1. Moving the Markets
Stocks teetered back and forth most of the day only to close relatively unchanged. The Dow was the only index that posted gains, which were nominal but a continued path of record numbers.
Eyes were on Janet Yellen today in her second day of Capital Hill testimony; however, her comments did not really generate any significant market-moving news. You may remember, yesterday, she suggested that the Fed is not in a hurry to raise interest rates.
Oil has been back on the rise for the past few weeks and continued the trend today. Benchmark U.S. crude rose $1.71 to close at $50.99 a barrel. Pushing prices higher today perhaps was Saudi Arabia’s oil minister, who said oil demand was growing and data showed Chinese factories were producing more than expected.
And in tech, the Google vs Microsoft boxing match continues. We heard today that Google, which has amassed more than $65 billion in cash and investments, bought critical equity of Softcard for an undisclosed sum and subsequently closed the Windows app. Google is encouraging former Softcard users to download its own Wallet app instead, which has failed so far to catch on with consumers.
2 our 10 ETFs in the Spotlight managed to advance during this choppy trading day, with 1 of them making a new high as table 2 below shows.
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) inched higher with the International one showing more upside momentum.
Here’s how we closed:
Domestic TTI: +4.26% (last close +4.17%)—Buy signal effective 10/22/2014
International TTI: +4.29% (last close +3.97%)—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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