RIO Covered Call

I'm putting my stocks to work for me by selling covered calls against my RIO position. I sold Feb $14.00 calls for $1.15. I honestly was not thrilled to put this trade through, however its price trend is a tad bit below the $14.00 strike price, so I am banking on this continued trend.

The Day After

I tried to get back into some foreign market exposure yesterday, however I set my entry points too low and the market just had too much upward momentum. Today is another day and I will keep with my current strategy moving forward. This includes the following:

*Long on the FXI and ADRE at respective entry points

*Shorting the Dow via the DXD

*Selling covered calls on my position within RIO which will lower my cost basis on this stock

My Vasco Data Security Upgrade

Just a little background on why I like VASCO Data Security International INC (VDSI) and how I escaped a possible calamity in late 2007. I actually picked up some shares of this company, which was active on Investor's Business Daily 100 back in October and November 2007. I decided to sell Dec 25 covered calls to pick up some extra cash and lower my entry point. Well...December rolls around and damn if my shares didn't get called away. At the time I was a bit disappointed, but as one can now see, I was extremely lucky.

VDSI is now trading in the 11 range. This week, I was trying to get into the Sep 7.50 and Sep 10.00 calls, however they are trading a tad expensive, so I may just buy the stock outright. The market has been taking a drubbing this week, yet VASCO has fought back and gained some ground. The company is well positioned in the overseas marketplace and is well linked to the security issues the world is constantly facing.

For final disclosure, at the time of this post I do NOT own any shares or options on this stock.