- Moving the Markets
Treading water below the unchanged line was the theme of the day as weakening upward momentum held the major indexes in check. Despite the usual afternoon ramp, only the Dow managed to eke out a gain to notch its sixth straight record high close.
It was a mixed bag with declining energy stocks dragging on the indexes while, at the same time, a pause was in order to digest the gains of the Trump rally. With the 4th quarter earnings season almost being in the rear view mirror, today’s focus was again on Trump’s lofty promises of cutting corporate taxes and reducing regulations.
There was a lot of hope, enthusiasm and excitement powering this rally, but we’re now getting closer to a point where Wall Street wants to see more concrete results, in other words, the theme has shifted to either “put up” or “shut up.”
On the earnings side, the big assist that helped the Dow close in the green, came from Cisco Systems (+2.38%) after its quarterly results were posted late Wednesday. We now have to wait and see what the next driver will be to keep the recent upward momentum intact.
- ETFs in the Spotlight (updated for 2017)
In case you missed the announcement and description of this section, you can read it here again.
It features 10 broadly diversified and sector ETFs from my HighVolume list as posted every Saturday. Furthermore, they are screened for the lowest MaxDD% number meaning they have been showing better resistance to temporary sell offs than all others over the past year.
The below table simply demonstrates the magnitude with which some of the ETFs are fluctuating in regards to their positions above or below their respective individual trend lines (%M/A). A break below, represented by a negative number, shows weakness, while a break above, represented by a positive percentage, shows strength.
For hundreds of ETF choices, be sure to reference Thursday’s StatSheet.
Year to date, here’s how the 2017 candidates have fared so far:
Again, the %M/A column above shows the position of the various ETFs in relation to their respective long term trend lines, while the trailing sell stops are being tracked in the “Off High” column. The “Action” column will signal a “Sell” once the -7.5% point has been taken out in the “Off High” column.
- Trend Tracking Indexes (TTIs)
Our Trend Tracking Indexes (TTIs) headed a tad higher despite the major indexes meandering without clear direction.
Here’s how we closed 2/16/2017:
Domestic TTI: +2.83% (last close +2.79%)—Buy signal effective 4/4/2016
International TTI: +5.78% (last close +5.74%)—Buy signal effective 7/19/2016
Disclosure: I am obliged to inform you that I, as well as my advisory clients, own some of the ETFs listed in the above table. Furthermore, they do not represent a specific investment recommendation for you, they merely show which ETFs from the universe I track are falling within the guidelines specified.
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