Suitably Flip: CNBC Portfolio Challenge 2008-09

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Friday, Finals Week 1

After a tough day, Brad Pine slipped from 1st to 5th (having been bounced from the top spot by a member of the inumerable Lewis clan), but he's still very much in the hunt.

Here are the standings going into the last day of the first week of the final round.

1	Heidi Lewis	$1,204,003.90
2	Laura Lama	$1,183,234.00
3	Raymond Agnew	$1,149,014.63
4	stephen weber	$1,080,879.31
5	Bradford Pine	$1,067,210.54
6	Bob Holbrook	$1,053,270.11
7	Michael Clark	$1,049,108.73
8	christos vellios	$1,047,788.42
9	michael mondville	$1,013,332.14
10	Mark Girgis	$986,348.10
11	Ashwani Choudhary	$983,010.94
12	Bette Lockhart	$961,805.97
13	Eric Lasky	$961,571.97
14	Doris Lewis	$960,205.15
15	Jerry Wickey	$959,748.28
16	brian dash	$954,386.42
17	Eric Storch	$953,841.72
18	Billy Kung	$941,649.50
19	Debra Lewis	$929,308.65
20	Shirley May	$746,164.95

See all related posts in the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive.

Finals - Week 1: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday

Extra Stuff: The Biggest Loser, Interview With Bradford Pine

To receive additional updates by e-mail, drop a line here with the word "Subscribe" in the subject header.

Handcrafted by Flip on January 30, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Thursday, Finals Week 1

Well, after a couple of technological false starts, the first update to the standings in the final round has been published. It's with great delight that we note dear reader Bradford Pine is #1 with a bullet, having rocketed 19.7% today alone.

Keep it up, Brad! Do that 7 more times and you're $500,000 richer.

See all related posts in the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive.

Finals - Week 1: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday

Extra Stuff: The Biggest Loser, Interview With Bradford Pine

To receive additional updates by e-mail, drop a line here with the word "Subscribe" in the subject header.

Handcrafted by Flip on January 29, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Monday, Finals Week 1

Welcome to post-season trading!

We've dropped from a couple hundred thousand players to just 20, at least one of whom (Bradford Pine) hails from our esteemed collection of readers. Trading begins today and runs through next Friday, February 6. There are no Bonus Bucks and each trader has a single portfolio, which has been reset to $1 million ($900,000 in equities and $100,000 in currencies).

A couple of noteworthy oddities from the contest site:

There are only 10 finalists listed on the finalists page. I don't know whether these are just the top 10 overall finishers or whether it represents the thus-far validated finalists hailing from both the overall and the weekly ranks.
There are exactly zero members of the inumerable Lewis family (about whom much debate over possibly squirrely enrollment procedures swirled) on the list. Lewis family members finished with one weekly bid and two slots in the overall top 10. Any top 10 finishers who also won individual weeks get to the finals via their weekly bids (and the 11th-Nth place overall finishers move up accordingly), so it's possible that Lewis family members will indeed be in the finals and that we're seeing either the weekly winner-less list of "adjusted top 10" finalists or a partial list that will be updated later today.

While we didn't focus too much on currency trading here, it may prove to be a larger factor in the finals. During the initial phase of the contest, the rules strongly encouraged moon-shooting, since 1) rewards are only granted to a tiny fraction of the top percentile of performers, 2) each week was judged in isolation, 3) each trader could play with 5 independent portfolios, and 4) Bonus Bucks are more valuable to devastated portfolios.

Accordingly, the opportunity for currency gains (even to talented currency traders) was comparatively small, despite the ability to trade currencies throughout the day and the 10:1 leverage available to currency balances. The risk-seeking perversion was exacerbated this year with the introduction of ETFs (and leveraged ETFs), which enabled peak weekly gains approaching 100%. With gains of that size setting the pace, grinding out currency gains just wasn't a terribly productive use of one's time.

In the finals, none of the four above conditions hold. 1) A significant number (15%) of the finalists will win a share in the cash prize pool. 2) Standings in the finals are based on a single measurement of performance over the two-week period. 3) All finalists have just one portfolio. 4) There are no Bonus Bucks.

I don't know if there are any currency experts among the finalists, but I suspect it just became a prized area of expertise. (Note to finalists: the currency education section of the site is still live.)

If you didn't make the finals, you can (in theory*) continue pretend-trading with CNBC by logging into the contest portfolio manager and exporting your portfolios to the CNBC Investor Portfolio Tool.

* I just tried this and it's not working.

Update: The finalist roster now has a full 20 members, including 3 members of the Lewis family.

Update: Just spoke to Brad, who attempted to access the site this afternoon and make a couple changes to his allocation (well before the close) and couldn't get in. As of 4:06 pm, the site is still down. Unimpressive. And certain to result in justified complaints from the finalists.

Update: CNBC's mea culpa:

FINALS UPDATE 1/27 - 2/9

Due to technical issues on CNBC.com today, some of you were not able to place trades. As a matter of fairness, we will restart the finals tomorrow (Tuesday, 1/27) morning at 9:30am ET. Trading will continue through Monday, 2/9 until 4:00pm ET.
Before the opening bell Tuesday, 1/27, all portfolios will be reset by CNBC to 1,000,000 CNBC Bucks (900,000 for Equity and 100,000 for Currency trading).
We apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your participation.

See all related posts in the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive.

Finals - Week 1: Monday

Extra Stuff: The Biggest Loser, Interview With Bradford Pine

To receive additional updates by e-mail, drop a line here with the word "Subscribe" in the subject header.

Handcrafted by Flip on January 26, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Friday, Week 10

[Scroll to the bottom for answers to today's Bonus Bucks trivia questions.]

Welcome to the last day of regular season trading!

We've got a number of readers in contention for bids to the final round and today's action will either sustain or dash their million dollar dreams.

Brad Pine's in 6th place overall and has liquidated into 100% cash going into the final day. As he pointed out to me, Heidi Lewis (of the innumerable Lewis clan) is in 10th place, but she's already won a weekly bid, so 11th place may be good enough to reach the finals. Brad himself is also in 2nd place on the weekly leaderboard, so if he manages grab top honors for Week 10, 12th place overall might become the cutoff for the final round.

Going into today's session, our participating portfolios are allocated into our twin leveraged ETF baskets, as well as a portfolio of beaten up that reported earnings last night and manufacturing and transportation names that report this morning.

URE, UWM, UYG, RFL (Financial/Real Estate Ultrabull)
SRS, TWM, SKF, RFN (Financial/Real Estate Ultrabear)
COF, CBU, FFIN, PBCT (Beaten up banks reporting)
HOG, SLB, XRX, GMT (Manufacturing, Transportation)

Those of you still in the hunt, drop us a line and let us know how the day is going for you and where it looks like you'll end up.

For those of you who have enjoyed these daily updates and Bonus Bucks answers lo these 10 weeks and are grasping for ways to express your appreciation, we're pleased to gesture subtly toward the site's tip jar.

Thanks very much for your loyal readership during the contest. It's been a blast and I hope you'll continue to come around!

Update: Ooh, exciting. The leaderboard has been replaced by a tantalizing message.

You are being redirected to this page as we are performing maintenance. The page you are trying to access should be enabled in some time.

Stay tuned - results can't be far off...

Update: Hurrrmm... frustratingly inconclusive update...

Thank you for playing!
General trading for the contest is over. We'll be in touch if you made it into the finals.

Consider all of the above to be for entertainment purposes and not meant to be used as real-world investment recommendations. The goals and strategies of the Portfolio Challenge are not to be confused with those of sensible investing.

See all related posts in the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive.

Extra Stuff: The Biggest Loser, Interview With Bradford Pine

To receive additional updates by e-mail, drop a line here with the word "Subscribe" in the subject header.

Friday January 23rd

Cnbc_trivia

Throughout the contest, each day's answers will be at the top of the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive as soon as the questions are published, so bookmark accordingly.

Daily Trivia:

Squawk Box: Question: As of Jan. 19, how much bailout funding did HSBC request from the U.K. government?

Answer: no request being made

Squawk On the Street: Question: On Dec. 14, we reported that Berkshire Hathaway raised its stake in Burlington Northern railroad to:

Answer: 20.47%

The Call: Question: According to our slideshow, Behind the Scenes Look at the Death of Seth Tobias, where was "Tiger" the night in question?

Answer: Las Vegas

Power Lunch: Question: In our slideshow, "Notable Sex Scandals," which disgraced figure is wearing a red pattern necktie?

Answer: Jim McGreevey

Street Signs: Question: In our "SPANX Million Dollar Girdles" slideshow, what archaic derogatory term is referenced?

Answer: loose woman

Closing Bell: Question: According to our slideshow, Prostitution Scandals of the Rich & Famous, who revealed Sen. David Vitter's illicit secret?

Answer: Hustler magazine

Weekly Quiz:

Question: Jobless claims are reported

Answer: Weekly

Handcrafted by Flip on January 23, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Thursday, Week 10

[Scroll to the bottom for answers to today's Bonus Bucks trivia questions.]

After two days of trading, our best-performing subgroup of participating portfolios is up a whopping 47% week-to-date (not including Bonus Bucks).

We already had at least three readers on the overall leaderboard and hopefully this will have vaulted a few more into contention for one of the top 10 overall bids to the finals.

Today, we're allocated into those leveraged ETF baskets that have treated us so well this week, as well as a portfolio of banks reporting earnings this morning.

URE, UWM, UYG, RFL (Financial/Real Estate Ultrabull)
SRS, TWM, SKF, RFN (Financial/Real Estate Ultrabear)
FITB, KEY, MTB, BBT (Banks reporting earnings)

Check back this afternoon for today's final reallocation of the regular season.

Update: Way to go, Brad Pine, who just jumped from #9 to #2 on the overall leaderboard!

Update: Here we go - the very last reallocation of the contest (not including the finals).

In addition to the two leveraged ETF baskets, we've got a lovely selection of beaten up banks that will report earnings after today's closing bell and a grab bag of manufacturing and transportation names that report before tomorrow's open.

Participating portfolios should step into them according to the last digit of their birth year:

0-2: URE, UWM, UYG, RFL (Financial/Real Estate Ultrabull)
3-5: SRS, TWM, SKF, RFN (Financial/Real Estate Ultrabear)
6-7: COF, CBU, FFIN, PBCT (Beaten up banks reporting)
8-9: HOG, SLB, XRX, GMT (Manufacturing, Transportation)

See all related posts in the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive.

Extra Stuff: The Biggest Loser, Interview With Bradford Pine

To receive additional updates by e-mail, drop a line here with the word "Subscribe" in the subject header.

Thrursday January 22nd

Cnbc_trivia

Throughout the contest, each day's answers will be at the top of the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive as soon as the questions are published, so bookmark accordingly.

Daily Trivia:

Squawk Box: Question: Which scandal-tinged investor allegedly attempted to fake his suicide?

Answer: Arthur Nadel

Squawk On the Street: Question: Which global steel maker, identified by ticker symbol, did Jon Najarian examine in his Jan. 21 Stock Blog post?

Answer: GGB

The Call: Question: In blog post called "History, Cool Segments and Competitors", what Depression-era firm(s) still exist as parts of others?

Answer: none of the above

Power Lunch: Question: According to Wednesday's reports, which executive bought shares in his/her own company over the past week?

Answer: JPMorgan's Jamie Dimon

Street Signs: Question: In Jane Wells' blog post, Adidas Attends Etnies Party, which beer brand is shown in all four photos?

Answer: Pabst Blue Ribbon

Closing Bell: Question: In Darren Rovell's "As Seen On TV" bracket, which product is numbered 9 in the Kitchen category?

Answer: Tater Mitts

Weekly Quiz:

Question: Jobless claims are reported

Answer: Weekly

Handcrafted by Flip on January 22, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBack

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Wednesday, Week 10

[Scroll to the bottom for answers to today's Bonus Bucks trivia questions.]

Today, following a very strong start for our ultrabear group, our participating portfolios are split into the two leveraged financial/real estate ETF baskets and one energy-heavy portfolio.

URE, UWM, UYG, RFL (Financial/Real Estate Ultrabull)
SRS, TWM, SKF, RFN (Financial/Real Estate Ultrabear)
MMR, USO, KMP, DXO (Energy)

Check back this afternoon for today's penultimate reallocation.

And those of you within spitting distance of the top 10 (or the weekly prize), keep us in the loop. Bradford Pine began Week 10 at #9 overall, so if he can hang on, we'll have at least one reader going to the finals.

Update: Including yesterday's performance, Brad has moved up to #8 overall and reader Judith Boucher has jumped to #11.

Update: For today's reallocation, let's go with the two leveraged ETF baskets, plus for selected bank stocks that will report earnings tomorrow before the open. Choose according to the last digit of your ZIP code.

0-2: URE, UWM, UYG, RFL (Financial/Real Estate Ultrabull)
3-5: SRS, TWM, SKF, RFN (Financial/Real Estate Ultrabear)
6-9: FITB, KEY, MTB, BBT (Banks reporting earnings)

See all related posts in the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive.

Extra Stuff: The Biggest Loser, Interview With Bradford Pine

To receive additional updates by e-mail, drop a line here with the word "Subscribe" in the subject header.

Wednesday January 21st

Cnbc_trivia

Throughout the contest, each day's answers will be at the top of the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive as soon as the questions are published, so bookmark accordingly.

Daily Trivia:

Squawk Box: Question: In Maria Bartiromo's Jan. 20 video "Market Message," which of these topics did she mention first?

Answer: Apple earnings

Squawk On the Street: Question: Which company mentioned in the Stock Blog post "Diversity is the Key" is based in the Eastern Hemisphere?

Answer: both of the above

The Call: Question: According to Jim Goldman's blog "Tumult vs. Triumph," why did RBC Capital's Mike Abramsky lower his Apple estimates?

Answer: fear of Mac order slowdown

Power Lunch: Question: What were uber-trader Jon Najarian's floor call letters when he worked on the CBOE?

Answer: DRJ

Street Signs: Question: In "Cramer's 10 Tips for Obama" what did the Mad Money guru NOT suggest government do?

Answer: Help the homebuilders

Closing Bell: Question: On our Web site's Credit Spreads page (hint: find it via the Market Buzz box), what is the first type of data shown?

Answer: TED Spread

Weekly Quiz:

Question: Jobless claims are reported

Answer: Weekly

Handcrafted by Flip on January 21, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBack

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Tuesday, Week 10

[Scroll to the bottom for answers to today's Bonus Bucks trivia questions.]

Welcome to Week 10, home of the MLB All-Star Game prize package and your last chance to secure a weekly bid (or one of the 10 overall bids) to the finals.

Check back this afternoon for today's reallocations.

Update: Tomorrow, we've got a number of interesting companies reporting earnings, including notable airlines, energy companies, and financials.

In addition to our standard ultrabull and ultrabear baskets, we're adding a portfolio of energy names (3 earnings reporters, plus the 2x leveraged crude ETF). They don't all report before the open, but the prevailing sentiment should have sunk in by the closing bell. Participating portfolios should step into these allocations, according to the last digit of their phone numbers:

0-2: URE, UWM, UYG, RFL (Financial/Real Estate Ultrabull)
3-5: SRS, TWM, SKF, RFN (Financial/Real Estate Ultrabear)
6-9: MMR, USO, KMP, DXO (Energy)

Update: Thanks to John in the comments, who notes that NVE is not eligible (odd, because it seems like it should qualify). I've removed it from the energy basket and replaced it with the ETF USO.

See all related posts in the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive.

Extra Stuff: The Biggest Loser, Interview With Bradford Pine

To receive additional updates by e-mail, drop a line here with the word "Subscribe" in the subject header.

Tuesday January 20th

Cnbc_trivia

Throughout the contest, each day's answers will be at the top of the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive as soon as the questions are published, so bookmark accordingly.

Daily Trivia:

Squawk Box: 6:00 am

Answer: health care

Squawk On the Street: Question: What did "Dow 12,000" trader Ben Lichtenstein call a "major speed bump" on Friday?

Answer: Dow at 9,500

The Call: Question: What is the name of CNBC contributor Janice Dorn's own business site?

Answer: thetradingdoctor.com

Power Lunch: Question: Vanished Florida money manager Arthur Nadel handled assets for which Norse-named fund?

Answer: Valhalla

Street Signs: Question: On Monday, which bank announced the largest loss in Great Britain's corporate history (as of Jan. 19)?

Answer: Royal Bank of Scotland

Closing Bell: Question: In Darren Rovell's "As Seen on TV" Tournament, which TV product is numbered "1" in the "Everything Else" category?

Answer: Girls Gone Wild

Weekly Quiz:

Question: Jobless claims are reported

Answer: Weekly

Handcrafted by Flip on January 20, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBack

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Friday, Week 9

[Scroll to the bottom for answers to today's Bonus Bucks trivia questions.]

Check back this afternoon for the first reallocation for Week 10.

Update: Expect our newfound volatility to continue on Tuesday - Inauguration Day and the first day of the contest's final, holiday-shortened week.

Accordingly, we'll kick things off with our twin financials-heavy volatility plays, according to birth month:

Jan-Jun: URE, UWM, UYG, RFL (Financial/Real Estate Ultrabull)
Jul-Dec: SRS, TWM, SKF, RFN (Financial/Real Estate Ultrabear)

Have a great long weekend!

See all related posts in the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive.

Extra Stuff: The Biggest Loser, Interview With Bradford Pine

To receive additional updates by e-mail, drop a line here with the word "Subscribe" in the subject header.

Friday January 16th

Cnbc_trivia

Throughout the contest, each day's answers will be at the top of the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive as soon as the questions are published, so bookmark accordingly.

