7 ETF Model Portfolios You Can Use – Updated through 10/29/2013

Ulli Model ETF Portfolios Contact

Sideways meandering with an upward bias was the theme as the S&P 500 added another 1% during this final week of the month. It’s been a high performance October so far as pullbacks happened so fast that they could have been easily missed by those looking for an entry point.

The widely predicted sell off during this historically volatile month did not happen, which supports my ongoing theme that it’s wise to follow the major trends in the market place and not pay attention to broadly held opinions and guesses.

Economic data points remain inconclusive, which makes me believe that the Fed will not change its policy when they issue the verdict later on today.

In the meantime, here’s the latest ETF Model Portfolio update:

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Bulls Continue Record Run

Ulli Market Commentary Contact

Tue pic

[Chart courtesy of MarketWatch.com]

Despite a mixed bag of data from the earnings and economic fronts, and the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy decision on the horizon, U.S. equities notched further gains today. The S&P 500 continued to set records and registered its fourth consecutive advance to extend its October gain to 5.4%. Treasuries finished unchanged following the deluge of data, gold and crude oil prices were lower, while the U.S. dollar was higher.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq posted a modest advance of 0.3% after the exchange experienced an intraday data dissemination issue that prevented index quotes from being sent out for nearly an hour. However, the issue was isolated to the index while individual components traded normally.

One of the components that contributed to the Nasdaq’s underperformance was Apple. The largest tech stock lost 2.5% after its below-consensus gross margin guidance overshadowed its earnings beat on above-consensus revenue. Despite Apple’s relative weakness, the technology sector (+0.5%) ended in-line with the broader market, bolstered in part by the 2.7% gain in the shares of IBM after the company’s Board of Directors authorized an additional $15 billion for its share buyback program.

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Stocks Little Changed On Upcoming Fed Decision

Ulli Market Commentary Contact

Mon pic

[Chart courtesy of MarketWatch.com]

The U.S. markets finished mixed and near the flatline, as traders look toward a barrage of earnings and economic data this week, headlined by the Fed’s monetary policy decision on Wednesday.

The S&P 500 closed at another record high on Monday as expectations were high that the Fed will keep its stimulus in place when it meets this week. Meanwhile, the markets got a taste of the slew of economic data that was postponed as a result of the government shutdown, with industrial production and capacity utilization topping forecasts, while pending home sales unexpectedly fell and growth in regional manufacturing activity slowed more than expected.

On the earnings front, Dow member Merck & Co bested the Street’s profit expectations but fell short on the revenue side, while Burger King Worldwide topped estimates and upped its quarterly dividend. In other equity news, Dow component JPMorgan Chase & Co reached a $5.1 billion agreement to resolve all of its mortgage-backed securities litigation with the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Treasuries and the U.S. dollar finished nearly unchanged, while gold and crude oil prices were higher.

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ETFs/Mutual Funds On The Cutline – Updated Through 10/25/2013

Ulli ETFs on the Cutline Contact

Below are the latest ETF Cutline reports, which show how far above or below their respective long-term trend lines (39 week SMA) my currently tracked ETFs/MFs are positioned.

The first report covers the ETF Master List from Thursday’s StatSheet and includes 398 ETFs, of which currently 348 (last week 342) are hovering in bullish territory.

The second report includes only High Volume ETFs. To clarify, High Volume (HV) ETFs are defined as those with an average daily volume of $10 million or higher.

These ETFs are generated from my selected list of some 93 that I use in my advisor practice. It cuts out the “noise,” which simply means it eliminates those ETFs that I would never buy because of their volume limitations. 73 ETFs (last week 75) have managed to remain in bullish territory after the recent market volatility.

The third report covers Mutual Funds on the Cutline. There are currently 826 (last week 818) above the line and 33 below it out of the 859 that I follow.

Take a look:

1. ETF Master Cutline Report     

2. ETF High Volume Cutline Report

3. MF Cutline Report

In case you are not familiar with some of the terminology used in the reports, please read the Glossary of Terms.

If you missed the original post about the Cutline approach, you can read it here.

One Man’s Opinion: Will The Bond Markets Slump By The End Of The Year?

Ulli Market Review Contact

92835431Investors can ignore the Fed and the economic data when they consider where to allocate their funds in the coming months, said Michael Shaoul, chairman and chief executive officer at Marketfield Asset Management LLC.

The Fed is way behind the curve and the equity market certainly understands that. At some point the Fed will wake up to the reality, which will probably be the first quarter of next year. The real danger right now seems the possibility of the bond-market reacting ahead of the Federal Reserve. That may result in the rerun of a situation witnessed earlier, i.e. a big reallocation of assets out of fixed-income. That’s something that needs to be watched very carefully, Mike said.

A lot of value investors have decided to sell out after equity indexes hit all time high and hoard cash. Many mutual fund and Private Equity managers have decided to liquidate their equity holdings. Asked to comment, Mike said it’s a wonderful time to exit equities if the investor bought his stocks 3-4 years ago. The current bull-market has reasons against the backdrop of people trying to ignore how strong it has been. At the moment anybody who says investors need to stay out of the market is congratulated for being prudent.

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New ETFs On The Block: Invesco Powershares China A-Share Portfolio (CHNA)

Ulli Country ETFs Contact

91551519Invesco PowerShares, the fourth-largest US ETF sponsor and a leading global provider of exchange-traded products, has launched an actively-managed equity, quantitative and rules-based ETF that is focused on mainland China stocks, targeting the Chinese A-shares market. With the recent spate of economic data indicating China slowly getting back on the growth trajectory, China-focused funds have witnessed robust price appreciation in recent months.

The PowerShares China A-share Portfolio (CHNA) will track the SGX FTSE A50 Index, a free-float adjusted and liquidity screened benchmark that provides exposure to the largest 50 companies within China as determined by market capitalization.

The constituent companies of the underlying trade in Chinese renminbi/Yuan on the Shanghai and Shenzen Stock Exchanges and the benchmark are adjusted on a quarterly basis for performance. The index is currently biased toward financial companies and includes China Minsheng Banking, China Merchants Bank, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank and Ping An Insurance.

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