Commodity ETFs

Jun 13

2

Is The World’s Largest Hedge Fund Wrong About Stock Assets?

By Gary Gordon | Bond ETFs, China ETFs, Commodity ETFs, Current Affairs and ETFs, Emerging Market ETFs, ETF Philosophy, ETF Strategy, Europe ETFs, Global ETFs, Large Cap ETFs, Special Sectors ETFs, Technology ETFs, US Markets and ETFs | No Comments

Bridgewater Associates has roughly $160 billion under management, making it the largest hedge fund on the planet. Exchange traded funds like Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets (VWO) the SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) and the S&P 500 SPDR Trust (SPY) head the list of top holdings. Last week, Bridgewater said, “We are bearish on financial assets as the U.S. economy progresses toward the late cycle, liquidity has been removed, and the markets are pricing in a continuation of recent conditions despite the…

May 23

1

Why Are Investors Considering Alternatives To Stocks?

By Gary Gordon | Commodity ETFs, Consumer ETFs, Current Affairs and ETFs, ETF Philosophy, ETF Strategy, Large Cap ETFs, Natural Resources ETFs, Special Sectors ETFs, Telecom ETFs, US Markets and ETFs, Utilities ETFs | No Comments

Mortgage interest payments as well as non—mortgage interest payments are costing consumers more and more of their disposable income. Consider the non-mortgage variety. Personal interest payments have already recovered levels not seen since the financial crisis. To be sure, interest payments are not the only thing taking a bite out of the cost of living. Oil prices have moved meaningfully higher. According to a 2005 study by the Federal Reserve, oil price increases adversely affect aggregate consumer spending. Is it…

Apr 25

2

The Big Bad Bull Gets Meeker And Weaker

By Gary Gordon | Bond ETFs, Commodity ETFs, Consumer ETFs, Current Affairs and ETFs, ETF Philosophy, ETF Strategy, Financial ETFs, Large Cap ETFs, Popular Posts, Special Sectors ETFs, US Markets and ETFs | No Comments

Can the U.S. economy grow without the federal government overspending? Apparently not. Since the financial crisis in 2008, GDP has only grown alongside massive Treasury debt issuance. Some might argue that it does not matter how the economy expands as long as it is expanding. After all, the U.S. is still capable of paying the interest on its mushrooming obligations. On the flip side, the bond market does not believe that the near-term economic picture will be quite so rosy. The paltry 0.18%…

Oct 25

4

Don’t Put All Of Your Eggs In The ‘Tax Cuts Are Coming’ Basket

By Gary Gordon | Bond ETFs, Commodity ETFs, Current Affairs and ETFs, ETF Philosophy, ETF Strategy, Large Cap ETFs, Short ETFs, Special Sectors ETFs, Technology ETFs, US Markets and ETFs | No Comments

It does not matter what you call it or how you explain it. The Trump trade. A tax reform rally. Heck, you can attribute the longest uptrend in history without a 3% pullback to global quantitative easing (QE). It makes very little difference. Stocks have been stupendous. Does a record number of trading days without a 3% correction mean anything? Not in isolation. The second-longest streak occurred between January 1995 and January 1996. And yet, back then, the phenomenal ’90s…

Jul 06

0

Bonds Say To Stocks, “We’re Just Not That Into You.”

By Gary Gordon | Actively Managed ETFs, Bond ETFs, Commodity ETFs, Currency ETFs, Current Affairs and ETFs, Dividend ETFs, ETF Philosophy, ETF Strategy, Europe ETFs, Special Sectors ETFs, US Markets and ETFs | No Comments

Five years ago, several European countries (e.g., Portugal, Italy, Greece, etc.) appeared as if they might default on their sovereign debt obligations. Gold prices spiked. The Japanese yen soared. U.S. Treasury bond yields plummeted. And the S&P 500 fell nearly 20% before globally coordinated central bank activity resuscitated investor appetite for U.S stocks. Today, Europe appears to be on the verge of another euro-zone crisis. This time, the United Kingdom’s decision to leave the European Union has threatened to destabilize the…

