One Man’s Opinion: Is Balance-Sheet Repair Delaying Consumer Spending Pick-Up?

Ulli Market Review Contact

The revised Q1 GDP reading is not indicative of the underlying growth trend in the US economy, said Alan Krueger, professor of Economics and Public Affairs at Princeton University. Investors would be wise to look past the first-quarter numbers as there were some special factors such as very bad weather in the North East, labor disputes on the West Coast and a stronger dollar that impacted exports.

But fundamentally, the US economy is continuing to expand; the job market has witnessed a strong growth – April’s job numbers were solid and unemployment claims were at a 15 year low, indicating the economy is on a path to recovery in the US, he noted.

Despite a strong job growth and a plunge in oil prices, consumer spending in the US is yet to pick up pace. Asked to explain, Krueger said despite adding more than 200,000 jobs in 12 of the past 13 months that pushed up the Employment Cost Index 2.8 percent in the past 12 months, spending – particularly on discretionary items, has been weak. But spending on durable goods has been quite healthy, particularly over the whole recovery.

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New ETFs On The Block: Powershares S&P 500 Ex-Rate Sensitive Low Volatility Portfolio (XRLV)

Ulli Equity ETFs, Low Volatility ETFs Contact

94177589The broad equity markets in the US saw heightened volatility this year amid continuing tensions around Greece, highly unpredictable oil prices and weak GDP data on the domestic front. Moreover, a fluctuating greenback and an unexpected slowdown in China – the world’s second largest economy, didn’t help investor sentiment either.

After the poor showing in the first quarter, economic readings failed to lift moods in the second quarter as well. Investors who thought the seasonal impact of Q1 was temporary may have to wait a little longer for sunnier days.

Recent data showed retail sales remained weak in April after witnessing the first quarterly decline in almost three years in Q1 this year. The sputtering wage growth and the sudden spike in energy prices expectedly sapped consumer confidence with the preliminary reading of the Michigan University/Reuters consumer sentiment index plunging to a seven-month low in May.

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05-29-2015

Ulli Newsletter Archives Contact

ETF/No Load Fund Tracker Newsletter For May 29, 2015

ETF/No Load Fund Tracker StatSheet

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

https://theetfbully.com/2015/05/weekly-statsheet-for-the-etfno-load-fund-tracker-newsletter-updated-through-05282015/

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Market Commentary

STOCKS LOWER FRIDAY, BUT NOT TO OVERSHADOW PROFITABLE MONTH OF MAY

Fri pic

[Chart courtesy of MarketWatch.com]

1. Moving the Markets

Stocks fell Friday; the major indexes posted weekly losses as weaker economic data weighed on markets. But equities still notched gains for the month, with the Nasdaq getting a 2.6% boost while the Dow and S&P 500 climbed 1% each. On the week, nine of the ten S&P sectors were lower with industrials and financials posting the largest losses. Only energy stocks were higher as oil prices jumped as U.S. supplies declined more than expected. U.S. benchmark crude rose about 3% to $59.65 a barrel.

To recap major M&A news this week, Charter Communications (CHTR) has agreed to buy Time Warner Cable (TWC) for $55 billion in cash and stock, valuing the company at $78.7 billion, including debt. The deal would combine the second- and third-largest US cable companies to better compete against the market leader Comcast, and has raised the scrutiny of the Federal Communications Commission. We also heard that Singapore’s Avago Technologies (AVGO) will buy California-based Broadcom (BRCM), creating the world’s sixth largest chipmaker by revenue in the industry’s largest acquisition.

It will be interesting to see, as we head into June, if the indexes can continue upward on a monthly basis. Next week, we will hear some economic data that could move markets, notable the ISM manufacturing PMI for the U.S. and the European Union reports preliminary Q1 GDP growth on Friday, June 5th.

All of our 10 ETFs in the Spotlight retreated today with Healthcare (XLV) holding up best with a small loss of 0.25%, while the Financials (IYF) fared the worst by surrendering 0.88%.

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) pulled back but remain firmly in bullish territory:

Domestic TTI: +2.27% (last Friday +2.77%)—Buy signal effective 10/22/2014

International TTI: +4.07% (last Friday +5.25%)—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 Ed:

Q: Ulli: I’m just wondering how you place your trailing stop orders.  I had a weird thing happen to me yesterday.  I had a 7% trailing stop loss on IPGP on the bid.  It has been trading around $95.00. The trigger price for the stop was $ 90.09, but I was stopped out @ $95.17.

