Off the Table

"Off the table" means that something is not a matter for negotiation. In investments it refers to lowering risk, as in "taking money off the table".

The latter is a gambling term used in finance, but to the professionals who insist on distinguishing gambling and investing, give it up already; the public, including myself, will never concede that there is a difference in kind.

This morning the Labor Department reported that the economy added 2.5 million jobs in May, a huge positive surprise given that job losses in the millions had been expected. The stock market took off--as of this writing the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up over 900 points--and it's time for your humble blogger to take some money off the table.

Apple is up 12.34% year-to-date, and the NASDAQ is up 9.49%; it's as if COVID-19 never happened.

I've sold winners and losers into this rally, including the flyer on Winnebago (WGO) in April--because I don't think the enthusiasm is warranted. There are the three "C's" to worry about--China, coronavirus, and civil unrest--and the economy remains heavily damaged by the lockdown.

The second quarter earnings reports are going to be horrible, and the bright future that the stock market is forecasting won't be uniform. Travel and leisure, restaurants, sports, and retail will incur heavy expenses getting traffic back to normal and normalcy will take years.

So I'm taking some profits but still have a majority of holdings in stocks. Pigs don't win.