New ETFs On The Block: First Trust Senior Loan ETF (FTSL)

Ulli Bond ETFs Contact

137430914First Trust Advisors, the Wheaton, Il-based money manager known for its niche strategies, has launched its fourth actively managed ETF. The First Trust Senior Loan ETF (FTSL) is expected to compete with the recently launched SPDR Blackstone/GSO Senior Loan ETF (SRLN). Debuted last month, SRLN is also actively managed and has already accumulated assets of more than $160 million.

FTSL seeks to generate high current income and preserve capital by investing mainly in a diversified portfolio of senior adjustable-rate bank loans from issuers with strong credit metrics. However, it may also invest in other debt instruments such as floating-rate loans of distressed companies, fixed-rate debt securities, money market instruments and floating rate bonds.

FTSL aims to outperform the S&P/LSTA US Leveraged Loan 100 Index – a market value weighted benchmark that tracks the performance of the largest segment of the US syndicated leveraged loan market; and the Markit iBoxx USD Leveraged Loan Index – an index comprising the 100 most liquid senior loans in the market. So, what are senior loans?

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05-03-2013

Ulli Newsletter Archives Contact

ETF/No Load Fund Tracker Newsletter For Friday, May 3, 2013

ETF/No Load Fund Tracker StatSheet

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

https://theetfbully.com/2013/05/weekly-statsheet-for-the-etfno-load-fund-tracker-newsletter-updated-through-05022013/

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Market Commentary

Friday, May 3, 2013

DOW HITS NEW MILESTONE; S&P GRABS RECORD HIGH

What a Friday… as the Dow Jones Industrial Average touched 15,000 for the first time in its long history, the world’s 200 richest people added $44.6 billion to their collective wealth! (According to Bloomberg).

Across the board, U.S. stocks surged upward in response to a stronger-than-forecasted US nonfarm payroll report. The Dow closed higher by 142 points (or 1.0%) at 14,974, the S&P 500 Index increased 17 points (1.1%) to 1,614, raced further into record high levels, and the Nasdaq Composite ascended 38 points (1.1%) to 3,379. Volume was moderate with 716 million shares were traded on the NYSE, and 1.7 billion shares changed hands on the Nasdaq.

The biggest cause of today gains came from the employment data. Fears subsided as nonfarm payrolls increased by 165,000 in April, slightly above estimate of 148,000. The unemployment rate ticked down to 7.5%, below the consensus of 7.6%, to the lowest level since December 2008. But the big story was the upward revision to the prior two months totaling 114,000.

After revisions, Q1 payrolls averaged 206,000 jobs per month. The average workweek though was disappointing, but not surprising considering the sequester, dipping to 34.4 hours from 34.6. According to the Household Survey, the number of employment rose by nearly 300,000, while the number of unemployed fell by 83,000. Contrary to the recent trend, the number of job losers rose by 81,000, but most of these were deemed temporary. Unemployed job leavers, reentrants, and new entrants all continued to decline. These results added to the latest bit of economic news that looked merely OK but was good enough to put to rest widespread anxiety that the U.S. economic recovery was buckling.

Not everything was great, however. Factory orders fell 4.0% in March, down two of the last three months, and worse than expectations of -3.0%. Nondurable orders fell a broad-based 2.4%, the most since March 2009, led by petroleum products. The ISM Non-Manufacturing Index (NMI) fell 1.3 points in April to 53.1, the lowest level in nine months, indicating services activity expanded at a slower pace.

It was another week of a bull-run, which now includes the Standard & Poor’s 500 closing above 1,600 for the first time. Stocks ended higher yesterday as the European Central Bank cut its key interest rate and U.S. jobless-benefit claims unexpectedly fell. The Fed declared earlier in the week it would keep buying bonds at the current pace.

The benchmark U.S. equities gauge has advanced 2 percent this week. We are seeing a rally since mid-November which is among the longest ever without at least a 5% pullback. These runs often lead the market to stall out for a while, and so a sideways slide or a dip would make a lot of sense. Yet the “Sell in May” cry might have become too loud that such a tumble has been over-anticipated; at least that’s what it seems like right now.

Our Trend Tracking Indexes (TTIs) confirmed the upward bias as both marched deeper into bullish territory.

Here’s how we closed the week:

Domestic TTI: +4.30% (last week +3.52%)

International TTI: +8.62% (last week +7.35%)

Have a great week.

