Rocky Balboa knocks some discipline into me (useful for trading, too)

Oh man! I’m super sore.

Last week I finished up a great book: Sly Moves by Sylvester Stallone.

It’s a sort of hybrid autobiography/fitness book. A pretty standard memoir nowadays where the author focuses on a major topic that’s beneficial to the reader (e.g., fitness) and mixes it in with their own story.

Anyway, about one-third of that book is his guide to workouts.

Well, I’m about 60 pounds overweight, so I could use a good health & fitness guide to follow. And this one looked pretty good.

It’s only three days per week, I can do most of the exercises with just dumbbells at home, and I’m feeling motivated right now.

So, I started the workouts on Monday.

Nothing fancy, just setting a baseline.

And yesterday?

I was sore.

Today? I’m still sore.

Except yesterday was a rest day and today -- right after this newsletter goes out -- I’ll be doing the exercises.

What makes this time different from other times I’ve tried to lose weight and get in shape? Mentally, I’m now taking the same approach to my health as I have been doing to my finances. And you can see that approach by reading the Bible verse at the bottom of this email (just replace “wealth” with “fitness” etc.).

In essence: little-by-little.

That’s making all the difference.

But shares were weighed down by steep declines in the company's linear television business.

Yahoo Finance

Why it matters …

“I like that person, but they have a small mole on their chin…” 

Disney announced earnings this morning. They easily beat expectations. They announced a huge deal to buy the NFL Network last night. Their streaming services are doing great. The theme parks are fleecing seeing lots of young families. Their “linear television” (think ABC Network) division isn’t doing so well. So the stock price is down pre-market. By the way, all network television is struggling.

It’s not rational, but it is what the market is giving us.

(If you needed a reason for why we like to stay away from earnings with our main trading strategy, this is a big one: beats eps, big positive news announcements, still gaps down. 🤷)

Bloomberg

Why it matters …

The President had a short interview with the Talking Heads at CNBC yesterday.  He said he had narrowed down his choices for the Fed Chair replacement to 4 people, but it would not be Scott Bessent as he is enjoying his role as Treasury Secretary. In the next 3 years, the Fed will change in philosophy as the different Governors are replaced. Change takes time …

Comments: Markets are sideways again with a slight uptick in Bitcoin (/BTC). Sideways, generally works very well for my framework as the sold puts are below the current price when they are sold. The beauty of a system that makes money when not much is happening … what a great country! ha

1.15% premium into next Friday? That’s the possibility with today’s sample trade idea for the Premium subscribers below...