1. Moving the Markets
The major indexes managed to put a stop to the worst pullback since January as the markets simply got oversold. Helping to a good start early on were better-than-expected earnings by UPS and Pfizer while energy shares found some momentum to the upside and even copper managed to pull itself out of the doldrums. Let’s hope it wasn’t just a dead cat bounce.
China’s big sell off from yesterday slowed with their equities “only” losing 1.7% today, but it was enough of a positive to lend the U.S. and European markets some support; the domestic major indexes never looked back as the chart above shows.
The S&P 500 had given back some 2.9% in the past five sessions as a mix of things ranging from weak earnings to bearish news out China combined to pull the momentum out from under the bulls. On the front burner right now is the 2-day Fed meeting, which ends tomorrow with all eyes being feasted on their report indicating as to when interest rates allegedly will be raised—or not.
All of our 10 ETFs in the Spotlight enjoyed this turnaround day and closed in the green. Leading to the upside was Healthcare (XLV) with +1.81%, while the Financials (IYF) lagged a little with +0.51%.
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) shifted back into bullish gear and closed higher. Here’s how we ended up:
Domestic TTI: +1.13% (last close +0.54%)—Buy signal effective 10/22/2014
International TTI: +0.73% (last close -0.09%)—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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