Don’t get burned by Energy
This year was not kind to investors investing in the energy sector. The sector is the worst performing sector year to date, as measured by the Energy Select Sector SPDR (XLE) from State Street, with negative 7.43% for the year and severely underperforming the S&P 500 ETF (“SPY”) by 14.79%. Sector Ticker YTD Return YTD over SPY Technology XLK 12.70% 5.34% Discretionary XLY 11.74% 4.38% Financials XLF 11.12% 3.76% Healthcare …
What the Fear Gauge Says
The volatility index, climbing until Greece’s vote SundayĂ‚Â favoring the pro-austerity party, is back down. Popularly known as the fearĂ‚Â index, it roughly measures investors’ anxieties. When it climbs, it’s a bearishĂ‚Â signal. But look for the index to rise again. The troubles in Greece – and Europe – are far from over. EuropeĂ‚Â will go through what we went through after 2008. The U.S. economy is still notĂ‚Â healthy, …
Playing Stock Market Defense
Not pretty, is how one would probably describe the markets for the past two months. So the best idea is to stay defensive, meaning utilities, consumer staples and healthcare. This past week’s rally has restored some of the losses, but lots of fears remain. In April, the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index was down 0.75%, and in May the market slid 6.27%. The uptick that began Tuesday lifted the …
Beat the Market With Sector Rotation
Everyone wants to outpace the market, usually defined as theĂ‚Â Standard & Poor’s 500 index. While the stock market never guarantees you aĂ‚Â sure-fire win, there’s a clever approach that has triumphed in the last dozenĂ‚Â years. It involves rotating into the best-performing sectors annually. Last month, I wrote about this interesting investment strategy, which a pioneer of sector investing, Standard & Poor’s Sam Stovall, calls: “There’s Always a Bull …
Quell Your Worries With Liquidity
We’ve all heard the saying, “cash is king,” but in our investment world the word cash should be replaced with the word liquidity. Yes, for us, liquidity is king. Why am I even talking about cash and liquidity in this up market? After all, in this balmy and spring-like March, the market is doing very nicely indeed. Although the S&P 500 was down 1.6% in the first days of the …
A Study in Sector Allocation
We are having a very good time now. The S&P 500 is up 4.4% in January and 2.9% going into Wednesday, for a cumulative return of 7.4% year to date. So, yes, it is turning out to be a very good run. What a difference from the virtually zero gain on the S&P 500 for all of last year. Last year was nerve-racking for sure, with so many macro and …
The Benefits of Alternative Strategies
This week’s Barron’s featured an article called “Just Don’t Lose It!” It was an interesting examination of how investors are nervous about the current and future state of the market. Even though January’s market returns were excellent, investors have a good memory of stock and economic gyrations going back to the collapse of 2008, and all the way to the wild up-and-down swings of the past year. This was my …
What I learned at the IndexUniverse Inside ETFs Conference
I just got back from one of the larger and better ETF conferences inside ETFs, sponsored by the IndexUniverse. Clearly being in sunny Florida for a couple of days, getting away from the snow in New York has its attractions. Just seeing bright sun and breathing fresh ocean air does lift one’s spirits and clears one’s mind. But let’s not forget the conference itself. There were over a thousand participants …
Portfolio Selection for 2012
To say that this was an interesting year is certainly an understatement. To briefly restate the well-known issues, the lackluster US economic recovery, lack of direction from Washington, Arab spring, increasingly aggressive stance against Iran, Greek debt and Euro troubles, are just to list a few. We should probably refer to the “interesting” year as what the Chinese culture refers to “interesting”, meaning it is challenging or troublesome. With high …
How To Use ETFs For Sector Rotation Strategies – Forbes
How To Use ETFs For Sector Rotation Strategies – Forbes. How To Use ETFs For Sector Rotation Strategies