Ulli…

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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

A note from reader Ed:

Q: Ulli: What are your thoughts on the PRPFX Fund with gold having dropped so fast??

A: Ed: I don’t own it, since it is hovering below its long-term trend line. There are far better opportunities in low volatility ETFs.

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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 Friday, May 3, 2013

Ulli ETF Tracker Contact

ETF/No Load Fund Tracker StatSheet

————————————————————-

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

https://theetfbully.com/2013/05/weekly-statsheet-for-the-etfno-load-fund-tracker-newsletter-updated-through-05022013/

————————————————————

Market Commentary

Friday, May 3, 2013

DOW HITS NEW MILESTONE; S&P GRABS RECORD HIGH

What a Friday… as the Dow Jones Industrial Average touched 15,000 for the first time in its long history, the world’s 200 richest people added $44.6 billion to their collective wealth! (According to Bloomberg).

Across the board, U.S. stocks surged upward in response to a stronger-than-forecasted US nonfarm payroll report. The Dow closed higher by 142 points (or 1.0%) at 14,974, the S&P 500 Index increased 17 points (1.1%) to 1,614, raced further into record high levels, and the Nasdaq Composite ascended 38 points (1.1%) to 3,379. Volume was moderate with 716 million shares were traded on the NYSE, and 1.7 billion shares changed hands on the Nasdaq.

The biggest cause of today gains came from the employment data. Fears subsided as nonfarm payrolls increased by 165,000 in April, slightly above estimate of 148,000. The unemployment rate ticked down to 7.5%, below the consensus of 7.6%, to the lowest level since December 2008. But the big story was the upward revision to the prior two months totaling 114,000.

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Weekly StatSheet For The ETF/No Load Fund Tracker Newsletter – Updated Through 05/02/2013

Ulli Uncategorized Contact

ETF/Mutual Fund Data updated through Thursday, May 2, 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 +4.20% as part of the post election rebound.

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 into my blog for the latest updates.

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Positive Headlines Help Stocks Surge To New Record

Ulli Market Commentary Contact

Thur pic

[Chart courtesy of MarketWatch.com]

Equity markets celebrated yet another record date as the European Central Bank (ECB) cut its key interest rate, domestic jobless claims unexpectedly fell to a five year low, and the technology sector reported strong earnings.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 130 points (0.9%) to 14,830, the S&P 500 Index added 15 points (0.9%) to 1,597, sending it to another record high and erasing yesterday’s loss. The Nasdaq Composite gained 42 points (1.3%) to 3,341.

The most welcoming news of the day came from Europe as the ECB cut interest rates for the first time in 10 months and held out the possibility of further action if necessary to boost the euro zone economy. ECB policy makers meeting in Bratislava lowered the main refinancing rate to 0.5 percent from 0.75 percent. The interest rate cut fueled positive sentiment. The move follows Wednesday’s Federal Reserve action to continue its bond buying scheme to keep interest rates low and spur growth.

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Poor Macro Data Knock Down the Bulls

Ulli Market Commentary Contact

Wed pic

[Chart courtesy of MarketWatch.com]

Disappointing economic data finally dragged stocks down. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 138 points (0.9%) to 14,701, the S&P 500 Index lost 15 points (0.9%) from its record high to 1,583, and the Nasdaq Composite decreased 30 points (0.9%) to 3,299. Volume came in slightly lower than Tuesday. Commodity companies dropped the most among 10 S&P 500 industries as oil and copper tumbled.

The latest economic data continued a trend of indicators pointing to anemic growth. The ISM Manufacturing Index fell 0.6 points in April to 50.7. It was the lowest level this year, as factory activity expanded for the fifth straight month, but at a slower pace as the manufacturing recovery has lost some momentum.

The decline was led by a sharp 4.0-point drop in the employment index, the most since September 2010. The inventory index fell 3.0 points as businesses ran down stocks for the second month in a row. Inventories continue to decline on a 12-month average basis, indicating a negative trend. Construction spending fell 1.7% in March, likely driven by funding cutbacks due to the sequester. The weakness was widespread. Public spending tumbled 4.1%, the most in 11 years, to its lowest level since October 2006. Residential spending slowed sharply to 0.4%. Private nonresidential fell 1.5%.

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