Daily Trivia:

Squawk Box: Question: What stock(s) did Fast Money trader Joe Terranova recommend Thursday to play a gasoline price bottom?

Answer: Valero

Squawk On the Street: Question: In Cramer's Dec. 22 "outrage" over ultra-short ETFs, where was UltraShort Financials ProShares?

Answer: up 1.4%

The Call: During Doug Hirschhorn's Jan. 15 CNBC interview, what "Breaking News" headline(s) appeared on-screen?

Answer: Dow Dips Below 8000

Power Lunch: Question: According to the article "Is Microsoft's Songsmith Video Campy...", what hated TV show was the promo video compared to?

Answer: Cop Rock

Street Signs: Question: In Cliff Mason's blog post about legalizing narcotics, which economist does he refer to?

Answer: Milton Friedman

Closing Bell: Question: In the installment of "Pros Say" called "We Need More Bailouts, Bigger TARP", who praised Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke?

Answer: Michael Spence

Weekly Quiz:

Question: If the S&P 500 goes down 1%, how much does SDS go up?

Answer: 2%

Handcrafted by Flip on January 16, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (13) | TrackBack

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Thursday, Week 9

[Scroll to the bottom for answers to today's Bonus Bucks trivia questions.]

Check back later this afternoon for today's reallocations.

Update: Nice day for us to be evenly split between those two leverage financial ETF baskets. Well, nice day for half of us, anyway, but that's all we ever ask for.

It's been a little while since we had a double digit up day (what with the market's stubborn lack of volatility lately), but this certainly seems to be a nice one.

For tomorrow, let's keep with this same pair but reshuffle the allocation, this time according to the last digit of your age:

Odd: URE, UWM, UYG, RFL (Financial/Real Estate Ultrabull)
Even: SRS, TWM, SKF, RFN (Financial/Real Estate Ultrabear)

See all related posts in the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive.

Extra Stuff: The Biggest Loser, Interview With Bradford Pine

To receive additional updates by e-mail, drop a line here with the word "Subscribe" in the subject header.

Thursday January 15th

Cnbc_trivia

Throughout the contest, each day's answers will be at the top of the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive as soon as the questions are published, so bookmark accordingly.

Daily Trivia:

Squawk Box: Question: CNBC Europe's Silvia Wadhwa has written for which German business news organization?

Answer: Handelsblatt

Squawk On the Street: Question: Which alleged "hedge fund swindler" was "barred from contact" with his girlfriend on Wednesday?

Answer: Samuel Israel

The Call: Question: After Wednesday's news about Steve Jobs, Fast Money trader Jeff Macke said what would make Apple a "trading buy"?

Answer: Down $10"

Power Lunch: Question: In Allen Wastler's blog post, "Time to Start a Fugitive Watch?", which infamous 1970s criminal does he refer to?

Answer: "D.B. Cooper"

Street Signs: Question: On our Web site's Currencies page, which pair appears first (upper left-hand corner)?

Answer: Euro/US Dollar

Closing Bell: Question: How much did Canada's EDC agree to provide in short-term financing to help Nortel emerge from bankruptcy?

Answer: up to C$30 million

Weekly Quiz:

Question: If the S&P 500 goes down 1%, how much does SDS go up?

Answer: 2%

Handcrafted by Flip on January 15, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBack

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Wednesday, Week 9

[Scroll to the bottom for answers to today's Bonus Bucks trivia questions.]

Check back later this afternoon for today's reallocations.

Update: Holders of participating portfolios: kindly line up by astrological sign:

Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Virgo, Scorpio, Sagittarius: URE, UWM, UYG, RFL (Financial/Real Estate Ultrabull)
Libra, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces, Cancer, Leo: SRS, TWM, SKF, RFN (Financial/Real Estate Ultrabear)

See all related posts in the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive.

Extra Stuff: The Biggest Loser, Interview With Bradford Pine

To receive additional updates by e-mail, drop a line here with the word "Subscribe" in the subject header.

Wednesday January 14th

Cnbc_trivia

Throughout the contest, each day's answers will be at the top of the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive as soon as the questions are published, so bookmark accordingly.

Daily Trivia:

While we're waiting for the next trivia question, a delightful way to pass the time is voting for Suitably Flip in the 2008 Weblog Awards.

Squawk Box: Question: When "Squawk Box" co-anchor Becky Quick was an undergrad, what newspaper did she lead?

Answer: The Daily Targum

Squawk On the Street: Question: According to Jon Najarian's Tuesday Stock Blog, which biotech saw options trading spike on Eli Lilly deal rumors?

Answer: DNDN

The Call: Question: In our "Top 10 Halloween Costumes 2008" slideshow, what exaggerated medical implement is the "Adult Nurse" holding?

Answer: Giant Hypodermic Needle

Power Lunch: Question: In Dennis Kneale's editorial, "10 Reasons for Hope", what word does he suggest googling along with his name?

Answer: idiot

Street Signs: Question: In a Jan. 13 interview, Putnam Investments CEO Robert Reynolds said which new fund gives an "equity-type return"?

Answer: Putnam 700

Closing Bell: Question: Boone Pickens told CNBC Tuesday that the price of oil (per barrel) would be where "within a year"?

Answer: $75

Weekly Quiz:

Question: If the S&P 500 goes down 1%, how much does SDS go up?

Answer: 2%

Handcrafted by Flip on January 14, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBack

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Tuesday, Week 9

[Scroll to the bottom for answers to today's Bonus Bucks trivia questions.]

Check back later this afternoon for today's reallocations.

In the mean time, it's the last day of voting in the 2008 Weblog Awards.

The good news is that this is the last time I'm going to pester you with this. And if you can find your way to sparing two mouse clicks on my behalf, I sure enough would appreciate it.

Many thanks to all of you who have voted for this site already - and remember, as long as it's been 24 hours since your last vote, you're cleared for another go!

You don't even need to leave this site to cast your vote; just click here and cast away!

Update: Today, our participating portfolios are going into the following four baskets, according to the third digit of your ZIP code:

1-3: URE, UWM, UYG, RFL (Financial/Real Estate Ultrabull)
4-6: SRS, TWM, SKF, RFN (Financial/Real Estate Ultrabear)
7-8: JAVA, HPQ, DELL, TECD (Computer hardware)
9-0: APA, CHK, DVN, SWN (Oil operations)

See all related posts in the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive.

Extra Stuff: The Biggest Loser, Interview With Bradford Pine

To receive additional updates by e-mail, drop a line here with the word "Subscribe" in the subject header.

Tuesday January 13th

Cnbc_trivia

Throughout the contest, each day's answers will be at the top of the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive as soon as the questions are published, so bookmark accordingly.

Daily Trivia:

While we're waiting for the next trivia question, a delightful way to pass the time is voting for Suitably Flip in the 2008 Weblog Awards.

Squawk Box: Question: According to our Stock Blog, what was the "No. 1 Options Play Today" on Jan. 12?

Answer: Visa

Squawk On the Street: Question: In the Jan. 9 edition of Mad Mail, why does Jim Cramer tell "Suzette" he likes Molson-Coors Brewing?

Answer: low aluminum prices

The Call: Question: In Darren Rovell's "Greatest TV Product Ever" story, which product does he say he actually purchased?

Answer: George Foreman gril

Power Lunch: Question: In the Fast Money post, "Two Sectors Worth Watching", what sector does S&P's Rich Peterson suggest avoiding?

Answer: materials

Street Signs: Question: On our Web site's Green page, what section will you find located on the upper-most lefthand corner?

Answer: Major Solar Stocks (IOW, "Hey, did you know we have a green page?")

Closing Bell: Question: In a Monday CNBC interview, General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner called what factor "key" for GM?

Answer: consumer confidence

Weekly Quiz:

Question: If the S&P 500 goes down 1%, how much does SDS go up?

Answer: 2%

Handcrafted by Flip on January 13, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBack

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Monday, Week 9

[Scroll to the bottom for answers to today's Bonus Bucks trivia questions.]

Welcome to Week 9, home of the Scottish golf cruise.

I'm happy to note that reader Bradford Pine has been edging higher after getting knocked down a few pegs on the leaderboard and goes into this week ranked #11 overall. Several others among you have been within spitting distance in recent weeks and a couple of you have made your own appearances in the top 25, so give us an update and let us know where you're standing. Hoepfully, we'll get a few of our own into the finals via a top 10 finish. Meanwhile, let's see about grabbing one or two of those weekly bids.

Today, our participating portfolios are divided between the two leveraged ETF funds

URE, UWM, UYG, RFL (Financial/Real Estate Ultrabull)
SRS, TWM, SKF, RFN (Financial/Real Estate Ultrabear)

Check back this afternoon for today's reallocation.

Update: It's the same two baskets today (looking for some broad volatility tomorrow as earnings numbers begin to trickle out), but reshuffled, according to birth month:

Jan-Jun: URE, UWM, UYG, RFL (Financial/Real Estate Ultrabull)
Jul-Dec: SRS, TWM, SKF, RFN (Financial/Real Estate Ultrabear)

Also, in case you haven't heard, there are 2 days left of voting in the 2008 Weblog Awards. Many thanks to all of you who have voted for this site in the Best Business Blog category. Remember you can vote once every 24 hours and voting is now easier than ever via the embedded voting booth. You don't even need to leave this site to cast your vote; just click here and cast away!

See all related posts in the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive.

Extra Stuff: The Biggest Loser, Interview With Bradford Pine

To receive additional updates by e-mail, drop a line here with the word "Subscribe" in the subject header.

Monday January 12th

Cnbc_trivia

Throughout the contest, each day's answers will be at the top of the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive as soon as the questions are published, so bookmark accordingly.

Daily Trivia:

While we're waiting for the next trivia question, a delightful way to pass the time is voting for Suitably Flip in the 2008 Weblog Awards.

Squawk Box: Question: On Jan. 9, stock picker Michael Yoshikami did NOT recommend a dividend-play company in this sector:

Answer: conglomerates

Squawk On the Street: Question: In Bob Pisani's Jan. 9 post "The Next Big Worry", what does the "Trader Talk" blogger call the market's "big worry" now?

Answer: earnings revisions

The Call: Question: In the Friday edition of "Stop Trading," Jim Cramer said which aspect of oil and gas still "might be hanging on"?

Answer: drilling

Power Lunch: Question: Which CNBC correspondent hosted Friday's (1/9/09) market news wrap-up, "The Week & You"?

Answer: Courtney Reagan

Street Signs: Question: Which obsolete medium is referenced on a page of our slideshow, "The Best-Selling Adult DVDs of All Time"?

Answer: I blew it - went with "none of the above". With thanks to Barry in the comments, the answer is ancient sanskrit.

(Where do you see that? In tiny letters on one of the boxes?)

Closing Bell: Question: According to Jim Goldman's Jan. 7 blog post, who was the butt of Steve Ballmer's joke about Facebook "friend requests"?

Answer: Yahoo ex-CEO Jerry Yang

Weekly Quiz:

Question: If the S&P 500 goes down 1%, how much does SDS go up?

Answer: 2%

Handcrafted by Flip on January 12, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBack

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Friday, Week 8

[Scroll to the bottom for answers to today's Bonus Bucks trivia questions.]

Today, our participating portfolios remain allocated to two leveraged ETF baskets and two sector-specific portfolios:

URE, UWM, UYG, RFL (Financial/Real Estate Ultrabull)
SRS, TWM, SKF, RFN (Financial/Real Estate Ultrabear)
JAVA, HPQ, DELL, TECD (Computer hardware)
APA, CHK, DVN, SWN (Oil operations)

Check back this afternoon for the first reallocation of Week 9.

I'm also delighted to report that in addition to our reader Bradford Pine (who's been a fixture on the overall leaderboard for weeks, including some time spent at #1), one of our multiple readers who've been lurking just beneath the leaderboard has just cracked the top 25. Jim (who finished #60 in the previous contest) is now enjoying a #24 rank and is within striking distance of a coveted top 10 finish.

(Sadly, the inestimably large Lewis family has seen some slippage from the leaderboard in recent days. At this point, only two members of the sprawling Effingham clan remain on the top traders roster.)

Also, in case you haven't heard, there are 5 days left of voting in the 2008 Weblog Awards. Many thanks to all of you who have voted for this site in the Best Business Blog category. Remember you can vote once every 24 hours and voting is now easier than ever via the embedded voting booth. You don't even need to leave this site to cast your vote; just click here and cast away!

See all related posts in the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive.

Extra Stuff: The Biggest Loser, Interview With Bradford Pine

To receive additional updates by e-mail, drop a line here with the word "Subscribe" in the subject header.

Friday January 9th

Cnbc_trivia

Throughout the contest, each day's answers will be at the top of the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive as soon as the questions are published, so bookmark accordingly.

Daily Trivia:

While we're waiting for the next trivia question, a delightful way to pass the time is voting for Suitably Flip in the 2008 Weblog Awards.

Squawk Box: Question: In our slideshow, 25 Years of Tech Blunders, what "old economy" product is compared to the modern ones?

Answer: Ford Edsel

Squawk On the Street: Question: On Thursday, Jeffrey Saut of Raymond James said which companies are players in the water sector?

Answer: all of the above

The Call: Question: What phrase did Clem Chambers use in his prediction of Dow 11,000 on an "Obama Bounce"?

Answer: all of the above

Power Lunch: Question: In Cliff Mason's Jan. 8 blog post on job hunting, what cross-over Yiddish term did he use?

Answer: schtick

Street Signs: Question: In the story, "Sarkozy, Merkel, Blair Call for New Capitalism," what group did Germany's chancellor cite as a failure?

Answer: International Monetary Fund

Closing Bell: What was Jim Cramer's Top Five Dow Stocks pick for Tuesday

Answer: Verizon Communications

Weekly Quiz:

Question: The term MACD is shorthand for

Answer: Moving Average Convergence/ Divergence

Handcrafted by Flip on January 9, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (13) | TrackBack

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Thursday, Week 8

[Scroll to the bottom for answers to today's Bonus Bucks trivia questions.]

Today, our participating portfolios remain allocated to two leveraged ETF baskets and two sector-specific portfolios:

URE, UWM, UYG, RFL (Financial/Real Estate Ultrabull)
SRS, TWM, SKF, RFN (Financial/Real Estate Ultrabear)
JAVA, HPQ, DELL, TECD (Computer hardware)
APA, CHK, DVN, SWN (Oil operations)

Check back this afternoon for the final reallocation for Week 8.

Meanwhile, there are 6 days left of voting in the 2008 Weblog Awards. Many thanks to all of you who have voted for this site in the Best Business Blog category. Remember you can vote once every 24 hours and voting is now easier than ever via the embedded voting booth. You don't even need to leave this site to cast your vote; just click here and cast away!

Update: Today's final reallocation for Week 8 uses the same four baskets above, to be doled out according to the last digit of your social security number:

1-3: URE, UWM, UYG, RFL (Financial/Real Estate Ultrabull)
4-6: SRS, TWM, SKF, RFN (Financial/Real Estate Ultrabear)
7-8: JAVA, HPQ, DELL, TECD (Computer hardware)
9-0: APA, CHK, DVN, SWN (Oil operations)

See all related posts in the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive.

Extra Stuff: The Biggest Loser, Interview With Bradford Pine

To receive additional updates by e-mail, drop a line here with the word "Subscribe" in the subject header.

Thursday January 8th

Cnbc_trivia

Throughout the contest, each day's answers will be at the top of the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive as soon as the questions are published, so bookmark accordingly.

Daily Trivia:

While we're waiting for the next trivia question, a delightful way to pass the time is voting for Suitably Flip in the 2008 Weblog Awards.

Squawk Box: Question: In Wednesday's Stop Trading segment, "The Next Big Madoff Story", what does Jim Cramer say may be "trending negative"?

Answer: Obamas stimulus plan

Squawk On the Street: Question: According to a Jan. 7 Stock Blog by Jon Najarian, which networking company's shares "jumped" more than 18% Tuesday?

Answer: Ciena

The Call: Question: What animal metaphor did B. Ramalinga Raju use for trying to fix Satyam Computer Services' balance sheet?

Answer: riding a tiger

Power Lunch: Question: According to our Warren Buffett Watch blog, which cartoonist said he doesn't trust the Berkshire Hathaway chief?

Answer: Scott Adams

Street Signs: Question: According to Jane Wells' blog, which famed pornographer wants a $5 billion bailout for the adult entertainment industry?

Answer: Larry Flynt

Closing Bell: Question: In our article, "Early Warnings Signaling An Ugly Earnings Season", who warned of further layoffs ahead?

Answer: Alcoa

Weekly Quiz:

Question: The term MACD is shorthand for

Answer: Moving Average Convergence/ Divergence

Handcrafted by Flip on January 8, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Wednesday, Week 8

[Scroll to the bottom for answers to today's Bonus Bucks trivia questions.]

Today, our participating portfolios are allocated to 2 leveraged ETF baskets and two sector-specific portfolios:

URE, UWM, UYG, RFL (Financial/Real Estate Ultrabull)
SRS, TWM, SKF, RFN (Financial/Real Estate Ultrabear)
JAVA, HPQ, DELL, TECD (Computer hardware)
APA, CHK, DVN, SWN (Oil operations)

Check back this afternoon for today's reallocations.

And in the mean time, voting continues for the 2008 Weblog Awards. This blog is a finalist in the Best Business Blog category and we can certainly use your vote.

In fact, since you can vote once every 24 hours and voting runs through January 13, we can use your 7 votes. Click here to vote (takes about 5 seconds, doesn't require registration).

Thanks!

Update: I was a little late getting yesterday's reallocation posted, so I'm going to get today's out of the way early (though that requires a bit of legwork on your part). Toward the end of the trading day, check to see whether you have any portfolios in the surviving subgroup. Click on each of the four ticker symbols in your basket and compare the average to that of the other 3 baskets.

