exposure for a tiny gain.

Whichever way this market breaks, once we get out of this (now approaching 6 weeks) "box" - we want to be a lean, mean, and hopefully green machine.  This will be easier with less stocks to focus on.

No positions