Morningstar used to be a one-trick pony. The company rated mutual funds… and they weren’t particularly good at it. For instance, in 1999, nearly every investment in the Janus stable held 4 or 5 stars. The primary reason? Janus products demonstrated superior performance on a relative basis in most stock categories over popular time frames (e.g., 1 year, 3 year, etc.). Did [...] Continue Reading...
The S&P 500 SPDR Trust (SPY) began 2012 with a bang, collecting 1.6% in the initial session. Yet it was far from the most impressive showing on Tuesday, January 3. Consider the performance of some of the castaways from 2011. Market Vectors Nuclear Energy (NLR) rocketed 2.4%. PowerShares Global Water (PIO) swam upstream for a formidable 3.2%. And Market [...] Continue Reading...
Economically sensitive sectors like energy failed to generate investor enthusiasm in 2011. Fears of a mammoth depression in Europe as well as a slowdown in China hampered share prices of mainstays from Anadarko Petroleum (APC) to Southwestern Energy (SWN). Looking forward, however, there may be reasons to cheer. China has shifted from restrictive fiscal and monetary policies to more [...] Continue Reading...
There are 4 exchange-traded vehicles with sufficient volume that a master limited partnership (MLP) enthusiast should consider. More specifically, for those investors who do not wish to pick individual securities, there are several diversified MLP products offering the possibility of capital appreciation and the certainty of a solid income stream. First, a quick primer on energy pipeline partnerships. Energy MLPs typically own the [...] Continue Reading...
How many articles are going to emphasize how bad the month of August treated investors? The fact that U.S. stocks in the S&P 500 shed -5.7% speaks for itself. On the other hand, the reality that August had been down as much -13.3% eight trading days earlier is far more telling. Ironically, you still read how the U.S. credit downgrade [...] Continue Reading...
Scores of investment gurus live on momentum and relative strength. They may advocate investing solely in those assets that have put together streaks over 4, 8 and 12 weeks (3 months). Other media darlings don’t care what happens in a shorter period. They may run with a particular theme for decades. For instance, Jim Rogers likes commodities and the China [...] Continue Reading...
Like IPOs, freshly launched ETFs receive prodigious praise out of the trading gate. And like many IPOs, many struggle to live up to the hype. Consider the First Trust Cloud Computing Fund (SKYY). After 9 trading sessions, SKYY currently rests at its lowest close since its July 6 debut. And that’s after an enormous amount of positive press. In reality, [...] Continue Reading...
Window-dressing money managers need to show that they are “long” the energy sector in their quarterly reports. Not surprisingly, there are scores of Energy Services ETFs and Energy Exploration ETFs on the “New Highs” List. You’ll find: 1. Oil Services HOLDRs (OIH) 2. iShares DJ Oil Equipment & Services (IEZ) 3. PowerShares Dynamic Oil Services (PXJ) 4. SPDR S&P Oil &Gas Equip/Services [...] Continue Reading...
There are some things that are very easy to understand. For instance, if Anadarko, Devon and Noble are all hitting 52 week highs on the NYSE, then there’s a pretty good chance that iShares DJ Oil & Gas Exploration/Production (IEO) will appear on the “New High List” for exchange-traded funds. Some things, however, are not as easy to comprehend. For example, [...] Continue Reading...
The broader S&P 500 may not have fallen far enough to have met the technical definition of a stock market correction. Yet we shouldn’t dismiss an intra-day, high-to-low pullback of 7% as unremarkable. (For that matter, there may be more selling pressure ahead.) On the flip side, what if the worst of the selling has passed [...] Continue Reading...
