1. Moving the Markets
A pause sure was in order after last week’s push into record territory. The major indexes pulled back as the chart above shows.
The focus remains on earnings with the name of the game being to beat the already lowered expectations. After the closing bell, Apple managed to beat handsomely by posting an amazing 33% rise in earnings, which pushed the stock up by 1.82% in after-hours trading.
Things might heat up by mid-weak, as a preliminary reading on the first quarter GDP will be released on Wednesday, while the Fed will also deliver the latest policy statement after its two-day meeting.
Only 1 of our 10 ETFs in the Spotlight managed to buck the downward trend, namely IOO, which gained 0.39% on the day. Leading the downside was XLV, which gave back 1.81% as bio stocks in general were pulled off their lofty levels.
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:
The above table simply demonstrates the magnitude with which some of the ETFs are fluctuating in regards to their positions above or below their respective individual trend lines (%M/A). A break below, represented by a negative number, shows weakness, while a break above, represented by a positive percentage, shows strength.
For hundreds of ETF/Mutual fund choices, be sure to reference Thursday’s StatSheet.
Year to date, here’s how the above candidates have fared so far:
Again, 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 has been taken out in the “Off High” column.
3. Trend Tracking Indexes (TTIs)
Our Trend Tracking Indexes (TTIs) were mixed with the Domestic one pulling back, while the International one managed to gain a fraction.
Here’s how we closed:
Domestic TTI: +3.36% (last close +3.58%)—Buy signal effective 10/22/2014
International TTI: +5.58% (last close +5.54%)—Buy signal effective 2/13/2015
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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