On Wednesday, 1/28/09, I sold 1 FCX Mar09 35 Covered Call for a net deposit of $72.50 in an IRA account, exclusive of dividends.  My basis for these FCX shares is now a lofty 86.33.

Well now, here is FCX, one of my favorite stocks earlier because of the nice dividend and option premiums.  Then, in December 2008, FCX suspended its dividend.  The stock price had started falling in September and continued into early December 2008.  It appears to have stabilized and begun to rise a little since then, and now looks to be trading in a range between 21 or so and 30.

As a mining stock, the value of FCX is very closely tied to the market prices of the products it mines.  Although gold may be up, copper and molybdenum are way down causing the price of FCX to be down.  I suspect that this is actually a buying opportunity for FCX, or at least an opportunity to sell Puts on it.  In my post of FCX last week I wrote about my selling a Feb09 Put at the 22.50 strike for a nice premium.

Although FCX is not paying a dividend right now I think it will again and I am content to collect option premiums while holding it as well as selling Puts around the $20 strike price.