US Stock Rally Runs Out Of Steam; VXX Floats, VNM Sinks

Ulli Market Review Contact

[Chart courtesy of MarketWatch.com]

US stocks took a break to close lower Tuesday, as the day’s economic data gave investor’s little reason to cheer about after Monday’s rally.

Treasuries rallied today showing not everybody believed that the bond bear market started Monday when economic reports showed decline in home consumer confidence and prices. Demand for US debt was well supported at a government sale of $35 billion in two-year notes being recorded at 3.69, versus an average of 3.53 for the past 10 sales.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) dipped 0.3 percent to 13,197.73 on weak economic data after rallying more than 1 percent Monday. Home prices in 20 major US cities declined 3.8 percent year-on-year in Jan to hit the lowest level since 2002, according to S&P/Case-Schiller index. There was little to cheer on consumer confidence as the Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index also dipped to 70.2 in March from 71.6 in February.

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Bernanke Boosts Equity ETFs; GDXJ Surges, GAZ Continues To Sink

Ulli Market Review Contact

[Chart courtesy of MarketWatch.com]

US equity ETFs surged Monday, erasing a week’s losses after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke expressed concern over the job market momentum sustainability and reaffirmed further liquidity injection if necessary.

30-year bond yields rose the most in a week after Bernanke hinted at continuing the record low interest rates, boosting bets that inflation will move north supporting the case for gold. The number of customers signing up for previously owned homes remained at an almost two-year high, data released by the National Association of Realtors showed.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) jumped 160.90 points to 13,241.63, its biggest rise since Jan 3 when the index climbed 180 points. Only one of the 30 components fell on the Dow while the S&P 500 Index (SPX) added 19.40 points to close 1416.51, with consumer discretionary, technology and healthcare advancing the most.

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ETFs/Mutual Funds On The Cutline – Updated Through 3/23/2012

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 349 (last week 349) 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. 74 ETFs (last week 76) have managed to move into in bullish territory after the recent run up.

The third report covers Mutual Funds on the Cutline. There are currently 805 (last week 817) above the line and 56 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

Last Week In Review: ETF News And Blog Posts To 3/25/2012

Ulli ETF News 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 3/25/2012.

The markets meandered without clear direction last week and seem to have run out of steam as the S&P 500 vacillated above and below its 1,400 milestone marker. That’s no surprise to me as we have come very far in a very short period of time.

More positive economic news could propel the indexes higher, although I would not be surprised to see additional downside momentum as the article/video posted earlier this morning shows.

This week, we covered the following:

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Is This The Best Time, “The Opportunity Of A Generation,” To Invest In Equities?

Ulli ETF News Contact

US investors are warming up to equity investment opportunities following the stock market’s bull-run since the start of 2012. Leading brokerages are upbeat about equities with some of them terming the current situation as “the opportunity in a generation.”

Jeffrey Saut, chief investment strategist at leading brokerage firm Raymond James and Associates Inc who oversees $300 billion in investments, thinks markets are set to witness a massive shift to US stocks, equity MFs and equity ETFs.

Is the euphoria justified? How good is the current market valuation? Are we heading for a secular bull run?

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Is It The Right Time To Enter Financials? These ETFs Are On Fire Already

Ulli ETF News Contact

US stock-markets have performed remarkably well with most of the indexes scaling multi-year highs since the beginning of the year. It’s common knowledge that for the economy to do well, financial companies (primarily banks, credit unions and insurers) need to fire on all cylinders.

The economically sensitive categories like materials and consumer discretionary have performed well compared to 2011. Financials, quite expectedly, have also been a star-performer on YTD basis.

The Select Sector Financials SPDR (NYSEArca : XLF) has been topping the popularity charts for some time now, returning an impressive 21.5 percent since the beginning of the year. Yet there are other financial ETFs that have outperformed XLF quietly, away from the spotlight. Let’s turn our focus on three under-reported ETFs that have beaten XLF by handsome margins.

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