The S&P 500 will require a 19% return from its 7/12/11 close to capture its previous bull market high set in October, 2007. Yet many “ex financials” indexes are already back, as are a number of key cyclical sectors. For instance, a number of Tech ETFs have recovered the highs of the previous bull market (October, 2007). Most of the [...] [...more]
The U.S. economy has been dribbling the ball off its foot and out of bounds. And while some have been surprised by the quick downturn in data points, U.S. Stock ETFs and U.S. Treasury Bond ETFs have been warning investors for quite some time. In my estimation, the signs pointing to corrective activity began in mid-March. Nevertheless, the official top for the [...] [...more]
Wells Fargo, Bank of America and Citigroup are all down about 17% - 21% in 2011. Making matters worse, Moody’s has placed these companies under a ratings review. In fact, the technical picture for Financial ETFs is becoming increasingly bearish. While the Financial Select Sector SPDR (XLF) and iShares DJ Regional Banks (IAT) are only down 7%-8% YTD, they’ve fallen 2x as far from 2011 highs and share prices have fallen [...] [...more]
The debate over the best way to get total commodity exposure has raged for years. One author (see below) appears to favor the PowerShares DB Commodity Tracking Fund (DBC). Gary Gordon tends to favor the Greenhaven Continuous Commodity Index Fund (GCC) for its equal weighting approach across 17 possibilities. Nevertheless, each investment has a drawback or two. With [...] [...more]
Through Wednesday, the S&P is up about 7.8% on the year. Energy (XLE) has claimed nearly 17%. Meanwhile, Healthcare (IYH) has been surprisingly strong with 11%+ in 2011. Yet, not all Stock ETFs are keeping pace. SPDR Select Technology (XLK) is only up 5.9%, in spite of solid tech profitability, impressive sales and strong forward guidance. Does the underperformance imply that [...] [...more]
Sector ETFs, Sub-Sector ETFs, Special Sector ETFs, Technology ETFs, Materials ETFs, Private Equity ETF, Health Care ETFs, Internet ETFs Click here to listen to the show: 4-17-2011 [...more]
Some Sector ETFs remain healthy. Others, like Financials and Technology, may require resuscitation. For instance, the threat of rising interest rates as well as erratic oil trading has pressured the Financial Select SPDR (XLF) in 2011. The exchange-traded sector fund trailed the S&P 500 by 200 basis points in the first quarter alone. However, both JP Morgan and Bank of America report this [...] [...more]
Technology ETFs have outperformed the broader markets handily since the bull began in March, 2009. In fact, several holdings have more than doubled the output of the S&P 500 over the last 2 years. The question begging to be asked is… is it time to lock in profits? Or might it be more important to strive for steadier gains? For [...] [...more]
With many of the largest technology companies serving up spectacular earnings reports, Technology ETFs have had a brisk start to 2011. Factor in the much-anticipated iPhone-on-Verizon news and/or “word” that Intel will buy back $10 billion in stock, and you get the impression that semiconductor-related products and services are just getting warmed up. It’s not just a recent phenomenon either. The iShares Global [...] [...more]
Apple, IBM and Intel have helped the tech sector by reporting upbeat earnings reports in recent quarters. Some believe that the strong data by the usual suspects is a sign that businesses have been upgrading their infrastructure. If that’s so, will investors show increasing affection for Technology ETFs throughout 2011? Then again, if the global economic growth story is more critical than forecasts and earnings [...] [...more]