If you're a big winner, take your surviving portfolio (or portfolio) and reallocate into one of the same 4 baskets, this time according to the last digit of your phone number:

0-2: URE, UWM, UYG, RFL (Financial/Real Estate Ultrabull)
3-5: SRS, TWM, SKF, RFN (Financial/Real Estate Ultrabear)
6-7: JAVA, HPQ, DELL, TECD (Computer hardware)
8-9: APA, CHK, DVN, SWN (Oil operations)

If you've got more than one surviving portfolio (or if the top two groups score very similarly), allocate one to your assigned basket, the next to the next on the list, and so on, until you're out of portfolios.

If you're having trouble determining which basket is the big winner, just proceed as though all of your participating portfolios are winners and reallocate according to the above scheme (since the non-winners would effectively sit idle until Friday anyway).

See all related posts in the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive.

Extra Stuff: The Biggest Loser, Interview With Bradford Pine

To receive additional updates by e-mail, drop a line here with the word "Subscribe" in the subject header.

Wednesday January 7th

Cnbc_trivia

Throughout the contest, each day's answers will be at the top of the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive as soon as the questions are published, so bookmark accordingly.

Daily Trivia:

While we're waiting for the next trivia question, a delightful way to pass the time is voting for Suitably Flip in the 2008 Weblog Awards.

Squawk Box: Question: According to the CNBC Stock Blog, which housing stock did strategist Ivy Zelman pan on Tuesday?

Answer: none of the above

Squawk On the Street: Question: In the edition of "Pros Say" entitled "Buck Up--And Buy Upgraded Stocks" who upped his rating on stocks to market weight?

Answer: Rob Morgan

The Call: Question: According to Prudential Douglas Elliman's Dottie Herman, what likely sparked a 3.6% drop in Manhattan apartment prices?

Answer: Lehman Bros. bankruptcy

Power Lunch: Question: On Tuesday, Gazprom's Alexander Medvedev accused whom of cutting off Russian gas to Europe?

Answer: "Ukrainians"

Street Signs: Question: In his "Bond Outlook '09," Pimco's Paul McCulley is shown juxtaposed with what animal?

Answer: Bunny

Closing Bell: Question: On Tues day, the Fast Money team described what group as former "Masters Of The Universe"?

Answer: hedge fund bosses

Weekly Quiz:

Question: The term MACD is shorthand for

Answer: Moving Average Convergence/ Divergence

Handcrafted by Flip on January 7, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Tuesday, Week 8

[Scroll to the bottom for answers to today's Bonus Bucks trivia questions.]

If you've been enjoying the trivia answers, trading strategies, and contest commentary that daily grace these pages, and you've been beating yourself up trying to come up with ways to give something back, this is your big chance.

You now have the opportunity to give the greatest gift of all - the gift of voting for this blog in the 2008 Weblog Awards. (This can also count as your Christmas present to me.)

Embedded voting widgets should appear here today or tomorrow. For now, all you need to do is click here, then click "Suitably Flip" on the resulting page.

You can vote once every 24 hours through January 13, and every time you do, Cleveland Indians coach Lou Phelps will remove another segment of the dress from the cardboard cut-out of Rachel Phelps.

Thanks, friend!

As for contest business... I'm mildly optimistic that we're going to see a return to some of our bygone volatility today (and indeed, for the rest of the week), with a double dose of manufacturing data coming out this morning and a bunch of employment data on deck later in the week.

Our participating portfolios remain evenly split between the ultrabull and ultrabear ETF baskets today, but we'll be dividing into slightly more complex subgroups before today's close, so come back this afternoon for those reallocations.

Update: Today's reallocations are going according to birth month, and utilize our twin leveraged ETF baskets, as well as a computer hardware and an oil operations portfolio.

Jan-Mar: URE, UWM, UYG, RFL (Financial/Real Estate Ultrabull)
Apr-Jun: SRS, TWM, SKF, RFN (Financial/Real Estate Ultrabear)
Jul-Sep: JAVA, HPQ, DELL, TECD (Computer hardware)
Oct-Dec: APA, CHK, DVN, SWN (Oil operations)

See all related posts in the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive.

Extra Stuff: The Biggest Loser, Interview With Bradford Pine

To receive additional updates by e-mail, drop a line here with the word "Subscribe" in the subject header.

Tuesday January 6th

Cnbc_trivia

Throughout the contest, each day's answers will be at the top of the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive as soon as the questions are published, so bookmark accordingly.

Daily Trivia:

Squawk Box: Question: In Jon Najarian's Monday Stock Blog post, which natgas company did he say options traders were targeting?

Answer: MarkWest Energy

Squawk On the Street: Question: In his CNBC interview, Pimco's co-CEO Mohamed El-Erian recommended which investment(s)?

Answer: all of the above

The Call: Question: Web video hunt: On Dec. 23, which strategist told CNBC that Russia would be a "A Bigger Energy Player in 2009"?

Answer: Jonathan Barratt

Power Lunch: Question: Which corporate boards did Meg Whitman resign from as of Dec. 31?

Answer: none of the above

Street Signs: Question: Which investment firm said Monday that it was unwinding its $1 billion Tempo Master fund?

Answer: JD Capital Management

Closing Bell: Question: In his Millennial Money blog post called "War On Climate Change Over..." what was Cliff Mason's apocalyptic message?

Answer: Kiss the future goodbye!

Once you're caught up with your Bonus Bucks, why not go ahead and pull that lever at the 2008 Weblog Awards.

Weekly Quiz:

Question: The term MACD is shorthand for

Answer: Moving Average Convergence/ Divergence

Handcrafted by Flip on January 6, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (10) | TrackBack

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Monday, Week 8

[Scroll to the bottom for answers to today's Bonus Bucks trivia questions.]

Welcome to Week 8, home of the third and final Pro Bowl Hawaii prize package. I see our pal Brad Pine has climbed back onto the overall leaderboard and continues doing battle with the inestimably large Lewis family.

I don't immediately recognize others from our group in the top 25 at this point (though I know about many of you who are lurking just below), but please email me and let me know if I've missed you.

Check back this afternoon for the first set of Week 8 allocations for those participating in the group strategy.

See all related posts in the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive.

Week 8: Monday
Week 7: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week 6: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week 5: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week 4: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week 3: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week 2: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week 1: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Pre-game: CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge Is Back, Strategy Primer

Extra Stuff: The Biggest Loser, Interview With Bradford Pine

To receive additional updates by e-mail, drop a line here with the word "Subscribe" in the subject header.

Monday January 5th

Cnbc_trivia

Throughout the contest, each day's answers will be at the top of the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive as soon as the questions are published, so bookmark accordingly.

Daily Trivia:

Squawk Box: Question: In a "Fast Money" interview on Dec. 31, how does CEO Howard Levine describe his family business?

Answer: "selling...things that people need"

Squawk On the Street: Question: According to our Warren Buffett Watch, where did Berkshire Hathaway's Class A shares end 2008?

Answer: at $96,600 each

The Call: Question: According to our By The Numbers blog, which of the 2009 Dogs of the Dow has the lowest dividend yield?

Answer: Kraft Foods

Power Lunch: Question: Video hunt: In a Jan. 1 interview about commodities, what did Michael Yoshikami cite as a sign of industrial slowdown?

Answer: displacement of Chinese workers

Street Signs: Question: Slideshow hunt: According to our Wealth in America survey, who had planned to spend the most on holiday shopping?

Answer: Northeastern farmers

Closing Bell: Question: According to the article, Asian Markets Start 2009 on a Quiet Note, whose gains helped support Australian stocks?

Answer: Woodside (apparently... thanks, Michael)*

* Bad question. Based on the cited article, the answer should be "none of the above". You need to see this article instead, where Woodside is mentioned.

I've emailed CNBC to see if we can get some clarification (and, hopefully, a score adjustment).

Weblog Awards Voting Promo: For anyone inclined to vote for this site in the 2008 Weblog Awards, voting just went live. You can vote once per day for the next 8 days. If you're willing, click here to do your civic duty.

Weekly Quiz:

Question: The term MACD is shorthand for

Answer: Moving Average Convergence/ Divergence

Handcrafted by Flip on January 5, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (14) | TrackBack

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Friday, Week 7

[Scroll to the bottom for answers to today's Bonus Bucks trivia questions.]

Check back this afternoon for the first set of Week 8 allocations for those participating in the group strategy.

In the mean time, drop us a line if you've got a portfolio in the overall top few hundred, so we can get an informal census of those within striking distance of those top 10 finishing places that will advance to the final round alongside the weekly winners.

Update: Bonus Bucks seem to have gone squirrelly today. As of 1:20 pm, the 12:00 question has yet to appear... Anyone seeing it?

Anyway, to kick off Week 8, let's divide our participating portfolios into the two leveraged ETF baskets, according to phone number. If yours ends in an odd number, you're in the ultrabulls; even: ultrabears.

Odd: URE, UWM, UYG, RFL (Financial/Real Estate Ultrabull)
Even: SRS, TWM, SKF, RFN (Financial/Real Estate Ultrabear)

Update: Bonus Bucks are back. See below for answers.

See all related posts in the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive.

Week 7: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week 6: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week 5: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week 4: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week 3: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week 2: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week 1: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Pre-game: CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge Is Back, Strategy Primer

Extra Stuff: The Biggest Loser, Interview With Bradford Pine

To receive additional updates by e-mail, drop a line here with the word "Subscribe" in the subject header.

Friday January 2nd

Cnbc_trivia

Throughout the contest, each day's answers will be at the top of the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive as soon as the questions are published, so bookmark accordingly.

Daily Trivia:

Squawk Box: Question: In our "Famous Last Words" slideshow, what is Chris Dodd referring to?

Answer: Fannie Mae

Squawk On the Street: Question: On New Years Eve, Brent Wilsey told CNBC that which stock is in the "30% Club"?

Answer: Cisco Systems

The Call: Question: In our Web video collection, "Top Videos of 2008", which news story is not represented?

Answer: Sarah Palin in the VP debate

Power Lunch: Question: What investment does Nadav Baum consider in Part 2 of "Predictions '09" (Why You Shouldn't Run From Stocks)?

Answer: Energy Select Sector SPDR

Street Signs: Question: What is Ukraine's state-owned gas company named?

Answer: Naftogaz

Closing Bell: Question: Why did Jon Najarian say NetApps was the focus of "intense options action" on Wednesday?

Answer: buyout scuttlebutt

Weekly Quiz:

Question: NYSE tick indicator represents number of stocks with

Answer: last trade executed on uptick vs downtick

Handcrafted by Flip on January 2, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Wednesday, Week 7

[Scroll to the bottom for answers to today's Bonus Bucks trivia questions.]

Happy new year's eve, all. Remember that today (which is a full trading session) is effectively the last day of trading for Week 7, since the market is closed tomorrow and today's trades will be the last ones to affect your portfolio on Friday.

The week-to-date leaderboard is offline at the moment, so let us know if you've got any particularly strong portfolios (this week, anything managing double-digits by the end of Tuesday's session should be in decent shape).

Update: The leaderboard has been restored. Anyone with better than 14.42% week-to-date earned a spot.

Update: For today's final reallocation of Week 7, we're using the same two ETF baskets, but allocating by birth month. Jan-Jun: Ultrabulls; Jul-Dec: Ultrabears.

Jan-Jun: URE, UWM, UYG, RFL (Financial/Real Estate Ultrabull)
Jul-Dec: SRS, TWM, SKF, RFN (Financial/Real Estate Ultrabear)

Happy new year and best wishes for health, wealth, and prosperous trading in 2009!

See all related posts in the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive.

Week 7: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday
Week 6: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week 5: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week 4: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week 3: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week 2: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week 1: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Pre-game: CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge Is Back, Strategy Primer

Extra Stuff: The Biggest Loser, Interview With Bradford Pine

To receive additional updates by e-mail, drop a line here with the word "Subscribe" in the subject header.

Wednesday December 31st

Cnbc_trivia

Throughout the contest, each day's answers will be at the top of the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive as soon as the questions are published, so bookmark accordingly.

Daily Trivia:

Squawk Box: Question: Market rally predictor Jack Hough jokes that he should have written what kind of book?

Answer: "doom-and-gloom"

Squawk On the Street: Question: In his Guest Blog post "My Top 10 Investment Themes for '09", why does Tony Crescenzi praise the art market?

Answer: all of the above

The Call: Question: Just how bad were holiday retail sales this year?

Answer: Worst since 1970, at least

Power Lunch: Question: In our new slideshow entitled The Year in Slideshows, what story will you find bullet-pointed on the Miami Fashion page?

Answer: "Bikinis and Business News?"

Street Signs: Question: In the edition of Pros Say concerning a "Recession-Depression Hybrid" what does George Ball say we must do?

Answer: "learn to undo" our financial behavior

Closing Bell: Question: In the "Fast Money" episode "Famous Last Words of 2008," which FM trader chose his/her own words to mock?

Answer: Joe Terranova

Weekly Quiz:

Question: NYSE tick indicator represents number of stocks with

Answer: last trade executed on uptick vs downtick

Handcrafted by Flip on December 31, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (15) | TrackBack

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Tuesday, Week 7

[Scroll to the bottom for answers to today's Bonus Bucks trivia questions.]

How are we doing so far? Anyone make the week-to-date leaderboard last night? It took a relatively meager 8% to make the board.

Of course Monday was a relatively non-volatile day, so even our leveraged sector ETFs probably didn't make the grade, unless you were using your own tweak. Let's hope for a bit more frenzy in today's session...

Check back this afternoon for today's reallocations.

Update: Turns out I'm going to be on the road for most of the afternoon. But today it's the typical drill for our participating portfolios. Banking on a little year-end volatility tomorrow, we're reshuffling among our two leveraged ETF baskets. Let's go by birth year: evens in the ultrabulls, odds in the ultrabears.

Even: URE, UWM, UYG, RFL (Financial/Real Estate Ultrabull)
Odd: SRS, TWM, SKF, RFN (Financial/Real Estate Ultrabear)

See all related posts in the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive.

Week 7: Monday, Tuesday
Week 6: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week 5: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week 4: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week 3: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week 2: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week 1: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Pre-game: CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge Is Back, Strategy Primer

Extra Stuff: The Biggest Loser, Interview With Bradford Pine

To receive additional updates by e-mail, drop a line here with the word "Subscribe" in the subject header.

Tuesday December 30th

Cnbc_trivia

Throughout the contest, each day's answers will be at the top of the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive as soon as the questions are published, so bookmark accordingly.

Daily Trivia:

Squawk Box: Question: In Jon Najarian's Monday Stock Blog, which independent oil & gas company did he cite?

Answer: Linn Energy

Squawk On the Street: Question: In her introduction to "On the Money Thrival Guide for 2009", Carmen Wong Ulrich uses what euphemism for complications?

Answer: thrown a big monkey wrench

The Call: Question: On Dec. 29, Marc "Dr. Doom" Faber recommended which trio of "hard assets" to investors?

Answer: gold, silver, platinum

Power Lunch: Question: According to our guide to international market holidays, whose markets were closed on Dec. 25?

Answer: All of the above

Street Signs: Question: In Bob Pisani's blog post from yesterday afternoon, what did he call the "real X-factor for stocks"?

Answer: the coming stimulus package

Closing Bell: Question: According to the article "Best and Worst Ads: A Year the News Eclipsed..." whose ads reeked of "cultural imperialism"?

Answer: Burger King

Weekly Quiz:

Question: NYSE tick indicator represents number of stocks with

Answer: last trade executed on uptick vs downtick

Handcrafted by Flip on December 30, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBack

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Monday, Week 7

[Scroll to the bottom for answers to today's Bonus Bucks trivia questions.]

Welcome to Week 7, another holiday shortened week that offers another chance to win tickets to the 2009 Pro Bowl in Hawaii. For what it's worth, this week's Pro Bowl package is significantly more valuable than last week's ($3,700 more, according to the official approximate retail prize values), given the different (and presumably swanker) accommodations.

Of course that means a heftier tax bill awaits this week's winner, despite the very similar prize (both packages are billed as the "Ultimate Hawaii Vacation" after all). But don't sweat it - next week's prize is yet another "ultimate" Pro Bowl package sporting the lower ARV.

It goes without saying that, while these vacation packages are surely quite lovely, we're not terribly interested in the weekly prizes themselves, but rather the accompanying bids to the final round of the Portfolio Challenge.

Last Friday, our group strategy participants split evenly between our ultrabull and ultrabear ETF baskets.

Odd: URE, UWM, UYG, RFL (Financial/Real Estate Ultrabull)
Even: SRS, TWM, SKF, RFN (Financial/Real Estate Ultrabear)

Check back this afternoon for today's reallocations.

Update: For some reason, the daily trivia page is only showing slots for the first three questions today (as if it were another early market closing day, which it isn't). Possibly just a glitch, but I'll keep you posted.

Update: The 12:00 question suddenly appeared (answer below), albeit somewhat late. Still no slots for the 2:00 or 3:00 questions, but perhaps they'll pop up too.

Update: Yep - glitch resolved, apparently.

See all related posts in the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive.

Week 7: Monday
Week 6: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week 5: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week 4: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week 3: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week 2: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week 1: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Pre-game: CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge Is Back, Strategy Primer

Extra Stuff: The Biggest Loser, Interview With Bradford Pine

To receive additional updates by e-mail, drop a line here with the word "Subscribe" in the subject header.

Monday December 29th

Cnbc_trivia

Throughout the contest, each day's answers will be at the top of the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive as soon as the questions are published, so bookmark accordingly.

Daily Trivia:

Squawk Box: Question: According to Jon Najarian's Dec. 26 Stock Blog post, where did YRC Worldwide shares end in Wednesday trading?

