New ETFs On The Block: Citigroup C-Tracks Miller/Howard MLP ETN (MLPC)

Ulli Master Limited Partnerhips Contact

139868600C-Tracks, the exchange-traded notes subsidiary of Citigroup Inc., expanded its offering by launching an ETN product tied to an index of energy master-limited partnerships, an increasingly crowded category that makes up more than a third of total ETN assets in the US and is currently dominated by the $6.9 billion Alerian MLP (AMLP). The JP Morgan Alerian MLP Index ETN (AMJ) occupies a distant second spot with about $5.6 billion in assets.

Master Limited Partnerships, which trade like listed companies, typically invest in assets ranging from tanks and silos for storage to pipelines and ships for transportation of commodities. Securities issued by dividend-paying MLPs are the most popular among investors as they provide certain tax benefits.

They enjoy immunity from federal income tax liabilities at the entity level because they derive most of their revenues from fees such as transportation and storage rentals, dividends and interests. Data shows total ETN assets have risen by a third this year to $21.5 billion from $16.1 billion a year ago.

Read More

09-27-2013

Ulli Newsletter Archives Contact

ETF/No Load Fund Tracker Newsletter For Friday, September 27, 2013

ETF/No Load Fund Tracker StatSheet

————————————————————-

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

https://theetfbully.com/2013/09/weekly-statsheet-for-the-etfno-load-fund-tracker-newsletter-updated-through-09262013/

————————————————————

Market Commentary

Friday, September 27, 2013

UNSOLVED GOVERNMENT SHUT DOWN SINKS STOCKS

Domestic equity markets closed the trading session in the red on Friday, and the S&P 500 and Dow posted their first weekly drop in four, as sentiment continued to remain hamstrung by U.S. fiscal issues, with the deadline for Congress to avoid a government shutdown on Monday and the debt ceiling approaching.

Time was running short for lawmakers to avert a partial shutdown of operations by the U.S. government on October 1. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 70 points lower (0.5%) at 15,258, the S&P 500 Index ended down 7 points (0.4%) at 1,692, and the Nasdaq Composite decreased 6 points (0.2%) to 3,782. Meanwhile, Treasuries were higher amid the domestic fiscal concerns, while U.S. economic reports showed personal income and spending rose and consumer sentiment was revised higher.

Today’s data was mostly positive in terms of the health of the consumer – the biggest contributor to US economic growth – with personal income posting the largest increase since February, and personal spending registering the fourth-consecutive monthly increase.

Meanwhile, the final University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index showed consumers’ psyches were better than originally reported. There is allegedly no evidence in the economic data that shows signs of a recession. A government shutdown, however, would be a fiscal cliff that’s big enough in this case to drive the economy into a recession. Investors are increasingly worried about that risk as it seems to be rising.

The Nasdaq outperformed today as biotechnology overshadowed the underperformance of the tech sector (-0.6%). The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF added 0.3%, also contributing to the relative strength of the health care sector, which tacked on 0.1%. Another pocket of relative strength could be found among discretionary shares (XLY +0.1%). Even though homebuilders lagged and the iShares Dow Jones US Home Construction ETF lost 1.3%, the sector received support from apparel manufacturers.

Concerns over the budget debate have weighed on sentiment throughout the week, contributing to the weakness in the S&P. The Index declined 1.1 percent for the week and is roughly 2 percent below its record high. The Dow also saw the first weekly decline since August, down 1.3 percent. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq displayed relative strength and finished the week with a slim gain of 0.2%.

Despite this week’s market weakness, our Trend Tracking Indexes (TTIs) headed higher and closed as follows:

Domestic TTI: +3.32% (last week +2.29%)

International TTI: +6.90% (last week +6.15%)

Have a great week.

Ulli…

————————————————————-

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

A note from reader Bill:

Q: Ulli: On 9-6-13, FOCPX dropped 8.8% about $6.66 per share. I called a Fidelity rep and he said because Apple fell 9-10% and FBIOX also declared and paid a Capital Gain and Dividend of around $1.189 per share, but it’s sort of floundering around not moving and actually down three days in a row for the last three days.

I guess my question is, are people getting out because of that drop and should I get out also?

I understand when a lot of people get out of a fund they have to sell off and that makes the fund drop.

A: Bill: Here’s how I look at it:

FOCPX made a high of 80.84 on 8/5/13, which would be the number to use for your trailing sell stop. Say, 7.5% of that high would put a sell signal at a break below 74.78, which happened only briefly before this fund recovered. I could not verify the distribution of $1.19.

