1. Moving the Markets
The S&P 500 topped previous record highs today, riding the wave of positive corporate earnings reports. 68% of earnings reports have topped analyst estimates so far, and according to a Thompson Reuters report, companies are on track to grow earnings 5.4% in the second-quarter.
For the day, the S&P 500 gained 0.2% to close at 1987.01, the Nasdaq gained 0.4%, but the Dow dropped 0.2% mostly dragged down by Boeing’s 2.3% drop.
Notable companies that exceeded earnings estimates today were PepsiCo (PEP), Delta Air Lines (DAL), Facebook (FB) and Apple (AAPL)
On the international front, major indexes across Europe inched higher after EU officials stopped short of imposing tough economic sanctions against Russia. However, geopolitical concerns remain high over the tensions in Ukraine and Israel.
Our 10 ETFs in the Spotlight ended mostly higher with 5 of them gaining on the day; two of them made new highs.
2. ETFs in the Spotlight
In case you missed the announcement and description of this section, you can read it here again.
It features 10 broadly diversified ETFs from my HighVolume list as posted every Monday. Furthermore, they are screened for the lowest MaxDD% number meaning they have been showing better resistance to temporary sell offs than all others over the past year.
Here are the 10 candidates:
All of them are in “buy” mode, meaning their prices are above their respective long term trend lines by the percentage indicated (%M/A).
Year to date, here’s how the above candidates have fared so far:
To be clear, the first table above shows the position of the various ETFs in relation to their respective long term trend lines (%M/A), while the second one tracks their trailing sell stops in the “Off High” column. The “Action” column will signal a “Sell” once the -7.5% point is taken out in the “Off High” column.
3. Domestic Trend Tracking Indexes (TTIs)
Our Trend Tracking Indexes (TTIs) managed to edge out some slight gains and closed as follows:
Domestic TTI: +3.24% (last close +3.13%)
International TTI: +3.70% (last close +3.50%)
Disclosure: I am obliged to inform you that I, as well as advisory clients of mine, own some of these listed ETFs. Furthermore, they do not represent a specific investment recommendation for you, they merely show which ETFs from the universe I track are falling within the guidelines specified.
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