Options: Your Port in Rough Waters

This column was originally published on May 17 at 4:14 p.m. EDT.

"Is it safe?"
"Tell me what the 'it' refers to."
"Is it safe?"
"Yes, it's safe, it's very safe, it's so safe you wouldn't believe it."

-- Dustin Hoffman, trying to find the right answer for Laurence Olivier in Marathon Man

After a great rush at the end of 2004 in which the S&P 500 galloped some 15% higher in the final three months of the year, investors are once again facing the choppy market. The S&P hit a three-year high in late March as earnings, economic data and a measured and watchful monetary policy suggested a period of sustainable earnings growth in a controlled inflationary environment. ...