If that is in fact correct, you need to reduce the high price by that amount, which would make the new high $79.65. Now you calculate the sell stop point of 7.5%, which brings it down to $73.68, which has not been reached yet.

That’s the process I go through to determine if a stop has been triggered. If it has, I will execute the next day, unless there is a huge rebound in the making.

Hope that clarifies your thinking

———————————————————-

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/

———————————————————

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 Friday, September 27, 2013

Ulli ETF Tracker Contact

ETF/No Load Fund Tracker StatSheet

————————————————————-

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

https://theetfbully.com/2013/09/weekly-statsheet-for-the-etfno-load-fund-tracker-newsletter-updated-through-09262013/

————————————————————

Market Commentary

Friday, September 27, 2013

UNSOLVED GOVERNMENT SHUT DOWN SINKS STOCKS

Domestic equity markets closed the trading session in the red on Friday, and the S&P 500 and Dow posted their first weekly drop in four, as sentiment continued to remain hamstrung by U.S. fiscal issues, with the deadline for Congress to avoid a government shutdown on Monday and the debt ceiling approaching.

Time was running short for lawmakers to avert a partial shutdown of operations by the U.S. government on October 1. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 70 points lower (0.5%) at 15,258, the S&P 500 Index ended down 7 points (0.4%) at 1,692, and the Nasdaq Composite decreased 6 points (0.2%) to 3,782. Meanwhile, Treasuries were higher amid the domestic fiscal concerns, while U.S. economic reports showed personal income and spending rose and consumer sentiment was revised higher.

Today’s data was mostly positive in terms of the health of the consumer – the biggest contributor to US economic growth – with personal income posting the largest increase since February, and personal spending registering the fourth-consecutive monthly increase.

Read More

Weekly StatSheet For The ETF/No Load Fund Tracker Newsletter – Updated Through 09/26/2013

Ulli ETF StatSheet Contact

ETF/Mutual Fund Data updated through Thursday, September 26, 2013

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

The Domestic 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 Trend Tracking Index (TTI—green line in above chart) has bounced off its long term trend line (red) by +3.58% after briefly dipping below it late in June 2013.

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 line to the downside. Be sure to tune in for the latest updates.

Read More

Losing Streak Comes To A Halt

Ulli Market Commentary Contact

Thur pic

[Chart courtesy of MarketWatch.com]

U.S. equities closed the trading day higher, halting the longest slump this year for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, as investors welcomed a better-than-expected jobless report, which overshadowed concern that a budget impasse could hurt economic growth.

Meanwhile, Treasuries were mostly lower following the upbeat employment data, which was accompanied by an unrevised 2.5% rate of 2Q GDP growth, which neutralized disappointing pending home sales and regional manufacturing reports. The Dow and S&P 500 rose after five straight sessions of losses, while the Nasdaq closed just shy of a high last seen about 13 years ago.

Washington continues to attempt a timely resolution to U.S. fiscal issues as House Republicans refused to give in to President Barack Obama’s demands for straightforward bills to keep the government running beyond September 30 and to increase borrowing authority to avoid a historic default. Congress, struggling to avert a government shutdown next week, was warned by the Obama administration that the Treasury was quickly running out of funds to pay government bills and could soon face a damaging debt default.

Read More

Major Index ETFs Slip And Slide As Spending Battle Begins

Ulli Uncategorized Contact

Wed pic

[Chart courtesy of MarketWatch.com]

Domestic equity markets fell today and the S&P 500 put in a fifth day of losses, its longest losing streak since the end of 2012, following some diverging domestic economic reports. Including today’s decline, the benchmark index has surrendered 1.9% since last Thursday.

Treasuries were higher amid the U.S. fiscal uncertainty and after durable goods orders came in mixed, offsetting a slightly higher rate of new home sales and a solid increase in mortgage applications. Investors worried about two looming Washington deadlines: prior to October 1 Congress needs to pass stop-gap funding for federal agencies and by October 17 it must raise the federal borrowing limit to avoid a debt default by the United States.

After opening just above its flat line, the S&P 500 slipped into the red before recovering swiftly with the help of energy (-0.1%) and materials (+0.2%). The financial sector (+0.5%) also fueled this morning’s rebound after losing roughly 3.5% during the past four sessions. The morning recovery placed the S&P above 1,700, but the index could not muster additional strength as consumer staples (-0.8%), health care (-0.8%), technology (-0.3%), and utilities (-0.7%) weighed.

Read More