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Simon's top shorts

Created:
16 June 2008
Written by:
Simon Thompson

There was a time when all you could do in the face of a falling equity market was either sit it out, or pull your money out and stick it in the bank or the gilt market. Not any more. Thanks to a decade of financial innovation, it's now easy, quick and cheap for investors to go short, and benefit from a falling market. And my short trades this year are already showing a healthy profit.

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My reasons for going short are well-rehearsed, but worth going over again. One is stock market history, both here and in the US, which points to the market falling into 2009. Another is economic factors, such as soaring fuel and food costs and the spectre of stagflation, where growth is static or negative, but inflation still high.

Here's a summary of my key short trades this year.

Instrument Recommended in... On... Profit to date
FTSE250 CfD - C433 Bad tidings 7 Jan 21%
Bear Mkt Accelerator SN01 Bear necessities 14 Jan 9%
FTSE100 covered put warrant Get shorting 28 Apr 19%

The links in the 'Instrument' column take you to the website of the product provider, while the links in he 'Recommended in...' column take you to that column (although you will have to be an IC Advantage subscriber to read it). The 'On...' column shows the date on which the article appeared on the IC website, which is usually several days ahead of its appearance in print.

You can read more about why I think the market's heading lower in today's column: Earnings recession looms.

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Simon is the creator of the Bargain Portfolio, which you can track on the IC website.

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