03-27-2015

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ETF/No Load Fund Tracker Newsletter For March 27, 2015

ETF/No Load Fund Tracker StatSheet

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

https://theetfbully.com/2015/03/weekly-statsheet-for-the-etfno-load-fund-tracker-newsletter-updated-through-03262015/

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Market Commentary

Friday, March 27, 2015

STOCKS BREAK 4-DAY LOSING STREAK

Fri pic

[Chart courtesy of MarketWatch.com]

1. Moving the Markets

Stocks got a boost in late trading Friday and closed higher across the board breaking a 4-day losing streak, after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said in a speech the central bank will raise interest rates “gradually”. The Fed remains slow in interest rate hikes due to a persistent drag in the labor market and their “speculative” risks of another economic downturn.

In tech today, Intel (INTC) saw big gains on news of a speculative buyout of Altera (ALTR). If the buyout were to occur, which would entail a purchase price of market value $10.4 billion, it would be the largest buyout in Intel’s history.

Next week, the pace of economic reports is poised to pick back up, headlined by the March unemployment report which will be released on the Friday holiday. Other reports of note include personal income and spending on Monday, the S&P/Case-Shiller house price index on Tuesday, and the release of the ISM Manufacturing Index on Wednesday.

9 of our 10 ETFs in the Spotlight ended higher today led by Healthcare (XLV) with +0.72%, while the loser was the Financials (IYF), which slid -0.09%.

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) slipped from last week but remain clearly in bullish territory by the following percentages:

Domestic TTI: +2.90% (last Friday +4.07%)—Buy signal effective 10/22/2014

International TTI: +3.47% (last Friday +4.98%)—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 Chris:

Q: Ulli: Do you ever decide to “take profits” on one of your 10 ETFs in apparent bubble conditions or instead wait and let the TTI’s help decide what to do?

For example, the biotech sector has been skyrocketing the past couple of years e.g. IBB ETF. The healthcare XLV ETF is considered a somewhat low beta ETF, but with that said, does have a decent % of biotech companies in its portfolio holdings.

I’m not sure on the exact %, but a few websites average to somewhere around 15-20% allocated to biotech companies in the XLV, which might provide a lot of volatility for this ETF if something were to disrupt the biotech industry e.g. Obamacare repeal, new gov. regulations etc.

A: Chris: I don’t like to make wild guesses about the direction of any ETFs I own; I like to use clearly defined price points to make my decisions for me. Most of the time, a trailing sell stop will be triggered before a trend line crossing occurs. When some ETFs rally strongly, such as biotechs and others, their respective trailing sell stops serve 2 purposes:

  1. To limit downside risk should a sell off occur shortly after a purchase has been made, and
  1. To lock in profits once an ETF has shot into the stratosphere and is bound to correct more quickly than others

It does not matter what the reasons for a sell-off are, I simply prefer having the sell stops be my guide as to whether to exit or not, rather than me trying to make an educated guess. Remember, one of the reasons we engage in Trend Tracking is to take the emotions out of the equation and become less attached to the decision making process.

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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 March 27, 2015

Ulli ETF Tracker Contact

ETF/No Load Fund Tracker StatSheet

————————————————————-

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

https://theetfbully.com/2015/03/weekly-statsheet-for-the-etfno-load-fund-tracker-newsletter-updated-through-03262015/

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Market Commentary

Friday, March 27, 2015

STOCKS BREAK 4-DAY LOSING STREAK

Fri pic

[Chart courtesy of MarketWatch.com]

1. Moving the Markets

Stocks got a boost in late trading Friday and closed higher across the board breaking a 4-day losing streak, after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said in a speech the central bank will raise interest rates “gradually”. The Fed remains slow in interest rate hikes due to a persistent drag in the labor market and their “speculative” risks of another economic downturn.

In tech today, Intel (INTC) saw big gains on news of a speculative buyout of Altera (ALTR). If the buyout were to occur, which would entail a purchase price of market value $10.4 billion, it would be the largest buyout in Intel’s history.

Next week, the pace of economic reports is poised to pick back up, headlined by the March unemployment report which will be released on the Friday holiday. Other reports of note include personal income and spending on Monday, the S&P/Case-Shiller house price index on Tuesday, and the release of the ISM Manufacturing Index on Wednesday.

9 of our 10 ETFs in the Spotlight ended higher today led by Healthcare (XLV) with +0.72%, while the loser was the Financials (IYF), which slid -0.09%.

Read More

Weekly StatSheet For The ETF/No Load Fund Tracker Newsletter – Updated Through 03/26/2015

Ulli ETF StatSheet Contact

ETF/Mutual Fund Data updated through Thursday, March 26, 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 +2.78% keeping us in the market with our established positions.