Answer: both of the above

Squawk On the Street: Question: In Larry Kudlow's blog post "We Need Rich People," what natural calamity does he use to describe government spending?

Answer: avalanche

The Call: Question: According to the "Timeless and Time-Tested Warren Buffett Watch Predictions" what lesson do we "learn from history"?

Answer: that people dont learn from history

Power Lunch: Question: In her article "So You Think You Can Trade?" whom does Janice Dorn quote?

Answer: all of the above

Street Signs: Question: Who officially "arrived at the decision" to cancel Kuwait's $17 billion deal with Dow Chemical?

Answer: Supreme Petroleum Council

Closing Bell: Question: In the Dec. 26 "Fast Money" blog post entitled "So Bad It's Good?", how does Jeff Macke recommend playing Toyota?

Answer: long with a stop at $57

Weekly Quiz:

Question: NYSE tick indicator represents number of stocks with

Answer: last trade executed on uptick vs downtick

Handcrafted by Flip on December 29, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Friday, Week 6

[Scroll to the bottom for answers to today's Bonus Bucks trivia questions.]

Happy Boxing Day, everyone, and welcome back from the 1.5 day midweek market holiday. As things currently stand, we've still got our dear reader and last year's 3rd prize winner Bradford Pine in the top 15 overall (and behind only one member of the seemingly infinitely large Lewis family). I'm happy to report many more of you continue to write in with details of your own rarefied rankings hovering just beneath the leaderboard.

If you're one of those nearly-top-tier performers or you've been on a particular tear lately and plan to start burning up the leaderboard shortly, drop us a line and let us get a look at you.

We're into the final day of this abbreviated Week 6, which means that today marks the first allocation for Week 7. Traders with participating portfolios can return here this afternoon between 2:00 and 3:00 for that first set of allocations.

Update: For group strategy participants, let's split up between the ultrabull and ultrabear ETF baskets going into Monday of Week 7, according to ZIP code. If yours ends in an odd number, use the ultrabulls. For evens, use the ultrabears.

Odd: URE, UWM, UYG, RFL (Financial/Real Estate Ultrabull)
Even: SRS, TWM, SKF, RFN (Financial/Real Estate Ultrabear)

If you're using more than one portfolio, divide them evenly among ultrabulls and ultrabears, with any remainder allocated according to ZIP.

Have a great weekend!

See all related posts in the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive.

Week 6: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week 5: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week 4: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week 3: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week 2: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week 1: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Pre-game: CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge Is Back, Strategy Primer

Extra Stuff: The Biggest Loser, Interview With Bradford Pine

To receive additional updates by e-mail, drop a line here with the word "Subscribe" in the subject header.

Friday December 26th

Cnbc_trivia

Throughout the contest, each day's answers will be at the top of the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive as soon as the questions are published, so bookmark accordingly.

Daily Trivia:

Squawk Box: Question: In our slideshow, The $54,000 Bottle of Whiskey, what other types of spirits did Christie's put up for auction?

Answer: all of the above

Squawk On the Street: Question: Darren Rovell reports that the NY Yankees' $423.5 million new-player expense could have bought 23% of:

Answer: General Motors

The Call: Question: In the Two-Way Street blog post entitled, Banks, Beat Reporters and Not Being Cozy, which news service is mentioned?

Answer: AP

Power Lunch: Question: In our blog post called "How to Tell the Madoffs From the Buffetts", which horrific Shakespeare work does a reader reference?

Answer: Macbeth

Street Signs: Question: In his article, Banks Sitting on $1 Trillion Cash, what abbreviation does Tony Crescenzi literally use?

Answer: ZIRP

Closing Bell: Question: This week, Michael Kovacocy praised which telecom stock(s) for making "great strides" in India?

Answer: Vodafone

Weekly Quiz:

Question: ETF's are based on

Answer: An Index or sector of stocks

Handcrafted by Flip on December 26, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Wednesday, Week 6

[Scroll to the bottom for answers to today's Bonus Bucks trivia questions.]

For those of you still experiencing irregularities related to yesterday's ETF distributions (see here for background), we understand that portfolios have begun being adjusted upward. If you're still seeing losses due to Tuesday's distribution activity, let us know. We're also trying to get a more comprehensive read on how the system affected everyone's end-of-day reallocations. Based on anecdotal reports, it sounds as though portfolios that have been upwardly adjusted were not retroactively granted larger positions of the stocks/ETFs they were allocating into by Tuesday's close (i.e. their buying power still suffered due to the special distributions).

If you were holding one of the affected ETFs (including the 52 ProShares funds listed here), please let us know if you're able to tell whether or not your upward adjustment was invested in the positions you'd established by Tuesday's close.

I'll continue to update these posts with the latest details and any further clarification that comes from CNBC.

Check back this afternoon for today's reallocations.

Update: Remember to submit all trades by 1 pm, as the market closes early today.

For those participating in the group strategy, divide into the following ETF baskets, according to birth year - odd years in the ultrabulls and even years in the ultrabears.

Odd years: URE, UWM, UYG, RFL (Financial/Real Estate Ultrabull)
Even years: SRS, TWM, SKF, RFN (Financial/Real Estate Ultrabear)

See all related posts in the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive.

Week 6: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday
Week 5: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week 4: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week 3: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week 2: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week 1: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Pre-game: CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge Is Back, Strategy Primer

Extra Stuff: The Biggest Loser, Interview With Bradford Pine

To receive additional updates by e-mail, drop a line here with the word "Subscribe" in the subject header.

Wednesday December 24th

Cnbc_trivia

Throughout the contest, each day's answers will be at the top of the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive as soon as the questions are published, so bookmark accordingly.

Daily Trivia:

Squawk Box: Question: According to a Dec. 23 Stock Blog post by Jon Najarian, options traders saw more upside in which medical tech firm's shares?

Answer: SYK

Squawk On the Street: Question: This week, the world's biggest casino announced 500 job cuts. Which company owns the gaming house?

Answer: Las Vegas Sands

The Call: Question: Why does Darren Rovell say the NY Yankees are able to sign top players "like Mark, C.C., And A.J."?

Answer: Steinbrenners' only business: the team

Power Lunch: In the article, Palm Beach Pawnshop's Business Up Thanks to Madoff, what were the "movies" priced to sell at?

Answer: two for $10

Weekly Quiz:

Question: ETF's are based on

Answer: An Index or sector of stocks

Handcrafted by Flip on December 24, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Tuesday, Week 6

[Scroll to the bottom for answers to today's Bonus Bucks trivia questions.]

Come back this afternoon for today's reallocation for surviving portfolios. For reference, the surviving subset of our participating portfolios will be those that were invested in the ultrabear basket on Monday and whichever of the following turns out to be the high scorer today (which were allocated yesterday according to birth month):

Jan-Mar: URE, UWM, UYG, RFL (Financial/Real Estate Ultrabull)
Apr-Jun: SRS, TWM, SKF, RFN (Financial/Real Estate Ultrabear)
Jul-Sep: GM, F, NAV, TM (Long only - beaten up autos)
Oct-Dec: CBI, LEN, SGR, PWR (Long only - beaten up homebuilders/construction services)

Update: Many of you have noticed odd activity among certain ETFs today. (TWM down 27%, SMN down 40%.) The majority of the ProShares ETFs (including 6 of the 8 ETFs in the above baskets) went ex-dividend today, meaning those who are holding these funds in real life are entitled to a large distribution of the funds' assets. Accordingly, the per share price of these funds are negatively impacted, in some cases drastically.

This happened to us with RFN a few weeks ago. It took a day or so, but affected portfolios were eventually adjusted upward to offset the effect of the distribution. I've made sure CNBC is aware of the current situation and will update this post with any relevant updates. Those of you holding affected ETFs (the full list of 52 funds is available here), please let us know once the adjustments to your portfolios have been made.

Update: CNBC's response:

Thanks Flip. We are addressing and will post an update on milliondollar.cnbc.com this afternoon.

Update: For today's reallocation, the surviving group is a little harder to pin down, given the temporary ETF dislocations. The winning subgroup will be either the Ultrabears (SRS, TWM, SKF, RFN) or the homebuilders/construction (CBI, LEN, SGR, PWR). The Ultrabears look ugly right now (mostly thanks to the intraday impact of TWM's distribution), but that will be corrected shortly

Therefore, portfolios that were in the Ultrabears on Monday and either of these two baskets today should consider themselves surviving portfolios and proceed with the next reallocation, according to birth date (day of month):

1-10: URE, UWM, UYG, RFL (Financial/Real Estate Ultrabull)
11-20: SRS, TWM, SKF, RFN (Financial/Real Estate Ultrabear)
21-31: GM, F, NAV, TM (Long only - beaten up autos)

See all related posts in the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive.

Week 6: Monday, Tuesday
Week 5: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week 4: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week 3: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week 2: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week 1: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Pre-game: CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge Is Back, Strategy Primer

Extra Stuff: The Biggest Loser, Interview With Bradford Pine

To receive additional updates by e-mail, drop a line here with the word "Subscribe" in the subject header.

Tuesday December 23rd

Cnbc_trivia

Throughout the contest, each day's answers will be at the top of the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive as soon as the questions are published, so bookmark accordingly.

Daily Trivia:

Squawk Box: Question: In her article, How to Tell If Your Financial Advisor Is a Scam Artist, Carmen Wong Ulrich refers to what type of fund?

Answer: health care

Squawk On the Street: Question: According to the CNBC Stock Blog, why did Jeff Mortimer praise "some" corporate debt on Monday?

Answer: lower risk option than Treasurys

The Call: Question: In our Green Gift Guide slideshow, what brand of beer bottle is shown (as a recycled tumbler)?

Answer: Rolling Rock

Power Lunch: Question: According to Darren Rovell's blog post on booming championship ring sales, what is the most sought team item?

Answer: "anything" from the NY Yankees

Street Signs: Question: In the "Fast Money" outlook called Some Surprises For '09, what does Karen Finerman say is possibly coming next year?

Answer: "monstrous" homebuilder gain

Closing Bell: Question: In the article entitled "Calif. Construction Firm Defies Odds..." what major project(s) does William Dorey allude to?

Answer: Lower Manhattan reconstruction

Weekly Quiz:

Question: ETF's are based on

Answer: An Index or sector of stocks

Handcrafted by Flip on December 23, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Monday, Week 6

[Scroll to the bottom for answers to today's Bonus Bucks trivia questions.]

Welcome to Week 6 - home of the NFL Pro Bowl Hawaii extravaganza.

As I noted on Friday, at the halfway point of regular season trading, our reader Bradford Pine remains high on the overall leaderboard and many of you are enjoying top 100 rankings (out of more than half a million active portfolios).

Remember that, while we've started Week 6 with a single pair of leveraged ETF baskets, we're moving to a more intricate set of daily allocations in our endeavor to grab some of those weekly top spots (and the accompanying bids in the final round), so be sure to come back this afternoon for today's reallocations.

For reference, today our participating portfolios are split evenly between the following two ETF baskets:

Ultrabull (RE/2xFin/Russell 2k): URE, UWM, UYG, RFL (25% each)
Ultrabear (RE/2xFin/Russell 2k): SRS, TWM, SKF, RFN (25% each)

Update: As promised, we've got a fuller menu of reallocation baskets to choose from today. For any group strategy participants with surviving portfolios (as of 2:15 pm, that appears to be the ultrabear group, but that's certainly not in the bag), select from these baskets according to birth month:

Jan-Mar: URE, UWM, UYG, RFL (Financial/Real Estate Ultrabull)
Apr-Jun: SRS, TWM, SKF, RFN (Financial/Real Estate Ultrabear)
Jul-Sep: GM, F, NAV, TM (Long only - beaten up autos)
Oct-Dec: CBI, LEN, SGR, PWR (Long only - beaten up homebuilders/construction services)

If you've got multiple surviving portfolios, allocate first according to birth month, then according to the next down the list, until you're out of portfolios.

Remember to rebalance all positions to 25%, even if you're not changing the constituent stocks/ETFs.

See all related posts in the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive.

Week 6: Monday
Week 5: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week 4: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week 3: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week 2: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week 1: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Pre-game: CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge Is Back, Strategy Primer

Extra Stuff: The Biggest Loser, Interview With Bradford Pine

To receive additional updates by e-mail, drop a line here with the word "Subscribe" in the subject header.

Monday December 22nd

Cnbc_trivia

Throughout the contest, each day's answers will be at the top of the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive as soon as the questions are published, so bookmark accordingly.

Daily Trivia:

Squawk Box: Question: On Friday, options expert Rebecca Darst said which bank's downside had "far outpaced the decline" in the financials?

Answer: HSBC

Squawk On the Street: Question: According to the article "Numbers Cruncher Says Madoff Math Didn't Add Up" who voiced suspicions to the SEC in 1999?

Answer: Harry Markopolos

The Call: Question: According to "Cramer's Call on Chemicals" (on Dec. 18), which stock would Jim Cramer prefer?

Answer: PPG

Power Lunch: Question: In the "Market Tips" feature entitled "Hold Three Things - Bonds, Gold, Silver" which expert(s) recommended bonds?

Answer: Robert Kessler

Street Signs: Question: Web video hunt: In Rebecca Jarvis' Dec. 18 report, "Four Charged with Insider Trading", where did the "husband" work?

Answer: Lehman Bros.

Closing Bell: Question: According to Darren Rovell's blog, how many fewer paper holiday greeting cards did he receive in 2008 vs. 2007?

Answer: 93

Weekly Quiz:

Question: ETF's are based on

Answer: An Index or sector of stocks

Handcrafted by Flip on December 22, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Friday, Week 5

[Scroll to the bottom for answers to today's Bonus Bucks trivia questions.]

Here we are at the halfway point of regular season trading. Reader Bradford Pine remains in the top ten and many of you have written in with details of your top 100 standings. Not bad with roughly 510,000 active portfolios.

We've yet to snag any of the weekly bids to the final round, but with many of you having successfully drained your currency allocations, we've got a nice big group of leaner, meaner portfolios with which to ply our group strategy going into the second half of the contest. We'll also be returning to a somewhat more intricate set of daily allocations (as distinct from the single pair we've used in the last couple weeks). It's a bit more legwork, but it should give us a better shot of taking down at least a couple of these weekly prizes.

That said, the first of the Week 6 allocations will use just the single pair of leveraged ETF baskets, so things start off simply enough.

Allocate according to ZIP code - if it ends in an odd number, use the ultrabulls; even, use the ultrabears.

Remember to go through the reallocation process even if the portfolio in question is already in the same basket - it's important to rebalance each name to 25% of your allocation.

Ultrabull (RE/2xFin/Russell 2k): URE, UWM, UYG, RFL (25% each)
Ultrabear (RE/2xFin/Russell 2k): SRS, TWM, SKF, RFN (25% each)

See all related posts in the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive.

Week 5: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week 4: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week 3: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week 2: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week 1: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Pre-game: CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge Is Back, Strategy Primer

Extra Stuff: The Biggest Loser, Interview With Bradford Pine

To receive additional updates by e-mail, drop a line here with the word "Subscribe" in the subject header.

Friday December 19th

Cnbc_trivia

Throughout the contest, each day's answers will be at the top of the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive as soon as the questions are published, so bookmark accordingly.

Daily Trivia:

Squawk Box: Question: On Dec. 18, Juerg Zingg offered CNBC his commodity picks for "brave" investors. His refinery stocks included:

Answer: Valero

Squawk On the Street: Question: In Phil LeBeau's blog post "Chrysler On Life Support..." what multitude of animals does he mention?

Answer: herd of cattle

The Call: Question: In the article "Avon, Tupperware Thrive in Economic Downturn", which retailer's famous nickname did Larry Nusbaum use?

Answer: Bloomingdale's

Power Lunch: Question: On Dec. 16, whom did Jim Cramer give his "Plaxy" (Plaxico Burress) Good Judgment Award to?

Answer: SEC boss Christopher Cox

Street Signs: Question: In the Fast Money blog post, "Fed Trying To Smoke You Out?", what investment does Pete Najarian suggest?

Answer: Siemens stock

Closing Bell: Question: According to our slideshow "Bernie Madoff & the $50 Billion Heist" whose charitable trust had 10% tied up w/ Madoff?

Answer: Mortimer Zuckerman

Weekly Quiz:

Question: A sell stop is placed?

Answer: Below the stock price

Handcrafted by Flip on December 19, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Thursday, Week 5

[Scroll to the bottom for answers to today's Bonus Bucks trivia questions.]

With one more reallocation to go in Week 5, our readers are hanging in there. Dave Dur remains on the weekly leaderboard with a gain of gain of 32.1%. Bradford Pine edged up to #5 on the overall leaderboard with $3.869 million.

Check back this afternoon for today's reallocations.

See all related posts in the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive.

Week 5: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday
Week 4: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week 3: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week 2: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week 1: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Pre-game: CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge Is Back, Strategy Primer

Extra Stuff: The Biggest Loser, Interview With Bradford Pine

To receive additional updates by e-mail, drop a line here with the word "Subscribe" in the subject header.

Thursday December 18th

Cnbc_trivia

Throughout the contest, each day's answers will be at the top of the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive as soon as the questions are published, so bookmark accordingly.

Daily Trivia:

Squawk Box: Question: In his Dec. 17 Stock Blog, Jon Najarian said there was heavy activity in which type of option?

Answer: Answer: Gold Tracking ETF

Squawk On the Street: Question: As of Dec. 17, what does stock picker Ron Kiddoo like for "recession sectors"?

Answer: industrial

The Call: Question: According to the article "Inside Madoffs Empire" what was Andrew Cohen teaching when he got bad financial news?

