Taking Profits on McDonald's and Coca-Cola

Building some excess cash as VIX has come down fairly significantly

Later today, we’ll be closing our short-term positions in McDonald’s and Coca-Cola, netting a positive P&L of $423 and $252 respectively.

As shared in last weekend’s video update, the decline in the expected short-term volatility makes many investors turn bullish again (buying stocks when they’re at highs, selling them into fear at lows). Meanwhile, longer-term volatility stays bid as more companies indeed indicate this tariff uncertainty, lingering weakness in consumer spending is likely to impact profit growth negatively.

As of yesterday, our return since the start of our Substack hit a net (after transaction fees) +4.29%. The goal is to seize opportunities whenever we can, and with the recent market rally, we feel it’s appropriate for our risk tolerance and overall strategy to reduce exposure.

Funnily, the market’s now recouped the tariff craze entirely.

Let’s take a look at what we’ll be doing next.