Riding The Range: US Indexes End Mostly Lower On Weak Earnings; IGN Jumps

Ulli Market Commentary Contact

[Chart courtesy of MarketWatch.com]

US market indexes finished mostly lower today with the Dow Industrials snapping its three-day long losing streak and held up by gains of AT&T and Boeing, while the S&P 500 tanked for the fourth straight session, and the tech-heavy NASDAQ tripped by biggest-component Apple’s rare earnings miss.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) closed 59 points higher, with 19 stocks within the blue-chip index’s 30 components closing up.

The S&P 500 Index (SPX) was off 0.5 points to finish fractionally lower with technology lagging the most and telecommunications outgunning others among its 10 business groups.

US Treasuries fell after three days of gains as the allure of safe-haven assets faded amid speculations/hope Europe will augment its fire-fighting capacity to contain the sovereign debt crisis.

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7 ETF Model Portfolios You Can Use – Updated through 7/24/2012

Ulli Model ETF Portfolios Contact

It’s been a rollercoaster month, and the last week was no exception. The S&P 500 gave back some 1.9% and is now negative for July.

Europe’s debt crisis seems to be worsening by the day as Spain and Italy both appear in dire straits with the Spain FinMin having travelled to Germany to visit his counterpart, tin cup in hand, asking for a “temporary” bridge loan. Sure, as if there is such a thing as “temporary” in today’s debt stricken society where clearly liquidity is not the main problem but solvency is.

Additionally, weak economic reports and, just yesterday, disappointing results from Apple and Netflix may very well keep the current slide going until the savior Bernanke puts some major QE on the table. While that may not change the ultimate outcome (debt that can’t be paid will be defaulted on), at least Wall Street’s QE addicts may continue to cling on to hope that it does.

In the meantime, here’s the latest model portfolio update:

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US Equites Head South As Greece Takes Center Stage Again; VIXY Vaults, EWP Sinks

Ulli Market Commentary Contact

[Chart courtesy of MarketWatch.com]

US equities headed south again, extending losses for the third straight day amid fresh concerns over Greece at a time when its bigger neighbors Spain and Italy are clearly heading for trouble.

The “troika” of the International Monetary Fund, the European Council and the European Central Bank reached Athens amid speculations that the country will miss its deficit-reduction target attached to the rescue-package and may have to restructure debts worth €200 billion.

Domestically, Tuesday’s weak Richmond Federal Reserve manufacturing data and a spate of recent uninspiring corporate earnings numbers didn’t help stocks either.

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Europe Worries Pulls Major Market ETFs Lower; VIXY Spikes, EWG Crashes

Ulli Market Commentary Contact

[Chart courtesy of MarketWatch.com]

Major market ETFs posted their second straight loss Monday with all three indexes finishing lower over investors’ concern that Spain may request a full-fledged bailout package, triggering a sell-off and boosting the greenback.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) finished off 101 points, or 0.8 percent, recovering from an early near 240-point fall. Within the Dow, the breadth remained negative with only six stocks among the 30-component blue-chip index closing higher.

The S&P 500 Index (SPX) shed 12 points, recouping from the day’s lowest of 1338, with materials and consumer-discretionary falling the most. All the 10 business groups closed lower.

US Treasury yields fell to new lows as demand for US government debt spiked today after weekend reports in German media that Greece’s failure to meet bailout targets may result in deferment of the next-round of aid money by the International Monetary Fund. The IMF, however, dismissed the reports even as German 10-year borrowing costs hit record lows.

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ETFs/Mutual Funds On The Cutline – Updated Through 7/20/2012

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 224 (last week 196) of them 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. 41 ETFs (last week 34) have managed to remain in bullish territory after the recent market volatility.

The third report covers Mutual Funds on the Cutline. There are currently 578 (last week 419) above the line and 283 below it out of the 861 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.

Last Week In Review: ETF News And Blog Posts To 7/22/2012

Ulli Market Review Contact

In case you missed it, here’s a summary of the ETF topics and market reviews I posted to my blog during the week ending on 7/22/2012.

After market strength during the early part of the week, some reality set in as the major indexes sold off sharply on Friday ending the past five trading days with a minor gain.

Europe made front page news as interest rates in Spain (10-year bonds) have now solidly broken the 7% level to the upside and are hovering close to the 7.5% mark. This is a level that is unsustainable and Spain, for all intents and purposes, has now been shut out of the public markets to meet borrowing needs.

Saturday, the news got somewhat worse in that 6 out of Spain’s 17 autonomous regions have now essentially run out of cash and need to borrow from the central government, which in turn needs to borrow from whomever they find willing and able.

Clearly, the markets will have to wake up to the fact that the end of the road may have been reached, at least for Spain, and the dreaded “D” word (as in default) may have just been added to public vocabulary, unless some white knight appears and provides fresh can kicking euros. I’m curious how politicians will now deal with this latest setback.

Over past week, we covered the following:

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