Answer: Yoga

Power Lunch: Question: BlackRock's Bob Doll says investors should "buy more risk." What was one of his "low-quality" picks?

Answer: Valero

Street Signs: Question: In our Rogues Gallery slideshow, what color suit is Hunt brother Nelson wearing?

Answer: not shown in photograph

Closing Bell: Question: According to the article, No Growth in China and other Outrageous Prophecies, which nation may drop the euro in 2009?

Answer: Italy

Weekly Quiz:

Question: A sell stop is placed?

Answer: Below the stock price

Handcrafted by Flip on December 18, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBack

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Wednesday, Week 5

[Scroll to the bottom for answers to today's Bonus Bucks trivia questions.]

With volatility creeping back into the market, we're enjoying a strong Week 5 so far. Not 1, but 2 of our dear readers find themselves in the Top 5 week-to-date: Dave Dur in 3rd with a gain of 28.7% and CT in 5th with a gain of 28.4%.

Meanwhile, Bradford Pine remains in good shape on the overall leaderboard at #6 with $3.817 million.

Check back this afternoon for today's reallocations.

See all related posts in the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive.

Week 5: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday
Week 4: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week 3: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week 2: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week 1: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Pre-game: CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge Is Back, Strategy Primer

Extra Stuff: The Biggest Loser, Interview With Bradford Pine

To receive additional updates by e-mail, drop a line here with the word "Subscribe" in the subject header.

Wednesday December 17th

Cnbc_trivia

Throughout the contest, each day's answers will be at the top of the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive as soon as the questions are published, so bookmark accordingly.

Daily Trivia:

Squawk Box: Question: In Carmen Wong Ulrich's article on what the rate cut means for consumers, what piece of advice does she give?

Answer: lock in high-interest CDs now

Squawk On the Street: Question: According to Bob Pisani's blog, "Goldman Sachs: A Sigh Of Relief On Street" what company did Credit Suisse criticize?

Answer: Potash

The Call: Question: What geographic reference appears in the Holiday Central blog post "Airline Baggage Fees Deliver Boost to UPS"?

Answer: over the river and through the woods

Power Lunch: Question: In the CNBC Web video, "Kitty Caskets," what species of deceased pet does casket maker Jeanne Hoegh mention?

Answer: all of the above

Street Signs: Question: In the Pros Say feature, "H1 Will be Horrific", which "pro" talked about corporate bonds?

Answer: Sean Egan

Closing Bell: Question: In his Tuesday Stock Blog, Jon Najarian said options traders seemed bullish on which aerospace company?

Answer: Boeing

Weekly Quiz:

Question: A sell stop is placed?

Answer: Below the stock price

Handcrafted by Flip on December 17, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBack

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Tuesday, Week 5

[Scroll to the bottom for answers to today's Bonus Bucks trivia questions.]

Check back this afternoon for today's reallocations.

Update: Thanks, Uncle Ben!

For the surviving members of our participating portfolios (those in the ultrabears Monday and the ultrabulls today), use the same two ETF baskets, according to ZIP code. For odd numbers, go with the ultrabull basket; for even numbers, use the ultrabears.

Ultrabull (RE/2xFin/Russell 2k): URE, UWM, UYG, RFL (25% each)
Ultrabear (RE/2xFin/Russell 2k): SRS, TWM, SKF, RFN (25% each)

Remember to perform the reallocation to 25% apiece even if you've got a surviving portfolio that's staying in the same basket, as the contents may have shifted during flight.

See all related posts in the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive.

Week 5: Monday, Tuesday
Week 4: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week 3: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week 2: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week 1: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Pre-game: CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge Is Back, Strategy Primer

Extra Stuff: The Biggest Loser, Interview With Bradford Pine

To receive additional updates by e-mail, drop a line here with the word "Subscribe" in the subject header.

Tuesday December 16th

Cnbc_trivia

Throughout the contest, each day's answers will be at the top of the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive as soon as the questions are published, so bookmark accordingly.

Daily Trivia:

Squawk Box: Question: What verb phrase does Carmen Wong Ulrich use in her Monday article on Ponzi scheme protection?

Answer: take a hike

Squawk On the Street: Question: According to a Dec. 15 CNBC Stock Blog post, what firm is rumored to be wooing AK Steel?

Answer: Sumitomo Metals

The Call: Question: CNBC.com video quiz: On Dec. 15, Jim Glickenhaus' energy picks included:

Answer: all of the above

Power Lunch: Question: In the "Stupid or Cool?" feature on gift ideas, what horror-movie staple is mentioned in the robot lawnmower review?

Answer: slasher music

Street Signs: Question: In Monday's "Stop Trading" segment, Jim Cramer dealt with Goldman Sachs' downgrade of which company?

Answer: AT&T

Closing Bell: Question: According to the article, "Faith, Doubt, and Warren Buffett," how much did Berkshire Hathaway's Q3 net earnings fall?

Answer: 77%

Weekly Quiz:

Question: A sell stop is placed?

Answer: Below the stock price

Handcrafted by Flip on December 16, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (10) | TrackBack

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Monday, Week 5

[Scroll to the bottom for answers to today's Bonus Bucks trivia questions.]

Welcome to Week 5, gang. Happily, last week's thorny technical issues have been resolved (mine, not CNBC's) and we're back to full-featured contest blogging.

Going into today, portfolios participating in our group strategy (many of which have now depleted their currency portfolios through one or more of the strategies detailed in these pages in recent weeks) are divided between these two leveraged sector ETFs:

Ultrabull (RE/2xFin/Russell 2k): URE, UWM, UYG, RFL (25% each)
Ultrabear (RE/2xFin/Russell 2k): SRS, TWM, SKF, RFN (25% each)

Market volatility's actually been on the decline over the last couple of weeks. Hopefully we'll see a resurgence today.

For those of you who were seeing unexpected results in their currency portfolios, have they since returned to normal? The most recent email update from CNBC stated:

Please note, that the currency markets were closed as of last night but have now re-opened. Any trades placed between 12/11/08 2:48p ET and the market re-open will be rolled back and all open orders/positions will be reprocessed against the price movements.

And the latest update on the site reads:

Trading closed on 12/11 at 2:48pm ET and re-opened on 12/12 at 9:45am ET. The roll back of the trades for the margin calls was completed. Any waiting orders which should have been processed were processed at the start of trading Friday (12/12/08) morning.

I don't know about you, but I'm not certain what that means. If you're able to suss out when and at what price your late Thursday trades were processed (and whether it conforms to what you were expecting), let us know in the comments.

And ongoing congratulations to reader Brad Pine for maintaining his top 5 overall ranking going into Week 5.

Update: For today's reallocations, use the same two ETFs above, according to birth year. For odd years, go with the ultrabull basket; for even years, use the ultrabears.

See all related posts in the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive.

Week 5: Monday
Week 4: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week 3: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week 2: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week 1: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Pre-game: CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge Is Back, Strategy Primer

Extra Stuff: The Biggest Loser, Interview With Bradford Pine

To receive additional updates by e-mail, drop a line here with the word "Subscribe" in the subject header.

Monday December 15th

Cnbc_trivia

Throughout the contest, each day's answers will be at the top of the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive as soon as the questions are published, so bookmark accordingly.

Daily Trivia:

Squawk Box: Question: In the Two-Way Street blog post, "Trump Magic: Why I Like The Donald", why does the author like the Donald?

Answer: Trump's name drives Web traffic

Squawk On the Street: Question: In Friday's edition of Stop Trading, what gambling metaphor did Jim Cramer use for GM common stock?

Answer: buying a lottery ticket

The Call: Question: In a Sports Biz blog post, what term does reader Simeon Lipman use for Billy Ripken "obscenity bat card" traders?

Answer: all of the above

Power Lunch: Question: In his Friday CNBC Stock Blog post, Jon Najarian said options traders were bearish on which financial firm?

Answer: State Street

Street Signs: Question: In our Top Destinations 2009 slideshow, which once-divided city is shown in picture Number 10?

Answer: Berlin, Germany

Closing Bell: Question: In the article "They're Back: Day Traders Thrive in Volatile Market" what violent image did Andrew Wilkinson use?

Answer: scalp the market

Weekly Quiz:

Question: A sell stop is placed?

Answer: Below the stock price

Handcrafted by Flip on December 15, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBack

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Friday, Week 4

Okay, so I lied. We'll... I didn't so much “lie” as I underestimated how long it would to rehabilitate my system. But the net effect is the same - namely that you still need to visit the comment thread for trivia answers this morning. I'm quite confident though that we'll be back to full capacity by this afternoon.

Meanwhile, many of you are experiencing epicly f'ed up currency results. As far as I can tell, CNBC is aware of the oddities and they should be reconciled by the end of the day.

And if you've been waiting to drain your currency portfolios in order to juice your Week 5 gains, now's the time to do it. See last Friday's post for instructions and yesterday's post for how to expedite the process. Again, this is most beneficial to downtrodden portfolios, so make sure to resurrect any horrendous accounts you've written off. They are truly the chosen ones for next week.

I'm not going to be back to normal connectivity and responsiveness until this afternoon, but please do keep us posted via email and/or comments as to your progress this week (and any lingering issues related to RFN and/or psychotic currency action).

The first set of allocations for Week 5 (which must be submitted by 4 pm) will be posted as an update to this post, come hell, high water, or other less nefarious manifestations of my woeful technical travails.

Update: Easy reallocation for Monday - for those born in odd years, take the bull basket. Even years get the bear basket. If you're using more than, go for one (or two) of each. Make sure to rebalance at 25% each, even if you're staying in the same portfolio.

Ultrabull (RE/2xFin/Russell): URE, UWM, UYG, RFL (25% each)
Ultrabear (RE/2xFin/Russell): SRS, TWM, SKF, RFN (25% each)

Handcrafted by Flip on December 12, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (20) | TrackBack

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Thursday, Week 4

Many of you have been asking what's up with the ETF RFN, which executed a distribution, thus causing the per share price to plummet on Wednesday. I emailed CNBC to inquire whether this impact would be adjusted in the portfolios. Last I heard from them, they were still deliberating, but it appears that accounts holding RFN have indeed been adjusted upward accordingly. Let me know if your portfolio(s) show anything different, as the impact was significant.

The technical issues on this end that have constrained the full-featuredness of this week's posts are slowly coming to an end. Suffice it to say that Facebook worm was a gnarly one, particularly for an immuno-compromised machine.

I promise this will be the last morning you need to jump into the comment thread for your Bonus Bucks answers. Once we're back to normal capacity, I'll make it up to you with some bonus content.

Meanwhile, today's final reallocation for Week 4 will again use our two most recently modified ETF baskets (as detailed in Friday's post).

Please keep us all updated with your progress. Many of you are reporting great results in the comments and via email.

And remember, there's still plenty of time to vacate your currency portfolios in time to turbo charge your Week 5 performance.

Email me with any questions, lingering RFN issues, etc.

Update: Reader Tom from Oregon sends in an excellent tip for expediting the currency drainage process.

Found a significant improvement in the currency draining process that I wanted to share… Let's assume you have $100k, so you can buy 10 contracts. Open a position in the NZD/JPY (long or short, doesn't matter). If you go long 10 contracts, when you go to close the position, sell 20 contracts, which will simultaneously close out the 10 you bought and create a short position of 10 contracts. Benefits are two-fold:Half the number of clicks to empty the accountSince you are always in a trade, it will not let you complete the trade if you pick the wrong currency by accident. Didn't happen a ton, but as many times as I had to click, occasionally I would select the wrong currency by accident. I then had to figure out what currency I had bought to unwind it, which just added time.

Handcrafted by Flip on December 11, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (23) | TrackBack

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Wednesday, Week 4

Decent news - an end to the recent technical difficulties is in sight and all should be resolved by day's end, meaning this should be the last day you need to refer to the comment thread for trivia answers. As for our new and improved group strategy, things seem to be progressing well. Two days of decent volatility have given our now currency-free portfolios a solid start to the week. Today's reallocations will use the same two ETF baskets we've been using so far this week. Surviving portfolios are those that held the ultra bulls Monday and the ultra bears Tuesday. Among those, if you have any that are also in today's winning group, reallocate back into those two baskets (see Friday's post for the specifics), according to birth month. Jan-Jun : ultra bulls. Jul-Dec : ultra bears.

And as always, let us know how you're doing, particularly with any surviving portfolios that underwent currencectomies.

(Friday's post also has those step-by-step surgical instructions if you want to get in on the magic of currency-free gains in time for Week 5.)

Handcrafted by Flip on December 10, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (29) | TrackBack

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Tuesday, Week 4

It pains me to report that technical difficulties persist on this end. As a result, today's trivia answers (at least this morning's) will be relegated to the comment thread to this post.

on the plus side, it sounds like many of you were successful in eliminating your currency balances last Friday and are thus off to an especially strong start this week. As with yesterday, today's reallocation for those participating in the group strategy will involve the same two ETF baskets. (See Friday's post for the specific symbols.)

Yesterday was one for the bulls, so any participating portfolios that were in the bulls on Monday and are also in the winning group today should use those two baskets to reallocate the survivng portfolios. If you've got more than one, split them evenly between the two baskets. If you've got just one surviving portfolio, allocate according to zip code. If it ends in an odd number, use the ultrabull basket. If even, use the ultrabears.

remember that even if you're already in the basket you're designated to pick up for tomorrow, make sure to reallocate at 25% for each symbol, to acount for any intraday differential performance.

Please also let us know how you did yesterday with the ultrabulls so we can keep an eye on our best performing subgroup.

Handcrafted by Flip on December 9, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (16) | TrackBack

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Monday, Week 4 (Part 2)

Technical issues persist. For the time being, Monday's trivia answers are available in the comment thread to this post. Today's reallocation will involve the same two ETF baskets from Friday. So any portfolios you've got in today's winning group (which appears to be the ultrabulls, based on early trading), move half of those portfolios into the ultrabears and leave the other half in the ultrabulls. If you've got just one in today's winning group, allocate it according to birthyear. If odd, put it in the ultrabulls. If even, go with the ultrabears.

Also bear in mind, if you've got an ultrabull (say) in the winning group and it's one marked for ultrabulls tomorrow as well, you still need to reallocate it, such that all four ETFs are set back to 25%. The different percent change during the session can shift your allocation and you'll want to smooth it out before the end of the day even if that portfolio is staying in the same basket.

Handcrafted by Flip on December 8, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBack

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Monday, Week 4

Experiencing technical difficulties this morning (posting via Blackberry). Today's full content will be forthcoming a little later today.

In the meantime, I hope some of you were successful in emptying out your currency portfolios and are starting the week with leaner, equities-only balances.

Sound off in the comments with the details of any particularly depleted portfolios. I'm excited to hear how low some of our starting points are. I think our latest leveraged ETF baskets are well positioned to make some heroic gains, absent the dilutive effects of idle currencies.

And for those of you who made your first forays into currency trading during the systematic annihilation, a happy side effect may be a better familiarity with how the system works, and possibly some new ideas about how to incorporate them into your strategies for your other portfolios.

If you didn't get a chance last Friday to wipe out your currency balance on your happily languishing portfolios, you can still do so, but realize it won't help you for Week 4. That said, it's still worth doing to get those accounts set up for Week 5.

(For instructions on how to efficiently demolish your currency portfolio, check out last Friday's post.)

Update: Technical issues persist. For the time being, Monday's trivia answers are available in the comment thread to this post. Today's reallocation will involve the same two ETF baskets from Friday. So any portfolios you've got in today's winning group (which appears to be the ultrabulls, based on early trading), move half of those portfolios into the ultrabears and leave the other half in the ultrabulls. If you've got just one in today's winning group, allocate it according to birthyear. If odd, put it in the ultrabulls. If even, go with the ultrabears.

Also bear in mind, if you've got an ultrabull (say) in the winning group and it's one marked for ultrabulls tomorrow as well, you still need to reallocate it, such that all four ETFs are set back to 25%. The different percent change during the session can shift your allocation and you'll want to smooth it out before the end of the day even if that portfolio is staying in the same basket.

Handcrafted by Flip on December 8, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (10) | TrackBack

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Friday, Week 3

[Scroll to the bottom for answers to today's Bonus Bucks trivia questions.]

It's the final day of Week 3, which as you know by now, means it's effectively the first day of Week 4, since the trades you submit today by 4 pm will be the first to impact your performance on Monday.

For our group strategy participants, we're going to stick with our most recently modified pair of leveraged ETF baskets. Each holds 50% financials, 25% real estate, and 25% Russell 2000 (each levered 2x).

Ultrabull (RE/2xFin/Russell): URE, UWM, UYG, RFL (25% each)
Ultrabear (RE/2xFin/Russell): SRS, TWM, SKF, RFN (25% each)

Since today's market action is unrelated to these picks (for the sake of the weekly top spot anyway), you can go ahead and allocate any participating portfolios into those two baskets whenever you like. No allocation methodology - just make sure you've got roughly half of your participating portfolios in each basket.

Now...

As discussed yesterday, we're going to be doing something a little different going into Week 4. As detailed by many of you in our Biggest Loser thread, a side effect of our daily hunt for hyper-volatility is that many of our portfolios have been on the wrong side of that volatility more often than not.

In the past, I've noted that that's actually good for subsequent weeks' performance, since your $62,000 diet of Bonus Bucks becomes more valuable on a percentage basis. And it's going to be an even bigger advantage as we enter Week 4.

For any of you willing to put in a couple hours worth of work, your assignment is simple: wipe out your currency portfolio.

(Any readers from FXCM aren't likely going to like this approach, but on the bright side, it will likely acquaint many of us who haven't dipped our toe in that end yet with the process of currency trading.)

And after all, we're playing to win.