Jun 16

0

Zero Rate Hikes In 2016? It Still Won’t Be Enough To Help The Economy Or Stocks

By Gary Gordon | Bond ETFs, Commodity ETFs, Currency ETFs, Current Affairs and ETFs, ETF Philosophy, ETF Strategy, Europe ETFs, International ETFs, Large Cap ETFs, Small Cap ETFs, US Markets and ETFs | No Comments

According to the Goldman Sachs Current Activity Indicator (CAI), economic well-being peaked in November of 2014. The erosion from 4.1% down to 1.3% over the last 18 months demonstrates just how vulnerable the U.S. economy currently is. Not surprisingly, economic weakness has taken its toll on stock assets. The S&P 500 has not gained meaningful ground since the Fed officially stopped its bond purchases on December 18, 2014. Smaller company stocks in the Russell 2000? A bit of depreciation over the…

Jun 10

0

Are You Willing To Be The ‘Greater Fool’ By Acquiring More Stocks Today?

By Gary Gordon | Bond ETFs, Commodity ETFs, Currency ETFs, Current Affairs and ETFs, Dividend ETFs, ETF Philosophy, ETF Strategy, Large Cap ETFs, Special Sectors ETFs, US Markets and ETFs, Utilities ETFs | No Comments

It does not matter if stocks are insanely overvalued, as long as there’s a more foolish participant who is willing to pay a higher price. That’s the essence of the “greater fool theory.” And right now, there are more foolish buyers that want “in the game” than risk-reducing sellers who want to scale back. It does not even seem to matter that corporate profits have slumped roughly 18.5% from their peak on 9/30/2014. Certainly, earnings per share growth has not…

May 12

0

Real Risk Taking Will Not Return Until The Fed Flip-Flops

By Gary Gordon | Asia ETFs, Bond ETFs, Commodity ETFs, Currency ETFs, Current Affairs and ETFs, Dividend ETFs, ETF Philosophy, ETF Strategy, International ETFs, Large Cap ETFs, Small Cap ETFs, Special Sectors ETFs, US Markets and ETFs, Utilities ETFs | No Comments

In a strong bull market, higher volatility stocks tend to outperform lower volatility stocks. The PowerShares S&P 500 High Beta (SPHB):iShares USA Minimum Volatility (USMV) price ratio demonstrates how the bull market in equities has been giving way since the highs in the Dow and the S&P 500 one year ago (May 2015). Similarly, in a strong bull market, growth-oriented assets tend to outperform value-oriented holdings. Instead, the iShares Core Growth (IUSG):Vanguard Value (VTV) price ratio illustrates a shift in preference…

May 10

0

What Happens To ‘Hold-N-Hope’ Portfolios When An Economy Struggles To Expand?

By Gary Gordon | Bond ETFs, Commodity ETFs, Currency ETFs, Current Affairs and ETFs, Dividend ETFs, ETF Philosophy, ETF Strategy, US Markets and ETFs | No Comments

Some analysts may dismiss 115 years of economic data. I do not. In particular, if one averages the results of four respected stock valuation methodologies, one finds that stocks are wildly expensive. Greater irrationality in stock price exuberance only existed during conditions prior to the Great Depression circa 1929 and the tech wreck of 2000. Consider the chart below. Based on the analysis by Doug Short, the widely cited Vice President of Research at Advisor Perspectives, the U.S. stock market is overvalued by…

May 05

0

Are You Considering “Sell In May, Go Away?”

By Gary Gordon | Bond ETFs, Commodity ETFs, Currency ETFs, Current Affairs and ETFs, ETF Philosophy, ETF Strategy, Special Sectors ETFs, US Markets and ETFs | No Comments

One of the signs that a stock market may be transitioning from a bull to a bear? Participants dismiss exorbitant valuations, cast aside disturbing shifts in technical trends, disregard economic stagnation and scoff at historical comparisons. For instance, it has been 352 days since the Dow Jones Industrials Average registered an all-time record high in May of 2015. Since the 1920s, when the Dow has surpassed 350 calendar days without recovering a bull market peak, the index has dropped at least…