Equities Uncertain In Anticipation Of Fed Meeting And Earnings

Ulli Market Commentary Contact

Tue pic

[Chart courtesy of MarketWatch.com]

1. Moving the Markets

Stocks dipped as investors awaited a Federal Reserve decision Wednesday on interest rates and Apple’s earnings report after the closing bell. Disappointing economic data on manufacturing and consumer confidence also weighed on markets. Energy stocks led the decliners as oil prices fell. A barrel of U.S. crude was down 2.2% to $43.03.

Investors are in wait-and-see mode as the Fed kicks off a two-day meeting Tuesday, which could shed light on whether the nation’s central bank will hike interest rates this year for the first time in nearly 10 years. Wall Street is not expecting a hike at this meeting, but will be looking for clues as to whether the Fed will pull the trigger at its last meeting of the year in December.

Still to come this week, Wall Street pros will be closely watching the profit report from iPhone and iPad maker Apple (AAPL) after today’s closing bell. The world’s most-valuable company has seen its stock gains trail other big tech names, such as search-giant Google parent Alphabet (GOOG) and online retail giant Amazon.com (AMZN).

Again, 2 of our 10 ETFs in the Spotlight bucked the trend and closed higher. Leading the charge to the upside was Healthcare (XLV) with +1.81% while on the downside, the Global 100 (IOO) and the Mid-Cap Value (IWS) lost -0.75%.

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Stocks Quiet To Kick Off The Week

Ulli Market Commentary Contact

Mon pic

[Chart courtesy of MarketWatch.com]

1. Moving the Markets

Wall Street, which is riding a four-week winning streak, kicked off a busy week quietly as it awaited a slew of earnings releases, fresh data on the economy and a Wednesday Federal Reserve meeting on interest rates. The S&P 500 and Dow both fell slightly, while the Nasdaq stayed put.

The third-quarter earnings landscape has been better than expected thus far, with 7 out of 10 companies topping sharply reduced forecasts. This week, traders will digest earnings reports from 169 companies in the S&P 500. Major market-moving earnings reports don’t kick in until Tuesday though, when iPhone maker Apple (AAPL), automaker Ford (F), drug makers Merck (MRK) and Pfizer (PFE) and package delivery giant UPS (UPS) report.

We heard some news on the housing market today. Reports came in that sales of new homes plunged sharply in September to the slowest pace in 10 months, as higher prices and slower overall economic growth weigh on the housing market. The slowdown has yet to hit sales of existing homes as drastically, but the September pullback in newly built properties was severe to say the least.

Only 2 of our 10 ETFs in the Spotlight managed to eke out a gain during this sideways trending session. Taking the lead was Consumer Discretionaries (XLY) with +0.70%, while the Mid-Cap Value ETF (IWS) sagged -0.58%.

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ETFs/Mutual Funds On The Cutline – Updated Through 10/23/2015

Ulli ETFs on the Cutline Contact

Below are the latest ETF Cutline reports, which show how far above or below their respective long-term trend lines (39 week SMA) my currently tracked ETFs/MFs are positioned.

The first report covers the ETF Master List from Thursday’s StatSheet and includes 381 ETFs, of which currently 103 (last week 69) are hovering in bullish territory.

The second report includes only High Volume ETFs. To clarify, High Volume (HV) ETFs are defined as those with an average daily volume of $10 million or higher.

These ETFs are generated from my selected list of some 97 that I use in my advisor practice. It cuts out the “noise,” which simply means it eliminates those ETFs that I would never buy because of their volume limitations. 18 ETFs (last week 12) have managed to remain in bullish territory after the recent market volatility.

The third report covers Mutual Funds on the Cutline. There are currently 223 (last week 49) above the line and 577 below it out of the 800 that I follow.

Take a look:

  1. ETF Master Cutline Report
  2. ETF High Volume Cutline Report
  3. MF Cutline Report

In case you are not familiar with some of the terminology used in the reports, please read the Glossary of Terms.

If you missed the original post about the Cutline approach, you can read it here.

One Man’s Opinion: Is Manufacturing The Only Weak Spot In The US Domestic Economy?

Ulli Market Review Contact

ManThe earnings estimate from US companies have been quite encouraging though a relatively small number of S&P 500 companies have reported their results thus far, said Luke Tilley, chief economist at Wilmington Trust.

While revenues have failed to meet expectations, earnings have managed to beat expectations although the expectations were revised down a little bit, he noted.

Asked to explain his investment strategy following the significant recovery in risky assets, particularly after the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s month-to-date jump of seven percent, Luke said recent stock performance has been very encouraging as the S&P 500 is just a few points below where it started the year. That’s a far cry from where the markets had slumped in August and September.

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New ETFs On The Block: Cambria Value And Momentum ETF (VAMO)

Ulli Equity ETFs Contact

InvestingCambria ETF Trust and its investment managing arm – Los Angeles based Cambria Investment Management, recently expanded its suite of so-called “smart beta” funds in an attempt to tap into stocks just when the domestic US economy seems poised for a strong take-off.

The newly launched Cambria Value and Momentum ETF (VAMO) aims to provide superior risk-adjusted returns through a combination of multi-factor strategies and an in-built hedging methodology using quantitative methods.

VAMO is the sixth fund from Mebane Faber promoted Cambria that has quickly gained over $400 million in assets. The actively managed VAMO seeks to exploit both value and momentum factors – considered to be complimentary, by investing in the top 100 ranked US stocks.

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ETF/No Load Fund Tracker Newsletter For October 23, 2015

Ulli ETF Tracker Contact

ETF/No Load Fund Tracker StatSheet

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THE LINK TO OUR CURRENT ETF/MUTUAL FUND STATSHEET IS:

https://theetfbully.com/2015/10/weekly-statsheet-for-the-etfno-load-fund-tracker-newsletter-updated-through-10222015/

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Market Commentary

EQUITIES GAIN FOUR WEEKS IN A ROW—DOMESTIC TTI CLIMBS INTO BULLISH TERRITORY

Fri pic

[Chart courtesy of MarketWatch.com]

1. Moving the Markets

There just seems to be no stopping the equity bullet train, demonstrating a recovery which has been quite impressive from the lows made late in August. Helping matters today was a surprise interest rate cut by the Bank of China, a string of better than expected tech earnings all on the heels of ECB’s Mario Draghi’s jawboning about more QE yesterday.

It is no longer a secret that markets don’t run anymore on fundamentals but merely on the latest word by the Fed, or any other Central Bank, in regards to interest rates and or QE programs. As a result, we’ve seen our Domestic Trend Tracking Index (TTI) now turn bullish; although today was the first time it crossed its trend line to the upside.

As I mentioned yesterday, I like to see some staying power above the line before issuing a new “Buy” signal for that arena. Strangely enough, the International TTI, which usually front runs its domestic cousin, is lagging behind and remains bearish for the time being. You can see the exact numbers in section 3 below.

7 of our 10 ETFs in the Spotlight closed higher topping off weak with great upward momentum. Taking top billing for the day was the Global 100 (IOO) with +1.52% while on the downside the Select Dividend ETF gave back -0.17%.

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