First - the rationale: Say you've got a crappy portfolio that's down to $600,000 ($500,000 in equities and $100,000 in currencies). Our weekly top scorers have typically been enjoying trading gains of 50-60%. Of course, that only applies to your equities balance. So 60% in trading gains would leave you with $900,000 at the end of the week [($500,000 * 160%) + $100,000]. The existence of your idle currencies effectively diluted your weekly gain from 60% to 50%. Plus, the gains from your Bonus Bucks has been cut from 10.3% to 8.9%.

In other words, if you'd ditched your currencies before Monday at 9:30 am, you would've gotten a free extra 11.4%.

As our weekly top performers continue to improve (and as our cruddy portfolios become ever cruddier), this effect is further amplified.

Second - the methodology: For any bum portfolios that you want to use for this strategy, go into the Currency Trading section of the Portfolio Manager. You're going to burn through your allotment via transaction costs. To do so, it's quickest to trade a currency pair with a wide relative bid/ask spread. The NZD/JPY pair works nicely for this purpose. Click "Buy" then select NZD/JPYfrom the drop-down box. Under amount, try 900 (with $100,000, that's about as much as you can buy). Click OK. Now click "Sell" and repeat, unloading those 900 contracts at a loss.

Repeat until you get an "insufficient available margin" error. Congratulations! You've destroyed enough account value that you can now only afford 800. Repeat until you need to drop down to 700, 600, 500, and so on. The step-down will take longer and longer for each tier, but bear in mind that the bigger pain in the arse this is, the less likely it is that many of your competitors outside these walls are doing the same thing.

It should take you an hour or so (depending on your clicking speed) to dwindle your account down to a de minimus value (less than $10,000). It might literally take forever to get down to $0, so don't try it.

My understanding from the rules is that this process needs to be done by 4:00 pm today, just like the equity trades. Currency trading picks up again at 5:15 pm on Sunday, but that's technically the start of the trading week, so any declines after that time would count against Week 4.

Once you've got one or more currency portfolios wiped out, just move that portfolio's equities into one of the above baskets. If you've got the time, I'd suggest killing off two portfolios (especially if you've got two downtrodden ones) so you can play both sides.

No, this isn't particularly clever (and it may be something you've considered doing already), but it's got two key things going for it. 1) It's a huge pain, so I suspect relatively few folks will have bothered to actually do it, and 2) after 3 weeks of courting extreme volatility, we've now got a big slug of portfolios for which this initiative will make a major difference on weekly gains.

I'll be traveling for most of the afternoon, but email me with any questions and I'll try to respond by Blackberry if anyone's having trouble making it work.

See all related posts in the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive.

Week 3: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week 2: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week 1: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Pre-game: CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge Is Back, Stragety Primer

Extra Stuff: The Biggest Loser, Interview With Bradford Pine

To receive additional updates by e-mail, drop a line here with the word "Subscribe" in the subject header.

Friday December 5th

Cnbc_trivia

Throughout the contest, each day's answers will be at the top of the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive as soon as the questions are published, so bookmark accordingly.

Daily Trivia:

Squawk Box: Question: Who warned CNBC Thursday about the "centipede market"?

Answer: Dave Bahoric

Squawk On the Street: Question: In his Thursday Stock Blog post, Jon Najarian disclosed that he's long on which airline stock?

Answer: AMR

The Call: Question: Jane Wells reported that which footwear company threw a holiday beer party for employees of Adidas?

Answer: Etnies

Power Lunch: Question: CNBC Producer David Russell compared Christopher Cox's SEC actions to what classic Monty Python sketch?

Answer: The Spanish Inquisition

Street Signs: Question: In Thursday's CEOs Sound Off feature, who slammed "the U.S. government's business model" as "unsustainable"?

Answer: David Walker, Peter G. Peterson

Closing Bell: Question: In our Harvard Business School CEO slideshow, who praises a "long-term passion for learning"?

Answer: Jeffrey Immelt of GE

Weekly Quiz:

Question: Calls give you the right to?

Answer: Buy the stock at the strike price

Handcrafted by Flip on December 5, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (12) | TrackBack

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Thursday, Week 3

[Scroll to the bottom for answers to today's Bonus Bucks trivia questions.]

Going into today, our group strategy participants are split between a further modified pair of leveraged ETF baskets. Each holds 50% financials, 25% real estate, and 25% Russell 2000 (each levered 2x).

Ultrabull (RE/2xFin/Russell): URE, UWM, UYG, RFL (25% each)
Ultrabear (RE/2xFin/Russell): SRS, TWM, SKF, RFN (25% each)

Our leading subgroup has put up a week-to-date performance of more than 40% so far.

Check back this afternoon for the 5th and final reallocation for Week 3.

And make sure to come back early tomorrow, when we'll be rolling out a fairly major enhancement to our weekly group strategy going into Week 4, which threatens to boost our top performers' weekly gains by up to 2x. This is especially relevant to those of you with horrendous portfolios that have booked huge losses (like the many of you who logged such impressively devastated portfolios in our Biggest Loser thread). These bum portfolios are going to be particularly well-suited to soar with the new tactic. If you're not already on our mailing list, sign up here and you'll get the details in your inbox as soon as they're unveiled.

In the mean time, I'm delighted to announce that another of our standout performers from the previous Portfolio Challenge (who finished #28 overall) is back on the leaderboard once again. Jim Medlar is currently ranked #25 with a portfolio value of $2.246 million.

Brad Pine - who shared some of his insights with us earlier this week - has slipped from his #1 perch to #7, but remains a particularly fearsome contender with $2.509 million.

Also, I'll be back on Strategy Room at FoxNews.com this morning from 9:00-10:30. That means I once again need to call on the astute readership to pitch in with the trivia answers for the 9:00 and possibly the 11:00 questions. If you've got them, you can submit them (and if you need them, you can access them) in the comment thread to this post. The other answers will appear as normal in the section below.

Update: Missing answers now filled in. Thanks to those of you who helped out in my absence.

Update: With apologies, my computer has gone down and refuses to boot back up. The 2 pm answer is already in the comments and hopefully, one of you will toss the 3 pm answer in as well. As for today's reallocation, it's the same two baskets as yesterday. Any surviving portfolios should be split between the newest ultrbear and ultrabull baskets (as listed above). As for the new Week 4 strategy, it'll have to wait until tomorrow.

See all related posts in the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive.

Week 3: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday
Week 2: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week 1: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Pre-game: CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge Is Back, Stragety Primer

Extra Stuff: The Biggest Loser, Interview With Bradford Pine

To receive additional updates by e-mail, drop a line here with the word "Subscribe" in the subject header.

Thursday December 4th

Cnbc_trivia

Throughout the contest, each day's answers will be at the top of the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive as soon as the questions are published, so bookmark accordingly.

Daily Trivia:

Squawk Box: Question: In his CNBC interview Wednesday, who did Carl Icahn say he'd like for Yahoo's next CEO?

Answer: none of the above

Squawk On the Street: Question: According to The Christmas Tree Indicator, which item's sales grew 8.5% in the first holiday-shopping week?

   Answer: all of the above

The Call: Question: What slang word for liquor appears in Darren Rovell's blog post on the invention of Gatorade?

   Answer: firewater

Power Lunch: Question: Dennis Kneale predicted the possible 2009 downfall of which bank's CEO?

   Answer: Bank of America

Street Signs: 2:00 pm

Answer:

Closing Bell: 3:00 pm

Answer:

Weekly Quiz:

Question: Calls give you the right to?

Answer: Buy the stock at the strike price

Handcrafted by Flip on December 4, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (14) | TrackBack

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Wednesday, Week 3

[Scroll to the bottom for answers to today's Bonus Bucks trivia questions.]

Thanks to a late rally yesterday, our leading subgroup continues to perform well so far in Week 3, with gains of more than 34% after two days.

Going into today, we gave our ultrabull and ultrabear baskets another minor tweak. They currently contain equal parts leveraged Russell 2000 (small caps) ETFs and leveraged financials ETFs.

Modified Ultrabull: RRY, UWM, UYG, RFL (25% each)
Modified Ultrabear: RRZ, TWM, SKF, RFN (25% each)

Check back this afternoon for today's reallocation.

In the mean time, be sure to check out our interview with leading million-dollar contender Brad Pine.

Update: Yesterday, a commenter suggested we incorporate a pair of leveraged real estate ETFs into our ultrabull and ultrabear basket. In the long run, they won't correlate perfectly with financials, but in recent weeks, they've been fairly well correlated with quite similar volatility (which is to say more volatility than even our leveraged small cap ETFs). With that in mind, we're going to give it a shot.

Our new bull and bear baskets for today's reallocation is similar to yesterday's, but we've swapped in these real estate ETFs (URE and SRS) for one of our two existing Russell 2000 pairs.

Ultrabull (RE/2xFin/Russell): URE, UWM, UYG, RFL (25% each)
Ultrabear (RE/2xFin/Russell): SRS, TWM, SKF, RFN (25% each)

Stocks have vasciallated throughout the session, so it's anybody's guess whether they'll finish higher or lower. Therefore, any participating portfolios that were in the leading subgroup going into today (i.e. any portfolios that were in the bears on Monday and the bulls yesterday) need to be maintained. That's because once we know which half wins todays session, it'll be too late to reallocate.

So... among your surviving portfolios, first split the bull half evenly among the two new baskets, then split the bear half into the two new baskets.

For instance, if you've got 2 surviving portfolios and both are in the ultrabulls, switch one to the new bull basket and one to the new bear basket. Likewise, if you've got 2 surviving portfolios and both are in the ultrabears, switch one to the new bull basket and one to the new bear basket.

If you've got 4 surviving portfolios - two each in the current ultrabulls and ultrabears - you'd allocate 1 current bear to the new ultrabear, 1 current bear to the new ultrabull, 1 current bull to the new ultrabear, and 1 current bull to the new ultrabull.

If you've got just a single surviving portfolio (one that was in the bears Monday and the bulls today), allocate according to birth year. If you were born in an odd year, go with the new ultrabull basket. Even year: go with the new ultrabear basket.

If this is all just too much to wade through, simply reallocate all of your participating portfolios such that half are in the new ultrabulls and half are in the new ultrabears.

See all related posts in the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive.

Week 3: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday
Week 2: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week 1: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Pre-game: CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge Is Back, Stragety Primer

Extra Stuff: The Biggest Loser, Interview With Bradford Pine

To receive additional updates by e-mail, drop a line here with the word "Subscribe" in the subject header.

Wednesday December 3rd

Cnbc_trivia

Throughout the contest, each day's answers will be at the top of the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive as soon as the questions are published, so bookmark accordingly.

Daily Trivia:

Squawk Box: Question: What Hasbro goodie is seen in our Hot Holiday Toys slideshow?

Answer: U-Dance

Squawk On the Street: Question: What omen will convince strategist Kevin Caron that "the worst will finally be over"?

   Answer: interbank spreads improve

The Call: Question: What is the "focus" of Cramer's Playing Defense Rules: Part 5?

   Answer: holding on to what you have

Power Lunch: Question: According to our Warren Buffet Watch, how many BUD shares did Berkshire Hathaway hold at the end of March?

   Answer: 35.6 million shares

Street Signs: Question: On Friday, why did Fast Money's Jeff Macke say "becoming socialist is good"?

   Answer: he's long Citi and GM

Closing Bell: Question: By Black Friday's close of trading last week, where did financial stocks end?

   Answer: up 31%

Weekly Quiz:

Question: Calls give you the right to?

Answer: Buy the stock at the strike price

Handcrafted by Flip on December 3, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBack

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Interview With Bradford Pine

We've got a special treat for you today. One of our readers who first found our humble site during the previous Portfolio Challenge is investment advisor Bradford Pine, who went on to win third prize for a cool $50,000.

Lest you think Brad got lucky last time, he's been a frequent fixture on the leaderboard during the current contest too, and as of this morning was ranked #1 with $3,075,312 million (a 208% gain in two weeks).

Brad was good enough to lend us a few minutes of his time today to share some details about his contest strategy and his approach to real-world investing.

Given his track record, you might want to think about talking to him about your own real-world investments...

Flip: So, Brad... What's your day job?

Brad: I am a Registered Principal / Investment advisor for Cantella & Co. I manage money for individuals from CEO’s to mom & pop organizations.

I offer services such as Fee based Wealth Management, Financial Plans, Mutual Fund Diversification Programs, Mutual Fund Reviews, IRA’s, 401(k) Rollover, and others.

Flip: How does your Portfolio Challenge trading strategy compare with your approach to real-life investing?

Brad: I have many different approaches to investing but most of it is for the longer term. The riskier investing I do would be when trading trends for the short term using ETFs (2x) or individual stocks. This is the strategy I try to employ for the contest although the risk I take during the contest I would never take with my clients. I also would like to add that the rules of the contest allow you to do many things that you would not be able to implement in the real world.

Flip: Last year, you won a 3rd prize share in the million dollar cash prize pool. What were some of your best trades?

Brad: Without a doubt it was the financials - Washington Mutual (WAMUQ) Freddie Mac (FRE), Lehman Brothers (LEH), and Fannie Mae (FNM). The last week of the contest there was a moratorium on shorting this sector so I took advantage of the short squeeze.

Flip: How have the new rules (inclusion of ETFs, the return of the post-season "finals") changed your strategy this time around?

Brad: As you have been preaching on your site I have been trying to use the short and long strategy to win the weekly prize, which could get you into the finals. I believe that last years gains are going to be pale in comparison to this year because of the introduction of the ETFs that allow you to short.

Flip: Do you trade currencies or just stocks/ETFs?

Brad: Mostly stocks and ETFs As far as currencies, I got my head handed to me in the beginning but I have been getting better… I made a little over 11k today.

Flip: How do you generate new contest trading ideas and what do you look at when evaluating a trading opportunity?

Brad: I trade the ETFs long and short on any given day and if you ask me how I decide to go long or short, my answer would be intuition and a lot of luck. I trade individual stocks by reading and watching the market very closely.

Flip: Your position at the top of the leaderboard puts you in a strong position to capture one of the "top 10" overall bids for the finals. What recommendations do you have for traders who are chasing the weekly winner slots?

Brad: Firstly, there is a long 7 ½ weeks left and as quick as I got to the top spot I could be wiped off the board in one day. Chasing volatility can crush you but I believe this is what it takes to be in the finals. I think your daily suggestions are right on track. I never think too much, once I make a decision I stick to it and reevaluate the next day… As trivial as this may sound one thing to remember is that the leaders change on a day to day basis.

Flip: What would you do with the $500,000 if you finish in 1st place?

Brad: Bear in mind the prize is given as an annuity, so with each year’s payout I would invest some in long term planning, some in my children’s 529 plans, some for fun and some for Uncle Sam.

See all related posts in the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive.

Week 3: Monday, Tuesday
Week 2: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week 1: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Pre-game: CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge Is Back, Stragety Primer

Extra Stuff: The Biggest Loser, Interview With Bradford Pine

To receive additional updates by e-mail, drop a line here with the word "Subscribe" in the subject header.

Handcrafted by Flip on December 2, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Tuesday, Week 3

[Scroll to the bottom for answers to today's Bonus Bucks trivia questions.]

Holy $#!&.

We certainly started Week 3 with a bang. Monday's market carnage gave our ultrabears (roughly half of all portfolios participating in our group strategy) up to a 20%+ gain - our best single day so far.

With financials leading the way down (and with smallcaps and tech stocks also underperforming the broad market), our 2x leveraged ultrabear ETF basket tracking losses in the Nasdaq and the Russell 2000, with a double dose of financials, enjoyed a banner day.

Going into today, we again split those glorious bears evenly among the same two baskets

Modified Ultrabull: RRY, QLD, UYG, RFL (25% each)
Modified Ultrabear: RRZ, QID, SKF, RFN (25% each)

Tune in later today for our next reallocation.

And of special note, our own dear reader Bradford Pine (who took home a 3rd prize share in last year's prize money) has just vaulted to the #1 spot in the overall rankings with an ungodly $3.075 million. Way to go, Brad!

Update: Today's reallocation will use just two baskets again, but they're slightly tweaked from yesterday. We're swapping out the ultra Nasdaq ETFs for another pair of ultra Russell 2000 ETFs, as the small caps have been giving us better volatility lately.

Modified Ultrabull: RRY, UWM, UYG, RFL (25% each)
Modified Ultrabear: RRZ, TWM, SKF, RFN (25% each)

Assuming today's rally holds through the close, any participating portfolios that were in the bear group yesterday and the bull group today remain the winningest subgroup.

If you've got one of these portfolios, reallocate it into one of the above baskets, according to zip code. If yours ends in an odd number, put the winning portfolio in the new ultrabull basket. If it ends in an even number, put the portfolio in the new ultrabear basket.

If you've got two portfolios that were in the bear basket yesterday and the bull basket today, put one portfolio in the new bears and one in the new bulls. If you've got three, allocate the third according to zip code. And so on.

Update: Today's rally is fading, so make sure to reallocate those portfolios that were in today's bear group as well, just in case we turn negative by the close.

To do so, simply repeat the above procedure, but now apply it to any portfolios that were in the ultrabear group Monday and the ultrabear group again today.

Update: Stay tuned for an upcoming interview with current leaderboard topper Bradford Pine.

See all related posts in the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive.

Extra Stuff: The Biggest Loser

To receive additional updates by e-mail, drop a line here with the word "Subscribe" in the subject header.

Tuesday December 2nd

Cnbc_trivia

Throughout the contest, each day's answers will be at the top of the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive as soon as the questions are published, so bookmark accordingly.

Daily Trivia:

Squawk Box: Question: On Friday, where did Matrix Asset Management's Dick Otto say oil would go?