Read More

Indexes Remain Volatile Amidst Middle East Chaos And French Alps Plane Crash

Ulli Market Commentary Contact

Thur pic

[Chart courtesy of MarketWatch.com]

1. Moving the Markets

Stocks closed lower for the fourth day in a row. The Dow in particular has been extremely volatile this month, closing up or down more than 100 points in 14 of 18 trading sessions. This is not historically uncharacteristic of the first month of spring though. March has, for the most part, been one of the more volatile months of the first half of the year and is living up to its reputation as such. On six occasions it has posted triple-digit point gains and eight times it has undergone triple-digit point declines.

For those following the oil market, oil prices surged more than 4% on growing concerns about turmoil in the Middle East after news came in today that Saudi Arabia bombed key military installations in Yemen. The U.S. benchmark crude jumped $2.22 to close at $51.43 a barrel on the NYME. As you may well know, markets typically don’t react well to international conflict, and the plane crash in the French Alps did not help sentiment by any means.

And in further economic news, investors are still scratching their chins over Wednesday’s weak reading on February durable goods orders, a reading which raised fears that the economy may be going through a down patch and could have an adverse impact on corporate earnings, which are already under pressure due to the recent strength of the dollar.

All of our 10 ETFs in the Spotlight seesawed and closed lower, although the declines were modest. Leading the downside were consumer discretionaries (XLY) with -0.63%, while financials (IYF) fared the best with a loss of -0.19%. 5 ETFs remain on the plus side YTD after the recent pullback.

Read More

Stocks Fall Hard For Third Straight Day

Ulli Market Commentary Contact

Wed pic

[Chart courtesy of MarketWatch.com]

1. Moving the Markets

As the headline suggested, it was a tough day for all the major indexes. It was a third straight day of losses, and we saw the Dow drop a lofty 293 points by the close of trading. Are you hungry to know who the culprit was of the bearish trading session? None other than two food giants: Heinz (HNZ) and Kraft (KRFT).

The “MegaDeal”, as many are calling it, has investors all in a tussle it seems. The acquisition price, a mere $46 billion, will create the third largest Food and Beverage Company in North America. Not something to squint your eyes at by any means. Mr. Buffet has had a smile on his face thus far in 2015, given the fact that Berkshire Hathaway (BRK) owned 192,666 shares of Kraft at year end 2014, with a market value of $12.1 million. The stock price, as of today, puts BRK’s holdings at $16.2 million, which entails a 14% gain so far this year.

Moving on to commodities, the price of oil settled up 3% today as a weak dollar, fighting in Yemen and speculative buying boosted crude prices in spite of U.S. inventories building to record highs for an 11th week. In no help of the black gold price, the USD fell after disappointing U.S. durable goods orders for February came in. As we all know, a weaker dollar makes commodities denominated in the greenback cheaper for holders of other currencies typically boosting demand for such raw materials.

All of our 10 ETFs in the Spotlight followed the path down with the financials (IYF) taking the lead sporting a -1.88% loss, while Consumer Staples (XLP) resisted the sell-off very well by only surrendering -0.25%.

Read More

Stocks End Lower After Digesting Economic Data

Ulli Market Commentary Contact

Tue pic

[Chart courtesy of MarketWatch.com]

1. Moving the Markets

Stocks drifted in and out of positive territory most of the morning, but turned downwards in afternoon trading as investors digested economic reports that showed an uptick in inflation and a big jump in new-home sales in February. Before the closing bell, the Labor Department reported that consumer prices were up 0.2%, the first increase in four months and in line with the rise expected by economists. Core prices, excluding food and energy, were up 0.2%.

In a second report, the government also said new-home sales climbed 7.8% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 539,000. The announcement came after an upward revision to January’s sales rate to 500,000 from a 481,000 annual rate.

Google (GOOG) jumped 2.2% Tuesday after saying it hired Ruth Porat, Morgan Stanley’s CFO, to replace Patrick Pichette as its the CFO in May. In entertainment, Netflix (NFLX) rose 3.1%, which is the largest gain since Feb. 3.

And in auto news, Ford Motors (F) is on track to move into the fourth place among foreign automakers in factory capacity in the country. Ford recently opened a new plant in Hangzhou that will increase the company’s manufacturing capacity to approximately 1.2 million vehicles a year.

All of our 10 ETFs in the Spotlight headed south lead by DVY and XLV with -0.87%, while IOO held up best by only surrendering -0.38%.

Read More