The internet is flaky in the bomb shelter.  ;)

I am here, check in daily. I mostly PM you with my thoughts, probably should post more. Willl try to do so.

I also did some tax loss selling of INFN and NOK. Basically enough to cover gains for the year. With regards to INFN I chose share lots and did not sell the magical 500 shares I still have from 2014. I am actually down on paper on these shares now, but have written options on them upwards of a dozen or more times, so ahead overall. Now about those other shares....

Jon,

Your street cred on options is uncanny. I really ought to think more about doing that. When you are 80 years old and demented, you'll probably still have those 500 'magic' shares in your account, having optioned them out 500 times. Years ago, when Jester generously schooled me in options, I recall doing 39 options trades for the year, which provided the bulk of my profits. (Those were the days when the ATVI buyout was a punch no one saw coming. Jester caught the 'daily range' between highs and lows almost every day, usable until the deal was closed and shares called away, and we both participated to around $1k profits on some days. I remember calling it a 'mini'game' to do so, and you said you had been doing the exact same thing. Those were the days. And it was a long time ago - maybe 10 years. We've all known each other for a long time, and profited by pooling ideas.) I see some non-posting visitors visit from time to time. I'm puzzled, and a bit unhappy, that more folks didn't follow us to this board. But I feel like it's still very good company. So yes, post your thoughts as non-pm's. And Jester is really the only 'eyes' we have to follow with the vg stocks, and that's welcome news. And your (Jester) call on CME seems very gutsy to me - one more case of food poisining, and they were toast, I thought. Your belief apparently is paying off really well. 

The market so apparently likes the (believed) deregulation of just about any business dealings. It would obviously help Trump's businesses. I can find journalists saying the conflict of interest between power and money that Trump hung Hilary with is so apparent in his mixing business with governing conflict of interest. But I've seen no real condemnation of such acts. It's not funny the Roy Cohen, (Cohn?), a lawyer buddy of McCarthy's communist 'witch hunt' was a tutor to Trump when he was younger. 

What I don't know is this: When an international crisis erupts, and Trump handles it with all the aplomb of Kim Il Jong, how much does the market drop in a day? Any guesses?

Jamok, I agree it's a shame more people didn't follow from Arena, however thanks to Rod we have this good home. It's also a shame that some who were aware of this, chose not to contribute. I'm sticking around though!

Jester,

Me too! I'm not going anywhere. And although Rod and I engaged in  'fraternal warfare' years ago, I have to give him kudos for the site - very well produced.

Lt cap, I'm assuming your numbers relate to NOK buyback, yes? I had forgotten that program was ongoing thru Dec. 30th - and might account for the steady rise - altho other names in the sector seem to be doing alright.

I optioned out all my CIEN position, because I knew that ITM (which it was) would give me a small but tidy profit. Might think about again taking a position at some point. 

But I've been watching CSCO, and had been kicking myself for not buying it earlier this year, when it was in the low 20's. It seems to have carved a 'niche' aroung $30 or so, and the dividend is a handsome 3.X . I don't know a whole lot about their business prospects, although one of their forays is into the cyber security space. I'm still thinking about taking a position.

What has me *really* kicking myself is when I saw NVDA at around $22, just a bit over a year ago, I thought their prospects looked good and I've owned them on and off for the last 15 years. Then I saw them at $44, figuring I'd missed the boat. Then at $60. Then, a totally blowout quarter, and currently trading at $104. I've been in it before when it tripled in a short period of time. And VR/new apps and business looks like a really good sector to me, so I can't say it's had its run. Intel has announced some big buck $ for VR, and someone has to supply the graphics power, and I think the trend for the sector has to be growth. Their last jump to a 14nm process has been phenomenal - new cards the blow away previous graphics cards at a lower price. The largest question I have is AMD's soon-to-be-expanded products (story on CES said AMD claims to have added 200 improvements or features to their upcoming card architecture), is whether they can finally be competitive with NVDA for market share. They've promised a number of times to do this in the past, but have never achieved it. I think they fail again this time, but I need to know more about their newest cards when they're released.

Jamok, yes the numbers I posted were for NOK.  

NOK has risen some 21.78% since it touched an intraday low of 4.04 after that Investors Conference in Europe on Nov 15th, IIRC.  I truly hope that on Feb 2nd when NOK delivers its Q4 results, Rajeev Suri has decent news for us beaten down NOK investors.

Could not agree more.  It would be nice to have them visit and contribute to this forum.  But as you say, I too will be sticking around.  I appreciate and welcome all of your input/opinions.

A few folks are lurking. I see their names pop up on the TTWO message page in the recent visits list. A few others never knew we ended up here. There was no means to contact them. And yes, I am here to stay too!

Happy New Year to all of you.

Still around, still holding all of the NOK.  I sold INFN, and decided to roll that money into adding to the NOK position.

NOK has bought some 54M+ (shy of 1% of total shares) shares for a total of E230M+ (a bit less than one quarter of the E1B program).  NOK stopped buying last Friday December 30th.