ETF/No Load Fund Tracker Newsletter For June 20, 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/2014/06/weekly-statsheet-for-the-etfno-load-fund-tracker-newsletter-updated-through-06192014/

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Market Commentary

Friday, June 20, 2014

STOCKS ON PATH OF RECORD BREAKING TRAIL

Fri pic

[Chart courtesy of MarketWatch.com]

1. Moving The Markets

Stocks nudged deeper into record territory today, rounding out a solid week of gains for the market. For the week, the three major U.S. stock indexes rose 1 percent respectively. The Dow is now within 53 points of 17,000 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 is just shy of 2,000 after rising 6 percent this year.

As we all know, M&A deals have been a big market mover this year. The value of corporate deals has surged 62 percent to $798 billion this year, from $494 billion a year ago, even though the number of acquisitions is about 3 percent lower than last year, according to Dealogic. Earlier this week, we saw Tyson Foods (TYS) finally win the bidding war to buy Hillshire (HSH) for $8.6 billion on Monday. The company ended up paying $63 a share for the food company about two weeks after rival poultry producer Pilgrim’s Pride (PPC) made an initial bid of $45 a share.

The economy fared pretty well this week, and the stock market reacted positively to the Federal Reserve’s announcement on Wednesday, in which the Fed noted that “growth in economic activity has rebounded in recent months,” supporting the case that the steady reduction in asset purchases is indicative of the Fed’s belief that the economy is on stable footing.  The Fed’s commentary seemed consistent with general sentiment of a modestly growing economy, a slowly improving labor market, and moderate inflation.

Our 10 ETFs in the Spotlight gained for the week with 4 of them making new highs today; 9 of them are remaining on the plus side YTD.

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Weekly StatSheet For The ETF/No Load Fund Tracker Newsletter – Updated Through 06/19/2014

Ulli ETF StatSheet Contact

ETF/Mutual Fund Data updated through Thursday, June 19, 2014

Table of Content082312

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 10/25/2011

TTI

Our main directional indicator, the Domestic Trend Tracking Index (TTI), broke through its long-term trend line generating a Sell for this area effective 8/9/2011. Over the recent past, we’ve seen the TTI hovering slightly below and above this dividing line between bullish and bearish territory. The clear break to the upside occurred on 10/24/11 and, effective 10/25/11, a new Buy signal for domestic equities went into effect.

As of today, our TTI (green line in above chart) is positioned above its long term trend line (red) by +3.80%.

To avoid a potential whip-saw, a Sell signal to move out of all domestic equity positions will be generated once we have clearly pierced the red line to the downside. Be sure to tune in for the latest updates.

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A Last Minute Move To The Plus Side

Ulli Market Commentary Contact

Thur pic

[Chart courtesy of MarketWatch.com]

1. Moving The Markets

It was a roller coaster ride but, in the end, the major indexes managed to stage a turnaround, with the S&P 500 closing at a record level for the 21st time this year.

The afternoon rally may have been a delayed response to Janet Yellen’s statement in which she confirmed rates to remain low for the forseeable future as the labor market is far from firing on all cylinders. Due to that slack, economic numbers will have to show some considerable improvement in order to justify a change in interest rate policy.

Today’s econ reports were well received with the weekly jobless claims dropping while layoffs were at very low levels. The Phili Fed manufacturing index surprised many analysts by jumping to its best reading since September.

In the commodity world, Brent crude surpassed $115 a barrel for the first time in 9 months and gold came alive, rallied sharply and closed above the 1,300 level.

Our ETFs in the Spotlight rallied with 8 of them making new highs; 9 of them are currently on the plus side YTD with only XLY lagging as it has all year.

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Stocks Gain On Fed News; Amazon’s Phone Hits The Market

Ulli Market Commentary Contact

WEd pic

[Chart courtesy of MarketWatch.com]

1. Moving The Markets

It was the fourth day in a row that stocks gained across the board and the S&P 500 closed at a new record high. The Dow and Nasdaq both added 0.6% each. While Amazon’s new smartphone was all the rage in the news today, the real market mover was the Federal Reserve, who announced that the U.S. economy was doing well enough for the central bank to make further reductions to its stimulus (bond buying) program.

Now, back to Amazon. The company released their much anticipated “Fire” smartphone today, cementing all the recent speculation as to what would be unveiled today at the expo in Seattle. Investor responses to the phone were positive. Shares of Amazon (AMZN) climbed 2.5% to $333.67 throughout the afternoon.

In international news, Gazprom (GAZP) announced today that it has turned off the taps again to the Ukraine, citing gross overdue payments of roughly $4.5bil have not been received from Kiev. This will obviously only make matters more complicated in Europe amidst massive interest rate cuts by the ECB.

Our 10 ETFs in the Spotlight gained with six of them making new highs; all of them are currently on the plus side YTD.

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Equities Manage A Third Day Of Gains

Ulli Market Commentary Contact

Tue pic

[Chart courtesy of MarketWatch.com]

1. Moving The Markets

It was a wobbly beginning, but the major indexes managed to pick up a little steam later in the session just enough to end up in the green for the third day in a row. The gains were modest as the above chart shows.

Even a sharp rise in consumer prices in May (+0.4% after climbing 0.3% the prior month), reduced housing starts and continued violence in Iraq could not keep equities down for long and it appeared that the path of least resistance was higher.

All eyes are now feasted on the outcome of the FOMC meeting tomorrow, although it is widely assumed that there will be no change in interest rate policy in the foreseeable future.

Some of our 10 ETFs in the Spotlight edged up with one of them making a new high; 9 of them are remaining on the plus side YTD.

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Markets Eke Out A Gain Driven By M&A Activity

Ulli Market Commentary Contact

Mon pic

[Chart courtesy of MarketWatch.com]

1. Moving The Markets

Stocks mostly hovered between small gains and losses through much of the day as traders monitored the conflict in Iraq and considered its potential impact on oil prices. The S&P 500 gained 0.10%, the Dow added 0.03% and the Nasdaq posted a 0.24% gain. The markets have shown a lack of volatility recently, especially compared to the chaotic Q1 we experienced earlier this year. According to the WSJ, Monday was the 41st day in a row that the S&P 500 did not move more than 1% in either direction.

On the M&A front, medical device heavyweight Medtronic Inc (MDT) agreed to buy Dublin-based Covidien Plc (COV) for $42.9 billion and shift its executive headquarters to Ireland. The deal is seen mostly as a way for Medtronic to take advantage of lower tax rates abroad. Also, I heard today that Fusion-io Inc’s (FIO) shares jumped up 22.4% to $11.36 after SanDisk Corp (SNDK) said it will buy the company for about $1.1 billion to boost its flash storage drive business. SanDisk’s shares also gained a hearty 3.6% to $102.00.

Equities also got a boost today from the announcement by the Federal Reserve that factory production increased 0.6% last month with output improving across numerous industries. Manufacturing output in May was led by a 1.5% jump in motor vehicle production. There were also gains in the output of machinery, computer and electronic products, electrical equipment and appliances, and fabricated metal products. Production of primary metals, however, slipped. Finally, the Fed is expected to announce a further cut to its monthly bond purchasing program, but is not seen raising interest rates until mid-2015.

Our 10 ETFs in the Spotlight went sideways with 9 of them remaining on the plus side YTD.

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