In case you missed it, here’s a summary of the ETF topics and market reviews I posted to my blog during the week ending on 2/24/2013.
Last week, I was talking about the tight trading range of the S&P 500 index and that eventually a breakout would occur. Last Wednesday, assisted by a potential threat that the Fed may water down the spiked punch bowl the markets sold off some modest 2% over 2 days.
Friday’s recovery cut the losses in half, and the benchmark index actually closed lower for the week but by only by a scant 0.3%. Surely, a sell off was way overdue, but it remains to be seen if there is more downside activity preventing the run to new highs.
The trigger for more selling may not necessarily come from within the US, but is likely to originate in Europe where economic conditions are worsening by the week with Spain, Italy and France being hard hit. Adding insult to injury are the bribery scandals in Spain and questionable past banking deals in Italy just to name a few.
At this time, it looks like the previously considered core countries of Italy, Spain and France are anything but stable leaving only Germany as the ultimate paymaster. I don’t know when things will fall apart, but I doubt that we will see the EU making it through this year in its current status.
Over past week, we covered the following:
One Man’s Opinion: Will Demand From Traditional Home-Owners Continue The Housing Recovery?
New ETFs On The Block: Market Vectors BDC Income ETF (BIZD)
ETF/No Load Fund Tracker Newsletter For Friday, February 22, 2013
Weekly StatSheet For The ETF/No Load Fund Tracker Newsletter – Updated Through 2/21/2013
S&P 500 Fights To Stay Above 1,500; US And European Equities Continue Their Slide
Stocks Hit A Slippery Slope After Fed Minutes
7 ETF Model Portfolios You Can Use – Updated through 2/19/2013
US Indexes Hit Fresh Five-Year Highs; European Stocks Rally As German Sentiment Improves
ETFs/Mutual Funds On The Cutline – Updated Through 2/15/2013
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