ETF Expert

There’s very little that one can say about the craziness of stocks at the moment. Greed and fear seem to be wrestling in the mud each and every minute of the trading day.

I’ve written numerous pieces on handling downturns. I’ve written several others on managing volatility. Click on either of the above links for the topics, or click here for reducing risk though currencies (FXE, FXA, FXC, DBV).

But right now, let’s address a different phenomenon; that is, the way in which certain technology stocks have been holding up better than the market at large.

The Nasdaq, often used as a synonym for tech, fell less dramatically than the S&P 500 or the Dow this afternoon. Yesterday, the Nasdaq surged higher than other benchmarks on the heels of Cisco. That’s 2 for 2… on an extreme up day and an extreme down day.

Since small businesses with innovative ideas… smaller tech companies, for example… would struggle to get a loan in a true "credit crunch," tech indexes with small company exposure have been slammed. The PowerShares Dynamic Technology fund (PTF), for instance, introduced the "purest" play for tech across big, mid-sized and small companies not that long ago. Yet it’s been beaten up.

In contrast, take a look at Vanguard Info Tech (VGT), and it’s ability to handle the pain. Cisco, Google, Microsoft, Apple, IBM — hey, maybe this one has a better shot at success in the global economic expansion.

Disclosure Statement:  As a Registered Investment Advisor, Pacific Park Financial, Inc. may hold positions in the ETFs, mutual funds and/or index funds mentioned above. Investors who are interested in money management services may visit the Pacific Park Financial, Inc. web site.