Morning Gory...

Hello... Sultans of Liquidity and Partners In Rhyme. Comment allez vous? I'm back and I know you missed me very much, didn't you? So, on my flight back to Belgium this morning, I picked up a copy of the FT and noticed not only had the recession ended in June 2009, but DJIA was back up above 10,700 - my favourite level - and Nikkei is just on the verge of approaching 10,000. I'm looking to either Nikkei to stay above 10,000 or yields on 10-Year Treasury Notes to break above 2.8% for some definitive Bwahaha Momentum.

Apparently, the market moves on even when America's favourite sovereign isn't around. LOL.

I got back right in time. Bernanke said some stuff he didn't mean and the market ended the day nearly unchanged. My portfolio is better off without my micro-managerial ways, it seems. Overall, my entire portfolio's been up since I took off on my annual adventure to HK.

This time, I hopped into a taxi with a complete stranger who turned out to be tall, dark, and Italian who was headed to the same place - IFC Mall. What? I only did it because I was running late. We didn't hit it off, unfortunately, but I didn't care. Instead, I ended up more than a tiny bit disappointed after learning some other incredibly young, accomplished, inspiring, talented, successful, alpha Tall European Man with dark-rimmed glasses who I perhaps have a tiny bit of a schoolgirl crush on turned out to be a really big loser in a legal but unethical way. I knew he was smart, but I didn't think he'd be that smart. I seriously thought he'd be HWD CEO material. There might be a slight chance that he's innocent, but as they say, there can't be smoke without fire. If I wasn't so rose-coloured and desperate, I wouldn't possibly find him even more intriguing after this extra bit of knowledge.

Anyway, back to trading - where my portfolio's on fire. CENX has been climbing up ever since it entered my portfolio in mid August. I'm now +12% on the position and am watching the $14-15 level for some short-squeezing fun. So far, it feels like CENX is holding whilst AA is lagging. I've been watching these two and usually, CENX is the bigger mover either way. Based on what other commodities have been doing (corn is above $5... brent crude above $78... gold above $1280), there's a good chance that aluminum (aluminium to the GOLs) will follow.

I think I got played with C and am looking for a second opportunity to either get back into C or BAC.

+0.08% on the SBA
-0.90% on the Roth IRA

It doesn't look good today, but I'm looking at the overall picture and both portfolios are up from a week back.

In addition to being the proud owner of two new Hermes Twillys, I also recovered part of my cash on my Finlay Fine Jewelry bonds during my time away. All in all, some good progress. Well, except for the Tall European Man. I'm secretly hoping he's somehow innocent, but alas, legal is never a guarantee it's ethical...

P.S. My little brother's back in school!