Answer: all of the above (FWIW, I disagree with this answer. Only $76-80 describes what Otto said. He didn't attach the "3 month" timeline to the other two predictions)

Squawk On the Street: Question: On Friday, value stock picker Alan Lancz recommended which tech name?

   Answer: Apple

The Call: Question: According to the story "Scenes From The Mall: Picky, Picky, Picky" what was K-B Toys' discount on Barbie items?

   Answer: buy 2, get one free

Power Lunch: Question: On the Dot-Com Bubble photo in the Market Mayhem slideshow, which stock appears to be gaining?

   Answer: IAC/InterActiveCorp.

Street Signs: Question: Name the most expensive product in Carmen Wong Ulrich's "Loser List" blog:

   Answer: Kenmore Elite Dishwasher 1134(2)

Closing Bell: Question: What does Phil LeBeau call "the biggest question" about the Big 3's "Show and Tell Time"?

Answer: Is $25 billion enough?

Weekly Quiz:

Question: Calls give you the right to?

Answer: Buy the stock at the strike price

Handcrafted by Flip on December 2, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBack

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Monday, Week 3

[Scroll to the bottom for answers to today's Bonus Bucks trivia questions.]

Welcome to Week 3, folks - the first week of the contest to feature 5 full days of trading.

On Friday, we split our initial Week 3 group-strategy allocations evenly between modified, financials-heavy ultrabull and ultrabear ETF baskets.

Modified Ultrabull: RRY, QLD, UYG, RFL (25% each)
Modified Ultrabear: RRZ, QID, SKF, RFN (25% each)

I'm going to be on the road today during the typical reallocation window, so we need to set this up in advance.

For any participating portfolios, you'll be using the same two baskets above. At around 2:00 or 3:00 (or 3:30 or 3:58 or whenever it becomes clear whether the bulls or bears are winning the session), make a note of which of your portfolios are in the winning basket.

Of those portfolios, leave half alone and move the other half into the opposite basket. So if the market is up and the bulls are prevailing, and you've got two portfolios in the ultrabull basket, you'd leave one portfolio fully invested in the ultrabulls and shift the other completely into the ultrabears.

(Don't worry about any portfolios you've got in the losing basket. They're effectively sidelined until Week 4, unless Monday was very nearly flat, in which case all portfolios survive.)

If you've got an odd number of portfolios (e.g. 1) in the winning basket, you'll be unable to divide them evenly among bulls and bears. DO NOT split that portfolio into half-bull and half-bear. Every portfolio should be purely bullish or purely bearish at any given time.

Allocate your "extra" winning portfolio (e.g. your only winning portfolio, or the third winning portfolio if you've got three) according to your birth month. January-June: Run with the bulls. July-December: Load for bear.

Also, because I'll be traveling during most of Monday's trivia unveilings, we're going to need to rely on the largess and research skills of your highly capable fellow readers. The community has come through nicely when so beseeched in the past and I'm confident they won't disappoint today.

So refer to the comment thread throughout the day for all of your Bonus Bucks trivia answering needs.

Update: Trivia answers added. Thanks to all readers who helped out.

See all related posts in the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive.

Week 3: Monday
Week 2: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week 1: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Pre-game: CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge Is Back, Stragety Primer

Extra Stuff: The Biggest Loser

To receive additional updates by e-mail, drop a line here with the word "Subscribe" in the subject header.

Monday December 1st

Cnbc_trivia

Throughout the contest, each day's answers will be at the top of the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive as soon as the questions are published, so bookmark accordingly.

Daily Trivia:

Squawk Box: Question: CNBC Guest Blogger Tony Crescenzi knows the bond market inside and out. Who is his employer?

Answer: Miller Tabak + Co.

Squawk On the Street: Question: According to Jim Goldman, what is HP blaming for its Q1 revenue shortfall prediction?

Answer: currency conditions

The Call: Question: How many Yahoo shares did billionaire investor Carl Icahn buy last week?

Answer: 6.8 million shares

Power Lunch: Question: In his blog post, Obamas Pro-Growth Economic Team, Larry Kudlow refers to which pagan notion?

Answer: dormant animal spirits

Street Signs: Question: What day did Berkshire Hathaway shares close below $100K for the 1st time in 2 years?

Answer: Monday, Nov 17

Closing Bell: Question: According to Jane Wells, Saddam Hussein's yacht, the Basra Breeze, was maligned as

Answer: a shrine to bad taste

Weekly Quiz:

Question: Calls give you the right to?

Answer: Buy the stock at the strike price

Handcrafted by Flip on December 1, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (10) | TrackBack

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Friday, Week 2

[Scroll to the bottom for answers to today's Bonus Bucks trivia questions.]

Remember that you need to submit your first set of Week 3 trades (and your trivia answers) by 1 pm, due to the early market closure.

In case you missed the email from CNBC, everyone will get full credit for Wednesday's missing trivia.

Because trivia questions were not available on Wednesday, November 26, $12,000 CNBC Bonus Bucks will be credited to your account. The bonus bucks will count towards your final portfolio value for Week 2 of Trading.

Update: Here we go - first picks for Week 3. The hour of redemption for all battered portfolios.

It's the same general strategy (negatively correlated, leveraged ETFs), with a bit of modification.

In Week 2, we ditched the leveraged Dow Industrials fund in favor of another helping of financials, because the Dow just wasn't quite volatile enough for us. For Week 3, we're dumping the leveraged S&P 500 fund for the same reason.

Our new starting baskets consist of a leveraged Russell 2000 fund (smallcaps), a leveraged Nasdaq fund (primarily tech), and two leveraged financial funds.

Ultrabull, with double financials: RRY, QLD, UYG, RFL (25% each)
Ultrabear, with double financials: RRZ, QID, SKF, RFN (25% each)

You can allocate your participating portfolios as you please - so long as half of them are in Basket 1 and half are in Basket 2.

Good luck and have a great weekend!

See all related posts in the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive.

Week 2: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday
Week 1: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Pre-game: CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge Is Back, Stragety Primer

Extra Stuff: The Biggest Loser

To receive additional updates by e-mail, drop a line here with the word "Subscribe" in the subject header.

Friday November 28th

Cnbc_trivia

Throughout the contest, each day's answers will be at the top of the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive as soon as the questions are published, so bookmark accordingly.

Daily Trivia:

Squawk Box: Question: In our Spirits of the Holidays slideshow, how does Gary Vaynerchuk describe Connemara Irish Single Malt?

Answer: the Scotch drinker's Irish

Squawk On the Street: Question: Which strategist told CNBC on Wednesday that investors ought to start buying into the 2009 recovery surge?

Answer: Allen Sinai of Decision Economics

The Call: Question: At the Financial Follies this year, how much did water cost during the cocktail hour?

Answer: $6

Power Lunch: Question: In Daryl Guppy's blog post about "Identifying Capitulation", what World War II metaphor does he use for the market?

Answer: Stuka dive bomber

*** No Street Signs or Closing Bell questions today, due to the early market closure. Remember to submit all trades before 1 pm today!

Weekly Quiz:

Question: Publicly traded companies release earnings?

Answer: Quarterly

Handcrafted by Flip on November 28, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Wednesday, Week 2

[Scroll to the bottom for answers to today's Bonus Bucks trivia questions.]

Okay - slightly special day, for a couple reasons.

1) Tomorrow is a market holiday (something about pilgrims... I'm not sure). That makes today's reallocations the final reallocations for Week 2, since those trades will execute at today's close and first incur price changes on Friday.

2) I'm catching a noon flight out of town.

By now, you've grown accustomed to accommodating the occasional midday absences of a media darling like myself, so you won't be overly jarred by relying on your fellow readers for the answers to the 11, 12, 2, and 3 o'clock trivia questions.

Those answers will appear in the comment thread to this post. Past experience suggests your fleet-fingered fellow readers will have those answers posted within minutes of their appearing on the CNBC website.

Because I'll be airborne when I'd normally be posting the afternoon reallocation scheme, we need to work together a bit.

To recap, going into today, our Week 2 "surviving" portfolios (i.e. portfolios that had achieved week-to-date gains of 13% or so as of yesterday) were split into the following 4 baskets:

Ultrabull, with double financial concentration: SSO, QLD, UYG, RFL
Ultrabear, with double financial concentration: SDS, QID, SKF, RFN
Ultrabull, with oil concentration: SSO, QLD, UWM, DIG
Ultrabear, with oil concentration: SDS, QID, TWM, DUG

Once it's clear which way the market is moving today (this might not be until mid-afternoon if it's another day like yesterday), check to see which of your "surviving" portfolios are performing well. If any are down for the day, you can go ahead and sideline them until Week 3 (which, again, begins on Friday). For any that are showing green intraday, split them evenly into the following two baskets (which are identical to #1 and #2 above).

Ultrabull, with double financial concentration: SSO, QLD, UYG, RFL
Ultrabear, with double financial concentration: SDS, QID, SKF, RFN

If you have only one surviving portfolio which is in the green today, allocate it according to your age. If it's an odd number, go with Basket 1 (the ultrabulls). If it's even, go with Basket 2 (the ultrabears).

And in the mean time, make sure to submit your best effort to our Biggest Loser contest and see if you can top our very elite cadre of craptacular portfolios.

Update: Bonus Bucks appear to be offline for some reason: "Questions not available. Please check back later."

I'm off to the airport shortly. If/when the trivia appears, it looks like we'll need readers to post the whole slate. Keep an eye on the comments for updates.

Update: Well, the first trivia question has appeared (see below for the answer). About 11 hours late. Not sure what the problem is. Today was pretty clearly supposed to be a normal trivia day. But bear in mind that you can answer today's questions (if the rest of them ever appear) up through 6 am Friday and still get credit. So keep an eye out tomorrow.

From the rules:

Trivia Questions will be posted individually between 6:00AM and 4:00PM, and will be available to be answered on the Site until 6:00AM the following day, other than (i) questions posted on Fridays, which will be available to be answered on the Site until 4:00 PM that day, (ii) questions posted on November 26, which will be available to be answered on the Site until 5:59:59 AM on November 28, (iii) questions posted on November 28, which will be available to be answered on the Site until 1:00 PM on November 28...

Pay attention to that last clause too - for Friday's questions, you need to submit your answers by 1 pm for them to count.

You'll also need to submit your first set of Week 3 trades by 1 pm on Friday, due to the early market closure.

Update: Curiously, many readers are finding this site today via web searches on the string, "In Monday's Mad Money Lightning Round TO segment, what did Jim Cramer suggest doing with Las Vegas Sands shares?"

Are some people seeing this question on today's trivia page?

Update: From CNBC:

Because trivia questions were not available on Wednesday, November 26, $12,000 CNBC Bonus Bucks will be credited to your account. The bonus bucks will count towards your final portfolio value for Week 2 of Trading.

See all related posts in the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive.

Week 2: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday
Week 1: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Pre-game: CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge Is Back, Stragety Primer

Extra Stuff: The Biggest Loser

To receive additional updates by e-mail, drop a line here with the word "Subscribe" in the subject header.

Wednesday November 26th

Cnbc_trivia

Throughout the contest, each day's answers will be at the top of the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive as soon as the questions are published, so bookmark accordingly.

Daily Trivia:

Squawk Box: Question: Why did Phil LeBeau say he understands Ford CEO Mulally's sense of superiority over GM & Chrysler?

Answer: Ford's liquidity is best of the Big 3

Squawk On the Street: NA*
The Call: NA*
Power Lunch: NA*
Street Signs: NA*
Closing Bell: NA*

* Everyone gets the full $12,000 in Bonus Bucks today, due to the technical difficulties.

Weekly Quiz:

Question: Publicly traded companies release earnings?

Answer: Quarterly

Handcrafted by Flip on November 26, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (11) | TrackBack

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - The Biggest Loser

Well, after 6 days of trading, we've certainly succeeding in courting volatility. That, of course, is central to our group strategy of going after the weekly prizes (and accompanying tickets to the final round) and we've thus far managed to ride the frenetic roller coaster of this market by playing perfectly negatively correlated, leveraged ETFs each day.

As a result, each day roughly half of our portfolios rise (usually by a lot), while the other half falls (usually by a lot). After incurring more than a week of such bifurcated buffeting, about 10% of participating portfolios are currently ranked in the top 0.05%, with gains of more than 60%.

Likewise, about 1/10 of our portfolios are languishing at the bottom of the barrel. As I've noted already, this is no reason for despair. 1) It shows that the strategy is working as expected, and 2) these embarrassingly devalued portfolios are at a significant advantage going into the following week, as the weekly diet of $62,000 Bonus Bucks become far more valuable on a percentage basis.

I know based on the path of daily allocations approximately how many of our portfolios are enjoying this privileged but pauperly status, but I'm curious how low our biggest losers have sunk.

The worst of my own 5 portfolios is ranked 435,675th (out of about 438,000) this morning. Happily, the best of my slate is ranked 174th, but since it's not in a position to be competitive for this week's top spot, I'm actually more excited about ol' 435,675.

That one will get a boost of more than 8% from Week 3's bonuses, whereas my "best" portfolio will get less than 4%.

Anyone in our group showing a lower (or similar) position? I'm hopeful that, in addition to our readers who are nipping at the leaderboard, we may also be well represented in the foulest nether regions of the rankings.

Tell us about your most god-awful performers in the comment thread.

See all related posts in the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive.

Week 2: Monday, Tuesday
Week 1: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Pre-game: CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge Is Back, Stragety Primer

To receive additional updates by e-mail, drop a line here with the word "Subscribe" in the subject header.

Handcrafted by Flip on November 25, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (21) | TrackBack

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Tuesday, Week 2

[Scroll to the bottom for answers to today's Bonus Bucks trivia questions.]

Decent start to Week 2 yesterday, with our ultrabulls enjoying a nice double-digit gain. Going into today, our participating portfolios are split into four baskets:

Ultrabull, with double financial concentration: SSO, QLD, UYG, RFL
Ultrabear, with double financial concentration: SDS, QID, SKF, RFN
Ultrabull, with oil concentration: SSO, QLD, UWM, DIG
Ultrabear, with oil concentration: SDS, QID, TWM, DUG

Come back this afternoon for today's picks and reallocation methodology.

Update: Stocks are mixed so far today, so we won't know which of our 4 baskets wins out until a bit closer to the close. Watch for the new allocations at around 3:00 pm.

Update: Broadly speaking, the bears are doing better today, but there's actually not a huge difference among our 4 baskets. So to determine whether you're still in the "winning group", check each portfolio and see whether "Gain/Loss, Weekly" + "Gain/Loss, Intraday" equals at least 13%.

For any participating portfolios that meet that threshold, keep them in the mix going into tomorrow. We'll be using the same 4 baskets, with a different allocation scheme.

Determine your basket by the last digit of your phone number.

0-2: SSO, QLD, UYG, RFL (ultrabull, with double financial concentration)
3-5: SDS, QID, SKF, RFN (ultrabear, with double financial concentration)
6-7: SSO, QLD, UWM, DIG (ultrabull, with oil concentration)
8-9: SDS, QID, TWM, DUG (ultrabear, with oil concentration)

If you have more than 1 portfolio that exceeds the threshold, then allocate the first portfolio according to your phone number, the second portfolio according to the next basket down the list, etc.

For example, if you've got 3 qualifying portfolios (with 13%+ in weekly plus intraday gains) and your phone number ends with a 7, you'd allocate those portfolios as follows:

SSO, QLD, UWM, DIG (6-7)
SDS, QID, TWM, DUG (8-9)
SSO, QLD, UYG, RFL (0-2)

And a quick reminder about the holiday schedule...

The market will be closed on Thursday for Thanksgiving, but open on Friday. In keeping with the once-a-day reallocation rules, you'll need to submit your 4th and final reallocation for the week by 4 pm on Wednesday. These picks will execute at Wednesday's close and show up in your portfolio on Friday when the markets reopen.

See all related posts in the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive.

Week 2: Monday, Tuesday
Week 1: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Pre-game: CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge Is Back, Stragety Primer

To receive additional updates by e-mail, drop a line here with the word "Subscribe" in the subject header.

Tuesday November 25th

Cnbc_trivia

Throughout the contest, each day's answers will be at the top of the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive as soon as the questions are published, so bookmark accordingly.

Daily Trivia:

Squawk Box: Question: Which strategist told CNBC Monday that Citigroup's common stock "was toast"?

Answer: Christopher Whalen

Squawk On the Street: Question: According to Jon Najarian's Nov. 24 Stock Blog post, how far is Nucor stock off its summertime high?

Answer: down 70%

The Call: Question: How long has Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal been a Citigroup shareholder?

Answer: more than 18 years

Power Lunch: Question: According to the feature, Holiday Shopping with Deflated Stocks, what could you buy with a share of Microsoft?

Answer: 10 lb. Butterball turkey

Street Signs: Question: When Fast Money's Dylan Ratigan appeared on The View, he used what metaphor to explain vanished credit?

Answer: money heaven

Closing Bell: Question: Which bank stocks does Peter Sorrentino of Huntington Asset Advisors see in a "huge" 2009 rally?

Answer: Wells Fargo

Weekly Quiz:

Question: Publicly traded companies release earnings?

Answer: Quarterly

Handcrafted by Flip on November 25, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBack

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Monday, Week 2

[Scroll to the bottom for answers to today's Bonus Bucks trivia questions.]

Watch this space for today's updates, picks, and reallocation methodology...

Here we go again. Clean slates all around. Don't let your Week 1 red ink get you down - poorer portfolios have an advantage as we begin this new week, as your daily diet of Bonus Bucks will now pad your percentage gains more fatly than they do portfolios with higher starting values.

Our group strategy managed to deliver our best performing subgroup a cool 44% last week, which was enough to beat out 99.96% of the competition, but not quite enough to grab the first weekly ticket to the finals, which was secured by Christos Vellios of Chicago.

