We were mostly sellers in the market rally since mid-June. Here's what we're thinking now

Published Thu, Aug 18 20224:34 PM EDTUpdated Thu, Aug 18 20224:50 PM EDT

While on the lookout to book more profits, we've done a good deal of selling in recent weeks at around these levels in the stock market and around the following levels in eight Club positions. The market and many of our portfolio stocks have made big runs since the S & P 500 's mid-June low. We'd like to wait for more upside before doing more selling. Just as we don't like to keep buying at the same prices, we also attempt to avoid raising cash near the same share prices. The S & P 500's 18% gain since the June bottom dictated we lock in some gains, in what's been a terrible market this year. Here's a rundown of our trades over the past three weeks — the net effect of which put nearly $120,000 of cash into our coffers. Danaher (DHR): 35 shares at $298.14 on Aug. 17 ; and 65 at $291.35 on July 29 Linde (LIN): 30 shares at $308.95 on Aug. 17 Chevron (CVX): 45 shares at $155.38 on Aug. 9 Salesforce (CRM): 30 shares at $189.94 on Aug. 3 ; and 50 at $181.87 on July 29 Microsoft (MSFT): 50 shares at $282.82 on Aug. 3 Cisco Systems (CSCO): 205 shares at $45.36 on Aug. 2 Walmart (WMT): 250 shares at $132.89 on Aug. 1 Eli Lilly (LLY): 50 shares at $330.16 on July 29 In that time frame, we only made two buys. Procter & Gamble (PG): 40 more shares at $139.53 on July 29 Johnson & Johnson (JNJ): 50 more shares at $166.06 on Aug.15 While we have had an overbought market in recent weeks, a high-level factor that helped position us as sellers into the rally instead of greedy chasers, this week's consolidation has helped us work off a good deal of that overbought condition as seen by the S & P Oscillator, which stood at 4.48% as of Wednesday evening — down from 6.81% on Tuesday evening — and the first reading below the 5% level since July 26. As a result, we see additional selling as less urgent. On the other hand, 4.48% reading in the Oscillator doesn't dictate that buying must be done. With the market catching a bit of breather, we feel no rush to get that cash back to work right here and now. As a result, we're scanning the market and waiting patiently for our stocks to reach more attractive levels. We're taking into consideration the ongoing uncertainties surrounding possibly-peaking-but-still-high-inflation and how the Federal Reserve might act next in its fight to bring cost pressures under control — not to mention geopolitical dynamics in China and Russia's war against Ukraine. (See here for a full list of the stocks in Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on August 5, 2022 at Wall Street in New York City.

Angela Weiss | AFP | Getty Images

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