Hmmm…, did anything interesting happen last month? Oh yeah, Donald Trump was elected the next President of the United States and the world did not come to end. In fact, the stock market’s behavior over the three weeks following that surprising result was anything but dreadful. Despite getting off to a shaky pre-election start, the S&P 500 Index gained 3.4% for the month of November, pushing it to a record high along with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and NASDAQ Composite Index.

Our portfolio benefited greatly from this unexpected surge, allowing us to book a huge 139% annualized gain in Valero Energy (VLO) in only one month. By the end of November nearly all of our Open Trades positions were sporting positive returns, setting the stage for what should be a very profitable December. Of course, this month will most likely include a rate hike from the Fed and more details from the incoming Trump administration regarding its policy initiatives. And that’s in addition to the usual “window dressing” by portfolio managers and analyst angst concerning holiday season retail sales so we expect heightened volatility in the weeks to come.

But volatility cuts both ways, amplifying price movements in either direction. That’s why we employ a strict set of buy limit prices, stop loss levels and price targets; the stock market takes no prisoners, so you have to take your profits when they become big and cut your losses while they are small. I expect we will be closing at least a couple of our open positions this month in response to stock market volatility so be on the lookout for those alerts as they are issued (you can sign up for text alerts by calling our customer service department at 1-800-832-2330).

I also urge you to take advantage of the “Stock Talk” feature beneath every alert, article and update on the Systematic Wealth website if you aren’t already doing so. We have a small but active group of subscribers who are helping each other out by contributing valuable trade tips and options strategies, and I encourage you to join them. The more information we share with one another the better able each of us will be to take maximum advantage of each trading opportunity described on the following pages.