Not to worry - we've got a few tweaks ready to roll out this week.

Come on back this afternoon for the next set of picks and allocation methodology for participating portfolios.

And make sure to keep answering all the daily trivia questions (as well as the new weekly quiz question, unveiled today).

Update: Today's reallocations...

It's looking like a solid up day (with our ultrabulls enjoying a double-digit gain), so for participating portfolios, you only need to address the ones currently holding the ultrabull basket (SSO, UYG, DDM, QLD) or any modified version you may have implemented.

Today, we're splitting those bulls into 4 groups, according to your birth month, as follows:

Jan-Mar: SSO, QLD, UYG, RFL (ultrabull, with double financial concentration)
Apr-Jun: SDS, QID, SKF, RFN (ultrabear, with double financial concentration)
Jul-Sep: SSO, QLD, UWM, DIG (ultrabull, with oil concentration)
Oct-Dec: SDS, QID, TWM, DUG (ultrabear, with oil concentration)

If you have more than 1 portfolio currently in the bull group, then allocate the first portfolio according to your birth month, the second portfolio according to the next basket down the list, etc.

For example, if you've got 3 surviving portfolios (currently holding the ultrabulls) and you were born in August you'd allocate those portfolios as follows:

SSO, QLD, UWM, DIG (Jul-Sep)
SDS, QID, TWM, DUG (Oct-Dec)
SSO, QLD, UYG, RFL (Jan-Mar)

Also, a quick note regarding this week's holiday schedule...

Update: Yowza. With the rally accelerating in the final hour of trading, our ultrabulls are now looking at a one-day gain of roughly 20%.

Update: Meh. A bit of a pullback at the close. We'll have to settle with 16% for the day.

See all related posts in the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive.

Week 2: Monday
Week 1: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Pre-game: CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge Is Back, Stragety Primer

To receive additional updates by e-mail, drop a line here with the word "Subscribe" in the subject header.

Monday November 24th

Cnbc_trivia

Throughout the contest, each day's answers will be at the top of the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive as soon as the questions are published, so bookmark accordingly.

Daily Trivia:

Squawk Box: Question: When does Mike Duke effectively take the CEO post at Walmart?

Answer: Feb. 1, 2009

Squawk On the Street: Question: Which central banker told CNBC Friday that his peers seek a "new world order"?

Answer: Brazil's Henrique De Campos Meirelles

The Call: Question: Which super-investor told the Fast Money team Thursday that the dollar is going to drop "like a stone"?

Answer: Peter Schiff

Power Lunch: Question: What nightmarish phrase did Pimco's Mohammed El-Erian use to warn bank investors?

Answer: "the unthinkable"

Street Signs: Question: Which strategist told CNBC Friday, "All financials will be owned by the U.S. government in a year"?

Answer: Hugh Hendry

Closing Bell: Question: In Allen Wastler's Nov. 20 blog post, who is the first possible Treasury Secretary candidate he names?

Answer: Timothy Geithner

Weekly Quiz:

Question: Publicly traded companies release earnings?

Answer: Quarterly

Handcrafted by Flip on November 24, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBack

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Friday, Week 1

[Scroll to the bottom for answers to today's Bonus Bucks trivia questions.]

Watch this space for today's updates, picks, and reallocation methodology...

Oh me, oh my. That was another whopper of a day for the ultrabears, who added another 13-14% to their equity portfolios Thursday.

Our best performing subgroup has mustered a cumulative 30% going into this final day of Week 1. That's all well and good, but the leaderboard toppers are boasting gains of more than 40%, so we need to order up another big, heaping bowl of volatility today.

While our teeming horde has a bit of work to do if one of us to grab that first ticket to the finals, I'd note that another of our readers - Brad Pine, who took home a 3rd prize share in last year's $1,000,000 - is enjoying a 19th place overall rank today (and 5th place in equity performance). Since all Week 1 trades are now locked in, maybe Brad can be convinced to share his current allocation with us. Or maybe it's a secret he wants to guard, for use in future weeks. (Couldn't blame him - he's figured something out...)

Anyone else with sitting pretty on the leaderboard, please sound off and let us know.

And be sure to come back to this post this afternoon for the first set of picks for Week 2, which need to be submitted by 4 pm today to count for Monday.

Update: Thanks to those of you who helped cover the trivia questions during my absence this morning.

With the market hovering around the center line, it's still anybody's guess whether we'll close up or down, but happily (since today's trades only affect Week 2), we don't need to know what happens today to make our allocations.

From the comments, Bob laments that he's effectively out of competition now and can't catch up. But that's the beauty of the 10 weekly bids for the finals. No one's ever out of competition. Every Friday, things effectively reset. In fact, if you've got a couple of really pummelled portfolios (I've got a couple myself), you're at a considerable advantage compared to healthier portfolios when it comes to vying for the weekly prize (since Bonus Bucks will now give you an even larger percentage gain each day).

If it weren't for this weekly resurrection, we wouldn't be playing such mindlessly volatile baskets of funds. This group strategy hinges on the fact that we don't care if half of our portfolios get slaughtered every day, so long as the other half are soaring. Only one person can win the weekly prize. Anything shy of 1st place might as well be 100,000th place. It's worth just as much, and it leaves you in precisely the same position for the next week (i.e. untainted).

Anyway, those of you with participating portfolios are going to find the Week 2 kick-off quite simple. Just make sure you've got half of your portfolios in the ultrabull basket, and the other half in the ultrabear basket. We'll get back to birthdays and zip codes next week (along with a couple of modifications to this week's strategy that might give us a bit of extra juice).

Ultrabear portfolio: SDS, SKF, DXD, QID
Ultrabull portfolio: SSO, UYG, DDM, QLD

If you're using an odd number of portfolios, give the extra one to whichever you feel luckier about for Monday.

Update: Turned into a very nice up day, thanks to a late afternoon surge, which followed the announcement that Obama would tap NY Fed President Tim Geithner as Treasury Secretary. Our best performing subgroup is going to book roughly a 44% gain for this 4-day week. Definitely solid (and good enough to reach the "Top 0.0%" or the top 200 out of 425,000), but unfortunately not quite enough to grab the first weekly ticket to the finals.

Perhaps one of our readers that was already on the leaderboard managed to pull it off... should know within a few hours, once the portfolios recalculate.

Have a great weekend, everyone. See you Monday morning.

See all related posts in the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive.

Week 1: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Pre-game: CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge Is Back, Stragety Primer

To receive additional updates by e-mail, drop a line here with the word "Subscribe" in the subject header.

Friday November 21st

Cnbc_trivia

Throughout the contest, each day's answers will be at the top of the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive as soon as the questions are published, so bookmark accordingly.

Daily Trivia:

Squawk Box: Question: According to Julia Boorstin, how much revenue did China Central TV's primetime ad space auction yield?

Answer: nearly $1.4 billion

Squawk On the Street: Question: What disaster did Jim Paulsen of Wells Capital Management say "we've created" this week?

Answer: TARP crisis No. 2

The Call: Question: Jim Cramer said HP's Q4 pre-announcement yielded no "pin action." Who did he say could have benefited from that action?

Answer: all of the above

Power Lunch: Question: Which investor said Thursday that they'd raise their Citigroup stake by 1%?

Answer: Saudi Prince Alwaleed

Street Signs: Question: Which strategist told CNBC there won't be a bottom 'til Valentine's Day?

Answer: Bob Doll of BlackRock

Closing Bell: Question: On Thursday, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway lost 48.1% from its all-time high. Where did it close?

Answer: at $77,500 a share

Weekly Quiz:

Question: The Dow Jones Industrial Average consist of:

Answer: 30 stocks

Handcrafted by Flip on November 21, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (33) | TrackBack

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Thursday, Week 1

[Scroll to the bottom for answers to today's Bonus Bucks trivia questions.]

Watch this space for today's updates, picks, and reallocation methodology...

What a difference a day makes, eh folks?

Yesterday's volatility catapulted all participating portfolios in the ultrabear basket into the top 1% (in some cases, the top 0.5%), with a cumulative 15-16% gain.

We're not quite on the leaderboard yet, but collectively we should have close to 100 portfolios in that top 1%. Since we're evenly divided among ultrabears and ultrabulls going into today, another volatile session could land a bunch folks in striking distance of the first weekly prize (and the first guaranteed spot in the finals).

Remember that because of the once daily reallocation, today is effectively the last trading day of Week 1 (since the picks you make by 4 pm today will be the final reallocation to impact Friday's performance).

Check back in between 2 and 3 pm (once we've got a reliable read on today's market direction) for the final allocation methodology for participating portfolios.

Update: Technical difficulties. Many of you have written in that you're having trouble accessing the contest site. I'm not sure what the problem is, but I'm having them too - can't get any contest pages to load. Possibly just an issue of traffic putting too much of a burden on the site.

I've got a note into Customer Care and will update the post with any news.

Anyone who is currently able to access the site, please let us know, including where you're located, what kind of browser you're using, and the URL through which you were able to enter the site.

Update: The site is back - for me, and for several readers who just simultaneously wrote in (12:50 pm). The outage seems to have lasted about 3 hours.

Update: Studies show: Suitably Flip readers make better traders. I've heard from two readers today (both of whom were familiar faces/usernames around here during last summer's Portfolio Challenge) who've already leapt into the top 100, at #12 and #79.

Update: We're crossing the center line too frequently to have any reliable sense of whether we'll close up or down, so our final reallocation methodology may not hit this post until 3ish. Make sure to come back during that last hour or so, to make sure you get your final allocation of Week 1 submitted on time.

Update: Paulson will be speaking at 2 pm. Hopefully that'll inspire a big knee-jerk move either up or down.

Update: From the comments, reader Arthur K is sitting at 9th place overall using a modified ultrabear strategy. Another reader emails that he's currently ranked 64th. Way to go! That's at least 4 readers enjoying top-100 rankings.

Update: Okay, it looks like we're heading for a lower close, so congratulations to all you ultrabears. The time we spent in positive territory appears to have been the result of the short-lived rumors of a deal struck on the awful auto bailout.

For today's final reallocation for Week 1, our leading subgroup essentially consists of anyone ranked in the top 1% who's in the ultrabear group (SDS, SKF, DXD, QID) today.

For those participating portfolios, we'll be splitting into ultrabears and ultrabulls one more time, according to the final digit of your zip code.

Even number: Leave the ultrabear portfolio as is (SDS, SKF, DXD, QID)
Odd number: Swap into the ultrabull portfolio (SSO, UYG, DDM, QLD)

Don't fret if you're holding ultrabull portfolios that are now in the toilet. As of tomorrow, the slate will be wiped clean, as picks you make beginning tomorrow will count toward Week 2's percentage gain. In fact, a lower Week 2 starting value will mean your Bonus Bucks are more valuable on a percentage basis, so you'll in fact be at a considerable advantage versus richer portfolios.

Update: With 30 minutes to go, the ultrabears are looking at another double-digit gain. If this holds (or steepens), I suspect the leaderboard will be positively infested with readers tomorrow.

Update: Yes, indeed. Another 13% for our ultrabears today (plus about 1% in Bonus Bucks).

See all related posts in the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive.

Week 1: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday
Pre-game: CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge Is Back, Stragety Primer

To receive additional updates by e-mail, drop a line here with the word "Subscribe" in the subject header.

Thursday November 20th

Cnbc_trivia

Throughout the contest, each day's answers will be at the top of the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive as soon as the questions are published, so bookmark accordingly.

Daily Trivia:

Squawk Box: Question: According to our Big Budget Events slideshow, how much did the Louisiana Purchase cost in today's dollars?

Answer: $217 billion

Squawk On the Street: Question: On the day KISS frontman Gene Simmons rang NYSE's opening bell, whose employees rang Nasdaq's bell?

Answer: Rambus

The Call: Question: According to Jeffrey Saut of Raymond James, when did the market bottom?

Answer: Oct. 10

Power Lunch: Question: What did Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell say is the solution to marine pirate attacks?

Answer: a holistic approach

Street Signs: Question: In Jim Cramer's Wednesday Lightning Round OT, which stocks did the Mad Money man praise?

Answer: British Petroleum

Closing Bell: Question: According to research firm IDC, global info tech spending will grow by how much in 2009?

Answer: 2.6%

Weekly Quiz:

Question: The Dow Jones Industrial Average consist of:

Answer: 30 stocks

Handcrafted by Flip on November 20, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (29) | TrackBack

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Wednesday, Week 1

[Scroll to the bottom for answers to today's Bonus Bucks trivia questions.]

As many of you have pointed out, the crediting of Bonus Bucks to your portfolios continues to lag by an extra day (trivia bonuses are supposed to hit your portfolio by the following day's opening bell). By this point, we should see up to $24,000 accrued (plus $5,000 for those who registered before 11/14 and $5,000 for those who nabbed the refer-a-friend bonus). Instead, you're likely seeing just $12,000 in maximum trivia bonuses.

The leaderboard is also carrying a lag, as the top players are all showing equity portfolio values of $912,000, which is the initial $900,000 allocation, plus $2,000 for the weekly trivia bonus, plus $10,000 in early registration and referral bonuses. So they're missing Monday's and Tuesday's daily trivia bonuses and any stock performance from yesterday.

In case you're curious, based on the numerical and percentile rankings, there appear to be approximately 370,000 portfolios participating in the contest. I believe that's ahead of the count during the first week of the summer contest, though there were closer to 750,000 by the final week.

If you're participating in our group strategy, you should show a to-date gain of 1.1% or 2.0% (give or take, depending on your non-trivia bonuses). While things could certainly change by 4 pm, today is looking like a down day; our ultrabear portfolio is showing an intraday gain of 7%, midway through the session.

Assuming the market is still down going into the close, today's reallocation is relatively simple. If you have a portfolio in the bear basket, you'll either 1) leave it as is or 2) swap it out for the bull basket, according to the day of the month you were born.

Even numbered day: Leave the ultrabear portfolio as is (SDS, SKF, DXD, QID)
Odd numbered day: Ditch the bears and swap into the ultrabull portfolio (SSO, UYG, DDM, QLD)

If you have more than one portfolio currently in the bear basket, you get to continue playing both strategies. (If you have 2 bear portfolios, put one each in the bull and bear basket; if you have 3 bear portfolios, put one in each, and allocate the third according your birthday; if you have 4 bear portfolios, put 2 each in the bull and bear baskets.)

Update: What a day for the ultrabears! The Dow, S&P, and Nasdaq declined 5.1%, 6.1%, and 6.5%, respectively, while the Dow Financials shed 11.2%, led lower by Citi.

Add in the 2x leverage and our ultrabear basket is looking at a one-day gain of 13.3%.

That should leave our leading sub-subgroup with a portfolio value of roughly $1.154 million once they're recalculated overnight (or $1.166 million if the bonuses catch up). None too shabby after just two rounds of trades.

By comparison, the top trader today (reflecting equity gains through Tuesday) was Mary Noble, with $1.091 million.

Anyone who was holding the ultrabear portfolio today should find themselves in the top fraction of one percent tomorrow morning.

See all related posts in the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive.

Week 1: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday
Pre-game: CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge Is Back, Stragety Primer

To receive additional updates by e-mail, drop a line here with the word "Subscribe" in the subject header.

Wednesday November 19th

Throughout the contest, each day's answers will be at the top of the CNBC Portfolio Challenge archive as soon as the questions are published, so bookmark accordingly.

Daily Trivia:

Squawk Box: Question: On Nov. 17, which ag stock did Pete Najarian praise for its "phenomenal pipeline"?

Answer: Monsanto

Squawk On the Street: Question: In Tuesday's "CEOs Sound Off", which chief executives gave CNBC their outlooks?

Answer: All of the above

The Call: Question: What does Click Capital Research's Colin Gillis fear about investing in Yahoo?

Answer: the wait for a new CEO

Power Lunch: Question: On Tuesday, analyst Tina Vital offered CNBC her oil stock picks. Which company is on her 4-star list?

Answer: Marathon Oil

Street Signs: Question: How much of ConocoPhillips did Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway hold, as of Sept. 30?

Answer: 84 million shares

Closing Bell: Question: According to Daryl Guppy, what sort of traders use a "pump and dump" strategy?

Answer: desperate individuals

Weekly Quiz:

Question: The Dow Jones Industrial Average consist of:

Answer: 30 stocks

Handcrafted by Flip on November 19, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBack

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CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Friday, Finals Week 1

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Thursday, Finals Week 1

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Monday, Finals Week 1

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Friday, Week 10

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Thursday, Week 10

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Wednesday, Week 10

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Tuesday, Week 10

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Friday, Week 9

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Thursday, Week 9

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Wednesday, Week 9

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Tuesday, Week 9

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Monday, Week 9

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Friday, Week 8

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Thursday, Week 8

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Wednesday, Week 8

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Tuesday, Week 8

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Monday, Week 8

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Friday, Week 7

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Wednesday, Week 7

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Tuesday, Week 7

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Monday, Week 7

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Friday, Week 6

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Wednesday, Week 6

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Tuesday, Week 6

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Monday, Week 6

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Friday, Week 5

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Thursday, Week 5

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Wednesday, Week 5

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Tuesday, Week 5

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Monday, Week 5

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Friday, Week 4

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Thursday, Week 4

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Wednesday, Week 4

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Tuesday, Week 4

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Monday, Week 4 (Part 2)

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Monday, Week 4

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Friday, Week 3

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Thursday, Week 3

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Wednesday, Week 3

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Interview With Bradford Pine

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Tuesday, Week 3

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Monday, Week 3

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Friday, Week 2

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Wednesday, Week 2

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - The Biggest Loser

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Tuesday, Week 2

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Monday, Week 2

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Friday, Week 1

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Thursday, Week 1

CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge - Wednesday, Week 1