1. Moving the Markets
Stocks closed mixed Monday as the Dow retreated from a record high but the Nasdaq managed to extend its winning streak to a ninth straight day. The S&P 500 was basically flat as oil prices fell back below $50 a barrel.
In economic news, sales of existing homes fell 4.9% in January from December. The number of sales stood at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.82 million in January, the lowest since May’s figure of 4.9 million. Homebuilder stocks fell on the news.
Oil on the U.S. market fell $1.36 to close at $49.45 a barrel in New York. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note dropped to 2.06% from 2.11% Friday.
Greece and its European creditors agreed to a four-month extension on the country’s bailout Friday, but the 11th-hour deal only puts off a battle over controversial austerity measures that have weighed on the country’s economy.
5 our 10 ETFs in the Spotlight closed up with 2 of them making new highs as you can see in table 2 below.
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 and changed only slightly.
Here’s how we ended up:
Domestic TTI: +3.92% (last close +3.80%)—Buy signal effective 10/22/2014
International TTI: +3.76% (last close +3.79%)—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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