06-12-2015

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ETF/No Load Fund Tracker Newsletter For June 12, 2015

ETF/No Load Fund Tracker StatSheet

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

https://theetfbully.com/2015/06/weekly-statsheet-for-the-etfno-load-fund-tracker-newsletter-updated-through-06112015/

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Market Commentary

POOR FINISH TO A MEDIOCRE WEEK

Fri pic

[Chart courtesy of MarketWatch.com]

1. Moving the Markets

Stocks ended lower Friday as investors digested a double dose of bad European news—the U.K. getting slapped with a “negative” outlook and Greece’s stalled bailout talks. Greece’s ASE index tanked 5.9% on news that the IMF had left talks in Brussels because a lack of progress. That came just a day after the ASE got an 8% rocket boost in the other direction—when good feelings predominated over debt discussions. The country faces a June 30 deadline for a major debt payment.

Major indexes were mixed on the week, with energy leading decliners and financials leading advancing sectors. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 50 points to end the week at 17,899, up 0.3%.

It was a great day for Wingstop (WING) today during their first day of trading. Shares gained nearly 60% to close at $30.42 a share, up from $11.42. The company’s IPO consisted of 5.8 million shares.

Looking to next week, Wednesday brings what likely will be the most watched event of the week, when the Federal Open Market Committee announces its interest rate decision from its June meeting. Other events of note include industrial production on Monday, housing starts on Tuesday, and both CPI and leading economic indicators indexes on Thursday.

All of our 10 ETFs in the Spotlight slipped as the bears got the upper hand for the day. Healthcare (XLV) gave back 1.23%, while the Financials (IYF) resisted the sell off better by surrendering only 0.37%.

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:

MaxDD

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:

YTD

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) retreated with the major indexes but remain bullish. Here’s how we ended this week:

Domestic TTI: +1.59% (last Friday +1.70%)—Buy signal effective 10/22/2014

International TTI: +3.33% (last Friday +3.21%)—Buy signal effective 2/13/2015

Have a nice weekend.

Ulli…

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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READER Q & A FOR THE WEEK

Reader Bob:

Q: Ulli: I am in the process of rebalancing/creating a portfolio & I am hesitant to allocate 40% or so (I am 64) to bond funds with the likelihood of an interest rate increase coming possibly sometime in 2015. I am thinking it may be prudent to put that 40% (or so) I would allocate to bonds in cash & wait & see what happens in the coming months.

My questions are (1) would you recommend buying a general bond fund (BND) now, or, if not, (2) would you recommend a bond fund focusing on high-yield corporate bonds (VWEHX or ETF equivalent) or intermediate bonds (VFICX or ETF equivalent), or keep the money in cash?

Alternatively, I have also been thinking about simply adopting the Vanguard 4-core portfolio (w/VTI [39%]; VXUS [24%]; BND [27%]; and BNDX [10%], but hesitate to do so because of the bond funds.

Guess I am confused regarding why not sit and wait in cash until the dust settles, while knowing trying to time the market is oftentimes a fool’s game.

I always greatly appreciate your thoughts and wisdom surrounding these complex issues. Hope to hear from you.

Best always to you & yours.

A: Bob: At this time, I personally would not touch any bonds at all. If you look around the world and see the erratic behavior of yields, crushing bond prices in the process, it’s best to stand aside from that asset class for the time being. Cash would be the better option, at least to me, rather than some of the funds you mentioned.

I would stick with whatever portion you have invested in equities subject to my recommended sell stop discipline. Let others take chances with the bond market. There will be a time again where they make more sense than right now. Again, my advice is always the same: If you are hesitant at all, don’t do it, just because some joker thinks the 60/40 allocation scheme is suitable for anyone at anytime.

All Reader Q & A’s are listed at our web site!
Check it out at:

http://www.successful-investment.com/q&a.php

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WOULD YOU LIKE TO HAVE YOUR INVESTMENTS PROFESSIONALLY MANAGED?

Do you have the time to follow our investment plans yourself? If you are a busy professional who would like to have his portfolio managed using our methodology, please contact me directly or get more details at:

https://theetfbully.com/personal-investment-management/

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Back issues of the ETF/No Load Fund Tracker are available on the web at:

https://theetfbully.com/newsletter-archives/

ETF/No Load Fund Tracker Newsletter For June 12, 2015

Ulli ETF Tracker Contact

ETF/No Load Fund Tracker StatSheet

————————————————————-

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

https://theetfbully.com/2015/06/weekly-statsheet-for-the-etfno-load-fund-tracker-newsletter-updated-through-06112015/

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Market Commentary

POOR FINISH TO A MEDIOCRE WEEK

Fri pic

[Chart courtesy of MarketWatch.com]

1. Moving the Markets

Stocks ended lower Friday as investors digested a double dose of bad European news—the U.K. getting slapped with a “negative” outlook and Greece’s stalled bailout talks. Greece’s ASE index tanked 5.9% on news that the IMF had left talks in Brussels because a lack of progress. That came just a day after the ASE got an 8% rocket boost in the other direction—when good feelings predominated over debt discussions. The country faces a June 30 deadline for a major debt payment.

Major indexes were mixed on the week, with energy leading decliners and financials leading advancing sectors. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 50 points to end the week at 17,899, up 0.3%.

