New ETFs On The Block: Reality Shares DIVS ETF (DIVY)

Ulli Dividend ETFs Contact

95519646San Diego-based Reality Shares Advisors, LLC, a new player in the exchange traded funds business, recently launched its first product that offers retail investors a unique investment option; eliminate the noise from dividend investing.

Founded by Smith and Barney and Morgan Stanley veteran Eric Ervin and his colleagues in 2012, the firm took two and a half years to launch its first product. The Reality Shares DIVS ETF (DIVY) uses derivative instruments to strip out stock price gyrations while capturing dividend growth.

To be sure, DIVY uses a strategy that has been used by institutional investors using structured products for a long time, mostly for their high net-worth clients. But such a strategy is being offered for the first time to retail investors in an ETF wrapper.

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02-13-2015

Ulli Newsletter Archives Contact

ETF/No Load Fund Tracker Newsletter For February 13, 2015

ETF/No Load Fund Tracker StatSheet

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

https://theetfbully.com/2015/02/weekly-statsheet-for-the-etfno-load-fund-tracker-newsletter-updated-through-02122015/

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Market Commentary

Friday, February 13, 2015

S&P 500 NOTCHES RECORD HIGH TO CLOSE WEEK

Fri pic

[Chart courtesy of MarketWatch.com]

1. Moving the Markets

The bulls charged forward to close out the second week of trading in February. The S&P 500 closed at a new all-time high of 2,096.99 and the Dow above 18,000 again. This was the first record close of 2015 for the S&P, after 53 record closes last year. Needless to say, investors were smiling at the end of trading today.

What boosted markets higher on the week? International concerns eased, removing some of the anxiety that has been in the market for the past few weeks. Greece’s recent conflict with EU leaders over terms from the bailout funds received several years ago seemed to simmer down. And a cease-fire in Ukraine also lifted additional international concerns. Fourth-quarter earnings season is coming to end, which also removes some uncertainty, as companies were once again able to exceed Wall Street expectations and post nice earnings growth.

Markets are closed for Presidents Day on Monday, but it is a fairly busy week for economic data. Manufacturing activity will be in focus with the release of industrial production, and the Philly and New Year Federal regional surveys. Leading indicators will also give a fresh look into the direction of the economy over the next several months. However, the headlines of the week will likely be the producer price index and the FOMC meeting minutes that are released on Wednesday. The Fed has been able to remain patient while inflation has been muted, keeping interest rates near zero, so both of the releases will be closely watched for additional details as to when the Fed may increase rates.

6 our 10 ETFs in the Spotlight closed up with 5 of them making new highs; 9 of them are showing gains YTD as you can see in table 2.

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) joined the rally and closed higher. As I wrote yesterday, in the absence of a major sell-off this morning, which did not happen, the International TTI has now generated a new Buy signal effective 2/13/15.

Here’s how this week ended:

Domestic TTI: +3.65% (last Friday +2.77%)—Buy signal effective 10/22/2014

International TTI: +2.39% (last Friday -0.89%)—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

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

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

Reader Chuck:

Q: Ulli: I was just wondering why you don’t have a diversified REIT, such as VNQ, in your broadly diversified ETFs that you track/recommend.

A: Chuck: When I scanned through the ETF criteria for those to be included in the “ETFs in the Spotlight” list, none of the REITs made the cut. That does not mean they are not a viable investment option, it merely means that they did fulfill the requirement to make it on this particular list.

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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 February 13, 2015

Ulli ETF Tracker Contact

ETF/No Load Fund Tracker StatSheet

————————————————————-

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

https://theetfbully.com/2015/02/weekly-statsheet-for-the-etfno-load-fund-tracker-newsletter-updated-through-02122015/

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Market Commentary

Friday, February 13, 2015

S&P 500 NOTCHES RECORD HIGH TO CLOSE WEEK

Fri pic

[Chart courtesy of MarketWatch.com]

1. Moving the Markets

The bulls charged forward to close out the second week of trading in February. The S&P 500 closed at a new all-time high of 2,096.99 and the Dow above 18,000 again. This was the first record close of 2015 for the S&P, after 53 record closes last year. Needless to say, investors were smiling at the end of trading today.