I called Fidelity; they researched it & told me there were a couple of bids in before the opening at approx. my stop price of $90.09. This triggered the stop and Fidelity routed it to the best price… which was $95.17. They said it was unusual but it sometimes happens…   The problem is I still want to be in the stock.

My question:  Should I place my trailing stop losses on the last price instead of the bid? All of my ETFs have trailing stop losses on the bid which I thought was the correct way to do it. I have changed some of my stock stop losses to last price since this happened.  I’d appreciate any advice.

A: Ed: It’s nice to hear from you. 7% stops on stocks don’t work well due to the volatility. I only use the 7% rule on ETFs/Mutual funds. Personally, I don’t put in the stop ahead of time (I track it on my spreadsheet), because I only use day ending prices to avoid what happened to you, namely market manipulation and/or front running by the HFTs. If my stop has been triggered based on the day-ending price, only then will I enter the “sell” the next day as a limit order.

When using day ending prices for stops, you may get stopped out at worse price, but I am not interested in intra-day fluctuations but only how the markets end up once trading is over. That way I can better determine if the long-term trend, the basis for Trend Tracking, remains intact or not.

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 May 29, 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/2015/05/weekly-statsheet-for-the-etfno-load-fund-tracker-newsletter-updated-through-05282015/

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Market Commentary

STOCKS LOWER FRIDAY, BUT NOT TO OVERSHADOW PROFITABLE MONTH OF MAY

Fri pic

[Chart courtesy of MarketWatch.com]

1. Moving the Markets

Stocks fell Friday; the major indexes posted weekly losses as weaker economic data weighed on markets. But equities still notched gains for the month, with the Nasdaq getting a 2.6% boost while the Dow and S&P 500 climbed 1% each. On the week, nine of the ten S&P sectors were lower with industrials and financials posting the largest losses. Only energy stocks were higher as oil prices jumped as U.S. supplies declined more than expected. U.S. benchmark crude rose about 3% to $59.65 a barrel.

To recap major M&A news this week, Charter Communications (CHTR) has agreed to buy Time Warner Cable (TWC) for $55 billion in cash and stock, valuing the company at $78.7 billion, including debt. The deal would combine the second- and third-largest US cable companies to better compete against the market leader Comcast, and has raised the scrutiny of the Federal Communications Commission. We also heard that Singapore’s Avago Technologies (AVGO) will buy California-based Broadcom (BRCM), creating the world’s sixth largest chipmaker by revenue in the industry’s largest acquisition.

It will be interesting to see, as we head into June, if the indexes can continue upward on a monthly basis. Next week, we will hear some economic data that could move markets, notable the ISM manufacturing PMI for the U.S. and the European Union reports preliminary Q1 GDP growth on Friday, June 5th.

All of our 10 ETFs in the Spotlight retreated today with Healthcare (XLV) holding up best with a small loss of 0.25%, while the Financials (IYF) fared the worst by surrendering 0.88%.

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Weekly StatSheet For The ETF/No Load Fund Tracker Newsletter – Updated Through 05/28/2015

Ulli ETF StatSheet Contact

ETF/Mutual Fund Data updated through Thursday, May 28, 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 +2.75% keeping us in the market with our established positions.

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U.S. Investors Just Can’t Get Away From Greek Food; Semiconductor M&A Bigtime

Ulli Market Commentary Contact

Thur pic

[Chart courtesy of MarketWatch.com]

1. Moving the Markets

U.S. stocks closed lower today as uneasiness over a Greek debt deal and a selloff in Shanghai stocks weighed on investor sentiment. In China, stocks fell 6.5% on Thursday, with traders citing the tightening of marginal lending rules as a possible explanation. In economic news, jobless claims rose unexpectedly last week, but remained at levels consistent with a strengthening labor market. U.S. bonds finished mixed for the day.

In M&A news, Chipmaker Avago Technologies (AVGO) Thursday announced plans to buy rival Broadcom (BRCM) in a $37 billion cash and stock deal marking the latest consolidation of firms that supply parts for smartphones and other tech products. One of Avago’s representatives said today that, post-acquisition, the company will have the most diversified communications platform in the semiconductor industry that entails combined annual revenues of about $15 billion.

Moving on to the agricultural sector, we heard some news today that might come as a bit of a surprise to you. Apparently, Amazon (AMZN) is expanding the grocery business by broadening its private-label brand, Elements, into food items, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal. Amazon has apparently approached several food manufacturers to partner in the plans.

8 of our 10 ETFs in the Spotlight closed lower led by RSP with a small loss of 0.18%. Leading the upside was iShares Select Dividend (DVY) with a modest gain of 0.13%.

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