ETF/No Load Fund Tracker Newsletter For December 5, 2014

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/2014/12/weekly-statsheet-for-the-etfno-load-fund-tracker-newsletter-updated-through-12042014/

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Market Commentary

Friday, December 5, 2014

BULLS REMAIN IN FULL FORCE TO CLOSE OUT THE WEEK

Fri pic

[Chart courtesy of MarketWatch.com]

1. Moving the Markets

The Dow and S&P 500 closed the week higher on strong economic data. The Dow, closing today at 17,958.79 (another record high), is making a run at hitting 18,000 for the first time in history. The domestic economy continues to gain momentum as we approach the New Year, as was reinforced by another strong jobs report today alongside robust readings from the ISM manufacturing and nonmanufacturing indexes.

Employers added 321,000 jobs in November, the largest one-month gain in more than two years, the Labor Department said. Those numbers, which kept the jobless rate steady at 5.8%, far exceeded most economists’ expectations of 225,000 new jobs.

Starbucks (SBUX) continued to power forward to an-all time high today as the coffee shop icon debuted a huge flagship Starbucks store in its hometown of Seattle. If you remember from earlier this week, Starbucks has unrolled plans for a change in business strategy that entails price increases, as well as serving alcoholic beverages. The shift in consumer presence in malls to online shopping has decreased in-store sales, thus the company is making adjustments all while trying to double its revenue by 2019.

It is an extremely quiet week for economic data. Most of the attention will be on the Thursday retail sales report, giving an early indication of how the month of November fared. While early reports showed somewhat disappointing Black Friday sales, expectations are for retail sales excluding gas prices to have increased 0.5% in November from October.

9 of our 10 ETFs in the Spotlight edged higher today; 3 of them made new highs as the YTD table below shows.

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Weekly StatSheet For The ETF/No Load Fund Tracker Newsletter – Updated Through 12/04/2014

Ulli ETF StatSheet Contact

ETF/Mutual Fund Data updated through Thursday, December 4, 2014

TOC112614

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 +3.62% keeping us in the market with newly established positions.

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Stocks Move Into The Red On ECB’s Decision To Hold Off On Stimulus

Ulli Market Commentary Contact

Thur pic

[Chart courtesy of MarketWatch.com]

1. Moving the Markets

If you read the article yesterday, then you may remember me mentioning that investors would be paying close attention to the ECB’s move on buying bonds to stimulate the Eurozone. Well, today we heard that the European Central Bank decided not to implement a U.S. style stimulus and markets took a small hit accordingly.

ECB head Mario Draghi said the bank has “stepped up” preparations for launching new stimulus measures for the economy, but would not make any decision on further steps early next year. Also, the bank’s benchmark interest rate was left unchanged at 0.05%.

Great news for Starbucks (SBUX) lovers. The stock flirted with an all-time high today after the company unveiled an ambitious growth plan to add stores, new menu offerings and alcoholic beverages. The growth strategy is aimed at doubling annual revenue by the year 2019.

And in the auto world, you may have seen recent headlines that November was a huge month for auto sales. Several automakers, including Subaru and Audi, were powered by November results to all-time annual U.S. sales records. With the economy allegedly picking up and credit still readily available and cheap, things are looking good for December.

1 of our 10 ETFs in the Spotlight closed up and made a new high in the process. See the YTD table for details.

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Markets Remain On Fire Headed Into The Snowy Season

Ulli Market Commentary Contact

Wed pic

[Chart courtesy of MarketWatch.com]

1. Moving the Markets

Another day of record highs for the S&P and Dow. Surprised? Not really. Both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq rose 0.38%, while the Dow gained 0.18%. Again, the continued increase in the S&P 500 bodes the question; will it hit 2,100 by the end of the year?

Energy stocks led gainers again today and shook off recent tumbling commodity prices. Halliburton (HAL), Cinamerx Energy (XEC), British Petroleum (BP) and Schlumberger (SLB) were the leaders. In ETFs, the Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLE) was the big gainer, up 1.2%.

We also received a mixed batch of economic news today. The private sector added 208,000 jobs in November, said payroll processor ADP, which was below the estimated 226,000 figure. However, services firms expanded at a faster pace in November, a signal that overall economic growth should remain robust through the end of year.

Many investors will be focusing on the European Central Bank’s meeting on Thursday, hoping that ECB President Mario Draghi and committee will decide to purchase more government bonds as part of the next round of stimulus measures.

9 of our 10 ETFs in the Spotlight closed on the plus side with 6 of them making new highs. See the YTD table for details.

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The Dow Tops Off Another Record Close After Cyber Monday

Ulli Market Commentary Contact

Tue pic

[Chart courtesy of MarketWatch.com]

1. Moving the Markets

All major indexes gained today after a lethargic trading session on Monday. Again, the Dow hit a new record close as all three major indexes gained about 0.6% today.

Over the past couple of weeks, we have seen energy stocks take a big hit due to falling oil prices. However, oil stocks were big gainers for the Dow on Tuesday. Exxon Mobile (XOM), British Petroleum (BP) and Chevron (CVX) all gained more than 2% today, even though oil prices fell another 3%. According to Reuters, much of what drove oil stocks higher today was due to a rumored potential takeover bid of BP from Shell.

We heard some positive economic news today as well: Newly built homes and schools boosted construction spending in October to the highest level since May. The Commerce Department said construction spending rose 1.1% in October, after having slipped 0.1% in September. This news bodes well for the bulls going into the holiday season.

And in retail news, Cyber Monday proved just as big a draw as ever after a weekend that saw fewer people shopping in stores. Sales grew 8.5% for the 24-hour period, according to IBM Digital Analytics, solidifying Monday as the largest online shopping day of the year. Shoppers spent an average of $124.21 per order, down 3.5% from last year, though the number of transactions was up and people bought more items on average per order

All of our 10 ETFs in the Spotlight recovered from yesterday’s sell-off and closed up with 4 of them making new highs. See the YTD table for details.

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Indexes Stumble And Head South

Ulli Market Commentary Contact

Mon pic

[Chart courtesy of MarketWatch.com]

1. Moving the Markets

Finally, the relentless upward march into record territory came to an end, at least for the time being, as equities headed south with the S&P 500 giving back a modest 0.7%, which was its largest one-day loss in more than a month.

Contributing to the sour sentiment was not only Apple’s mini flash-crash but also slowing US manufacturing growth, which continued its downward path for the third straight month. Joining the party were the Eurozone and Asia, where growth eased as well despite heavy price cuts to stimulate demand.

Not helping matters were preliminary Holiday shopping reports indicating that in-store sales were some 6.4% less than last year due to increased online shopping activity.

All of our 10 ETFs in the Spotlight closed lower today as the indexes see-sawed and rebound attempts failed to break out above the unchanged line.

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