How my tips have fared
It has been a poor month for my nine long tips, with five falling and only four appreciating. Investment and share-trading platform IG Group rose from 745p to 788p and General Motors shifted up a gear from $45.17 to $47.57. Rolls-Royce Holdings increased from 420p to 456p and cruise-ship operator Royal Caribbean climbed from $142 to $155.
However, concessionowner SSP, which runs the likes of Pret A Manger at airports and stations, plunged from 221p to 163p, high-street clothing retailer Next slipped from 9,276p to 9,208 and easyJet dipped from 525p to 459p. US building-materials supplier Builders FirstSource fell from $167 to $146 and Hollywood Bowl declined from 341p to 319p. My long tips are now making overall profits of £763, compared with £1,216 last month.
My three short tips also put in a mixed performance, with two out of the three moving against me. Solarenergy company Sunrun appreciated, its price rising from $10.72 to $15, the point at which I suggested that you cover it at for profits of £300. Air-taxi firm Joby Aviation rose from $5.05 to £5.09.
The only saving grace was Trump Media & Technology Group, which fell from $51.65 to $42.09 following a new audit revealing that it made losses (and of course the criminal convinction of its chairman won’t have helped matters). Counting the profits on Sunrun, my short tips are earnings £964, down from £1,404 four weeks ago.
My combined long and short positions are making profits of £1,827. I now have ten open long positions (easyJet, SSP, IG Group, General Motors, Builders FirstSource, Rolls-Royce, Hollywood Bowl, Next, Royal Caribbean and PayPal).
With the covering of Sunrun, I only have two open short positions left (Joby Aviation and Trump Media & Technology Group), which means that my portfolio of tips has become somewhat unbalanced. Finally, I recommend that you increase the stop-loss on easyJet to 6,500p from 6,178p.