It was a great day for Wingstop (WING) today during their first day of trading. Shares gained nearly 60% to close at $30.42 a share, up from $11.42. The company’s IPO consisted of 5.8 million shares.

Looking to next week, Wednesday brings what likely will be the most watched event of the week, when the Federal Open Market Committee announces its interest rate decision from its June meeting. Other events of note include industrial production on Monday, housing starts on Tuesday, and both CPI and leading economic indicators indexes on Thursday.

All of our 10 ETFs in the Spotlight slipped as the bears got the upper hand for the day. Healthcare (XLV) gave back 1.23%, while the Financials (IYF) resisted the sell off better by surrendering only 0.37%.

Read More

Weekly StatSheet For The ETF/No Load Fund Tracker Newsletter – Updated Through 06/11/2015

Ulli ETF StatSheet Contact

ETF/Mutual Fund Data updated through Thursday, June 11, 2015

TOC021915

If you are not familiar with some of the terminology used, please see the Glossary of Terms.

 

1. DOMESTIC EQUITY MUTUAL FUNDS/ETFs: BUY — since 10/22/2014

TTI

Our main directional indicator, the Domestic Trend Tracking Index (TTI), broke through its long-term trend line generating a “Sell” for this arena effective 10/14/2014, which was followed by a violent break back above the line on 10/22/14 generating a new “Buy.” It was a classic whipsaw signal, and you can read more on my blog as to the events as they were unfolding.

As of today, our TTI (green line in above chart) is positioned above its long term trend line (red) by +2.04% keeping us in the market with our established positions.

Read More

Equities Edge Higher On Positive Retail Sales

Ulli Market Commentary Contact

Thur pic

[Chart courtesy of MarketWatch.com]

1. Moving the Markets

The S&P shot out of the gates early on and, while the index was not able to hang on to the gains, it managed to eke out 4 points for the day. All major indexes closed on the plus side.

Providing momentum were improved retails sales (+1.2% in May), which supports the theme that the economy is actually strengthening which, all of a sudden, appears to be a positive for the stock market.

The early momentum faded as the “Greek story” reversed with the IMF pulling out of debt negotiations for the time being. We meandered the rest of the day but ended up above the unchanged line.

9 of our 10 ETFs in the Spotlight followed suit in this mainly sideways trending session. Healthcare (XLV) was leader with +0.68%, while Consumer Staples (XLP) slipped a scant -0.04%.

Read More

Greece Plans Looking Up; Oil Continues To Rise

Ulli Market Commentary Contact

Wed pic

[Chart courtesy of MarketWatch.com]

1. Moving the Markets

Stocks surged and bond yields hit nearly nine-month highs today as good news on Greek debt talks and U.S. wage growth encouraged investors to take some risk and invest. The mere hint of a thaw in the deadlock between Greece and its eurozone creditors is being viewed as a major positive by Wall Street and stocks reacted cooperatively.

In insurance news, we heard today that insurer Tokio Marine Holdings Inc. is going to be bought by HCC Insurance Holdings for $7.5B. The deal underscores how Japanese firms are focused on foreign markets in search of growth. Japan firms have now announced a year-to-date record of $50.1 billion of overseas acquisitions so far in 2015, up from $30.1 billion in the same period last year. The total for all of 2014 was $53.4 billion.

In tech news, Apple (AAPL) shares were on investors’ radar today. The tech powerhouse is reportedly facing antitrust scrutiny from regulators. Attorneys General of New York and Connecticut are probing whether major music industry firms colluded to restrain competition among streaming music services. This investigation comes as Apple launches its $10 a month music streaming service. Regardless, shares gained 1.15% on the day.

And if you are an oil bull, the news was all good today as crude rose above $60 a barrel, which is up considerably since the winter months earlier this year.

All of our 10 ETFs in the Spotlight joined the newly found upward momentum and rocketed higher. Leading the charge was the Global 100 ETF (IOO) with +1.70%, while the “laggard” was Consumer Staples (XLP) with only +0.98%.

Read More

Inching Above The Unchanged Line

Ulli Market Commentary Contact

Tue pic

[Chart courtesy of MarketWatch.com]

1. Moving the Markets

U.S. stocks were little changed today, with only the S&P managing to close in the green, as investors are processing economic data and awaiting further developments in Greece’s debt negotiations with creditors. In economic news, U.S. wholesale inventories were higher than expected in April, while a separate report showed small businesses confidence increased in May.

In corporate news, airline shares fell for a sixth day on concerns about slowing growth and rising capacity, while HSBC shares traded slightly lower after the bank announced cost-cutting efforts that included 50,000 job cuts globally. U.S. Treasuries were lower today.

General Electric said today that it has agreed to sell its private equity financing unit to Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (Canada’s largest pension fund) in a deal valued at about $12 billion USD. GE Capital Sponsor Finance, GE’s private equity unit, has assets of more than $10 billion and offers financing for companies conducting leveraged transactions, growth funding and recapitalization. The unit includes GE Antares, a lender for midsize companies.

Our 10 ETFs in the Spotlight ended up mixed with 4 of them closing up, while 6 of them slipped. Leading the gainers was Consumer Staples (XLP) with +0.48%, while the downside was led by the Global 100 (IOO) with -0.30%.

Read More