Wednesday ETF Roundup: IYT Surges, BLV Sinks

Fri, 26 Nov 2010 09:31:17 -0500

Concerns over the health of the global economy subsided as investors bought up equities across the board ahead of the Thanksgiving Holiday on Thursday. The Dow rose by 151 points while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq jumped by 1.5% and 1.9%, respectively. While these moves offered a nice pre-holiday boost to many investors’ portfolios, they were nothing compared to moves in the commodity and bond markets. Although gold was relatively flat on the day, crude posted 3.5% gain to finish the session above the $84/bbl. mark while Treasury bonds suffered severe losses that sent yields surging across most maturity levels. The medium part of the curve experienced the biggest move as five, seven, and ten year Bonds saw their yields all jump by at least 0.14% on the day.

Equity markets rose today as investors shrugged off the tensions on the Korean peninsula as the two nations refrained from trading any more

Sector Detector: Holiday Rainbows and Butterflies

Fri, 26 Nov 2010 09:31:08 -0500

Thanksgiving and Food ETFs: A Natural Fit

Fri, 26 Nov 2010 09:31:02 -0500

Tom Lydon submits:
This Thanksgiving, about 90% of American households will have a turkey dinner. If you are not feeling like basting most of the day, plenty of restaurants are throwing their doors open. The urge to fill our bellies with comfort food could be a boon for food and beverage ETFs.

Although Thanksgiving is a day to be grateful for all you have, the fact is, many are not thankful for cooking the huge feast. Michelle Manetti for Your Nabe reports that plenty of restaurants will do the cooking for those that opt not. The idea is that people can dine and have a nice dinner, plus enjoy the spirit of the holiday, without the cooking (and mess) that entails.

Currencies React to Rate Raises and Bailouts

Fri, 26 Nov 2010 09:31:01 -0500

MyPlanIQ submits:
Currencies provide insight into how a nation is dealing with the current crisis and the strength of the underlying economies. We are tracking the ETFs that represent eleven different currencies and one basket of currencies.

Description
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Handling China With Care: ETF Pullback Choices

Fri, 26 Nov 2010 09:31:00 -0500

Well, the silver play dictated last week by my ETF Pullback model (see Appendix below for explanation and performance data) worked out quite well, as can be seen in the recent section of Figure 1, a screen shot from my account showing my performance with this strategy at FolioInvesting.com.
click to enlarge
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Short-Term, High-Probability Mean-Reversion Indicator: Historical Seasonal Trend Holds True

Fri, 26 Nov 2010 09:30:59 -0500

Andrew Crowder submits:
The seasonal bullishness that occurs the day before Thanksgiving held true again this year as the S&P advanced 1.5% on low volume. The day after Thanksgiving also is bullish, but as I mentioned in earlier posts the next two days, which would be Monday and Tuesday of next week, are overwhelmingly bullish on a seasonal basis.

Currently, Retail (RTH) and Semiconductors (SMH) are the only two sectors that are displaying an overbought reading, but neither have an RSI (2) that is even above 90. Preferably, I like to see a reading above 95 before I will seriously consider stepping into a trade in the High-Probability, Mean-Reversion Strategy.
Tom Lydon submits:

Precious metals have been the star of the show this year. In a crowded field, the ETFS Physical Palladium ETF (PALL) still manages to stand out.

In recent days:

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Sime Darby Berhad Earnings Brings iShares Malaysia ETF Into Focus

Fri, 26 Nov 2010 09:30:58 -0500

Jarred Cummans submits:

As equities have tumbled in recent weeks, markets have succumbed to international issues that have led to increased concern over the health of the global economy. While many were focused in on the crisis in Ireland and the possible bailout of the highly-indebted nation, new geopolitical risks have been emerging in recent days. Earlier this week, the tensions between North and South Korea reached a completely new level as the two nations exchanged artillery fire sending many emerging markets and exchanges throughout the developed world, into a tailspin. With U.S. markets closed yesterday in observance of Thanksgiving, many are hopeful that markets can stabilize today, and get back on track in the short Friday session. Though many will take a day off from international worries and crumbling markets, international data emerged yesterday that could be a major market mover when markets open in post-Thanksgiving tr

State Street Planning Emerging Markets Local Bond ETF

Fri, 26 Nov 2010 09:30:56 -0500

ETF Database submits:

Over the past few years, investors’ comfort level with obtaining bond exposure via ETFs has increased rapidly as a multitude of new products have hit the market, slicing and dicing the fixed income space in new ways and enhancing the level of granularity available. While the proliferation of bond ETFs has touched virtually every sector of the domestic bond market, these securities have failed to achieve the same reach in foreign bonds, where the current crop of choices is somewhat limited. Currently, there are only eight ETFs between the International Government Bond ETF category and the Emerging Market ETF category, while there are more than 25 ETFs focusing on just the US Treasury space.

Perhaps sensing an opportunity in the international bond arena, issuers are beginning to focus efforts on this asset class. A recent filing from State Street detailed plans for the SPDR Barclays Capital

Professor Buffett's Top Lessons for 2010

Fri, 26 Nov 2010 09:20:03 -0500

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -

Whether or not you are a fan of Warren Buffett, it is hard to ignore the draw of this world famous investor.

Whether it was the celebration of his 80th birthday, his appearance in front of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, his trip to China, his decision to appoint Todd Combs as future Berkshire Hathaway CIO, or his controversial new op-ed piece for the New York Times, the Oracle of Omaha proved to be a major newsmaker in 2010.

Here are some of my most popular Warren Buffett-related pieces from the past year.

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Click to view a price quote on BRK.A.

Click to research the Insurance industry.

Roger Nusbaum submits:

IndexUniverse reported on Tuesday that Nasdaq OMX (NDAQ) recently created five indexes that could be very interesting should someone license them for exchange trade products. The idea is that the indexes track correlations between a stock and an ETF or two ETFs. The interest here is that correlations going up can be a proxy for defensive action in a portfolio that could have been part of a defensive solution (with a couple of the new indexes) during the meltdown.The indexes are:

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Morningstar CEF Ratings: Good Inverse Share Price Performance Predictor

Thu, 25 Nov 2010 09:27:25 -0500

Joe Eqcome submits:

Conclusion: Morningstar CEF ratings system (“The Morningstar Rating™ for Funds” or “star rating”) continues to be a good inverse predictor of CEF share price performance over a short period of time (12 to 18 months). Investors should not use the CEF “star rating” system (“1”: least favorable; “5”: most favorable) as a guide for picking stocks in the CEF universe as that is not its purpose.

In fact, investors would be better off picking the lowest Morningstar CEF “star rating” (Rating “1”) as it has consistently generated better share price performance than the higher ratings (“2” through “5”) for a 14 to 16 month period.

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Short-Term, High-Probability Mean-Reversion Indicator: Historical Seasonal Trend Holds True

Sime Darby Berhad Earnings Brings iShares Malaysia ETF Into Focus

State Street Planning Emerging Markets Local Bond ETF

Professor Buffett's Top Lessons for 2010

Morningstar CEF Ratings: Good Inverse Share Price Performance Predictor

ETFs

Wednesday ETF Roundup: IYT Surges, BLV Sinks

Sector Detector: Holiday Rainbows and Butterflies

Judgment Day for Retail ETFs

Regulatory Uncertainty Hampering Active ETF Product Development

Spotlight on Global X Silver Miners ETF

Thanksgiving and Food ETFs: A Natural Fit

Currencies React to Rate Raises and Bailouts

Handling China With Care: ETF Pullback Choices