Not withstanding yesterday’s rebound, this year has been a tough one for all major indexes. Even many country and sector funds have seen their long-term trends interrupted if not ended. Here are some interesting stats for the various investment orientations I track in my data base. As of 12/31/07, there were considerably more no load funds/ETFs showing strong momentum figures …
Towards Bear Market Territory?
Yesterday’s sudden market reversal to the downside pushed our domestic indicator Trend Tracking Index (TTI) further towards bear market territory. The domestic TTI is now positioned only +2.32% above its long-term trend line, while the international TTI has slipped even further south to -6.91%. This again confirms our Sell signal in that area, which was effective as of 11/13/07. It …
ETF Investing: Making A ‘Buy’ Decision
Reader Gy posted an interesting question, which I like to share with everyone since it addresses a problem faced by most investors. Here’s what Gy had to say: Thanks for your assistance. In fact, I bought GDX and SLV two weeks ago.However, in regards to the energy ETF fund and agriculture Fund I am stuck here. From your fund list, …
Bear Market Thoughts
In case you missed it, reader G.H. commented on last week’s Fund Tracker update as follows: This might be a good time to point out that buy and hold (hope) “lazy portfolios” diversified across asset classes and countries are not doing so well. Personally I am in the camp that says there will be no “decoupling” of international economies when …
Sunday Musings: ‘Write-downs’ Are For Everyone
2007 was the year when Wall Street acquainted you with a host of new terms ranging from CDOs, SIVs and RMBSs among many others. One of the more common ones, which you can read about in the news every day, is “write-downs,” which is simply another way of saying ‘losses.’ However, it sounds so much more sophisticated when a company …
Stock Market Winter?
The markets greeted the first trading day of the New Year with a sharp sell off, which picked up even more steam towards the end of the week caused by yesterday’s chilling jobs report. With all major indexes (Dow Industrials, S&P; 500, Nasdaq, Wilshire 5000, Dow Transportation), including our own international Trend Tracking Index (TTI), now positioned below their long …