Pre-Christmas Stock Portfolio Clean-Up

SELLS

American Express Company (AXP)

BUYS

Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM)

American Express Company (AXP) had resurfaced in the black for sometime since we established a BUY position, but has now reached our -5% sell-stop (several times) and simply put, the stock seems entangled with the entire financial group debacle to really make any real profitable headway for us here. We will use our cash from this sell to establish a new BUY position in the following stock experiencing a pullback... Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM).

This may be another opportunity to increase our holdings in oil since selling half of our position in the middle of the 2007 year to protect our gains. Momentum may have returned for the entire oil sector and additionaly XOM pays out a nice dividend to all shareholders as we continue to hold this stock.

XOM is a BUY and we are adding 109 shares, at the purchase cost of $91.00 per share ($10,000 total) to the existing 70 shares we already have.

Our Defensive Stocks Ruled in November

... and the Dean Jones Trader portfolio (DJT) is flirting with new highs for the year thus far. (See Portfolio Details Below).

Suffice to say our defensive stocks not only ruled our portfolio in November, but they continue to ensure we can hold onto our gains as we approach the end of the 2007 calendar year!

Our biggest downfall remains the false entry point in buying the financials, (AIG & C) and also DIS and GE prematurely. As advised in the November 10, 2007 blog, we have cut our losses in all of these positions, and we will continue to monitor our current holdings which seem to be holding up just fine. Some positions however may be over-extended and we will lock-in some profits.

That said, it seems prudent to continue to hold our defensive stocks, especially since the latest gauge of manufacturing activity (U.S. FACTORY INDEX) fell slightly, confirming a possible slowing economic trend given it was the fifth consecutive drop. These facts are real, and frankly, are more cause for concern than the latest isolated sub-prime crisis the media seems to be solely stuck on emotionally reporting. BOTTOM LINE: If productivity drops, so will earnings, and subsequently the value of many stocks.

On most recent portfolio news, doubling up on Altria/ Philip Morris (MO) has paid off, and so has the ongoing holding of KO, MCD, and PG.

(See below for complete DJT portfolio holdings).