As regular readers know, our system doesn't consider the macro picture when selecting its top names. Instead, it gauges stock and options market sentiment to estimate which securities are likely to perform the best over the next six months. Nevertheless, that bottoms-up approach is painting a clear macro picture when you look at our most recent top ten.

Screen capture via Portfolio Armor on 3/11/2022..

Our number one name on Friday was the Teucrium Wheat Fund (NYSE:WEAT), and two other agricultural names made the list: the Teucrium Corn Fund (NYSE:CORN) and nitrogen fertilizer producer CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF). Fully half of our top ten were oil and gas names including Haliburton Co. (NYSE:HAL), Occidental Petroleum Corp. (NYSE:OXY), and the United States Gasoline Fund LP (NYSE:UGA). Overall, our nine of our top ten names are bets on food and energy getting more expensive over the next six months.

Since the income generated from selling the call leg was equal to the cost of buying the put leg, the net cost of this collar was negative. To be conservative that cost was calculated assuming you bought the puts at the ask and sold the calls at the bid (the worst end of the spread in each case). Since, in practice, you can often buy and sell options at some price between the bid and ask, you likely would have received a net credit when opening this hedge on Monday.