What boosted markets higher on the week? International concerns eased, removing some of the anxiety that has been in the market for the past few weeks. Greece’s recent conflict with EU leaders over terms from the bailout funds received several years ago seemed to simmer down. And a cease-fire in Ukraine also lifted additional international concerns. Fourth-quarter earnings season is coming to end, which also removes some uncertainty, as companies were once again able to exceed Wall Street expectations and post nice earnings growth.

Markets are closed for Presidents Day on Monday, but it is a fairly busy week for economic data. Manufacturing activity will be in focus with the release of industrial production, and the Philly and New Year Federal regional surveys. Leading indicators will also give a fresh look into the direction of the economy over the next several months. However, the headlines of the week will likely be the producer price index and the FOMC meeting minutes that are released on Wednesday. The Fed has been able to remain patient while inflation has been muted, keeping interest rates near zero, so both of the releases will be closely watched for additional details as to when the Fed may increase rates.

6 our 10 ETFs in the Spotlight closed up with 5 of them making new highs; 9 of them are showing gains YTD as you can see in table 2.

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Weekly StatSheet For The ETF/No Load Fund Tracker Newsletter – Updated Through 02/12/2015

Ulli ETF StatSheet Contact

ETF/Mutual Fund Data updated through Thursday, February 12, 2015

TOC 121514

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 +3.55% keeping us in the market with our established positions.

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Markets Get Boost From Russia-Ukraine Cease-Fire

Ulli Market Commentary Contact

Thur pic

[Chart courtesy of MarketWatch.com]

1. Moving the Markets

Stocks continued to climb as investors were encouraged by Russia and Ukraine announcing a cease-fire. The S&P 500 moved within two points of a record closing high and the Nasdaq is at its highest level since March 2000.

Advances today were mostly led by technology stocks in the Nasdaq. However, Cisco (CSCO) was a big gainer that pushed the Dow higher after it announced earnings that exceeded analysts’ expectations.

We did hear some disappointing economic news today. The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits jumped last week and jobless claims rose 25,000 to a seasonally adjusted 304,000. In addition, we also heard that retail sales fell 0.8% in January despite lower gas prices.

Do you shop at Costco? Do you use an American Express? Well, shares of American Express (AXP) took a dive today after the company revealed that it is ending its long-standing co-branding relationship with the wholesaler. Amex cards have been the only form of credit accepted at the store, but all that will come to an end on March 31, 2016.

With today’s straight up move, it comes as no surprise that all of our 10 ETFs in the Spotlight joined the party and closed on the plus side. Leading the group was IOO with a +1.36% gain on hopes that the Greek issue can be resolved and that the Ukraine Cease Fire holds. Four ETFs made new highs for the year.

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Stocks Flat Line Wednesday; Tesla Posts Big Losses

Ulli Market Commentary Contact

Wed pic

[Chart courtesy of MarketWatch.com]

1. Moving the Markets

In the international realm, investors appeared to take a sideline approach as eurozone finance ministers gathered in Brussels to discuss debt-strapped Greece. The fate of cash-strapped Greece, which has become front-page news as its new anti-austerity government looks to get bailout concessions from its eurozone creditors, could become clearer as an emergency meeting of finance ministers was addressing Greece’s appeal for more generous bailout conditions.

In auto news, after markets closed today, Tesla Motors (TSLA) said that it lost $107.6 million in Q4 2014. This did not bode well with investors, given the fact that for all of 2014, the maker of electric luxury cars reported a loss of $294 million, vs. a loss of $74 million for all of 2013. Commenting on the matter, Musk said Tesla plans to boost annual production from a projected 50,000 cars this year to 500,000 by 2020, saying that strong markets in the U.S. and China will support such enormous growth.

And in tech news, Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) showed more signs of a rebound in its latest quarter, as demand for new hardware outweighed a headwind from currency exchange rates. The big manufacturer of networking equipment said revenues increased 7% in the second fiscal period, an improvement over the 1.3% growth reported for the first period. Net income apparently rose 68%, despite costs associated with recent job cuts.

Our 10 ETFs in the Spotlight provided a mixed picture with 5 of them gaining and 5 of them slipping; however, one of them made a new high for the year.

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