Up, Up And Away…S&P 500 Logs Its Sixth Straight Record Close

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[Chart courtesy of MarketWatch.com]
  1. Moving the Markets

A passed budget bill proved to have enough fire power to propel the major indexes into record territory—again. The passed budget resolution is seen as a stepping stone to finally overhaul the tax code. While the timing of this event is still unknown, recent pessimism has now been replaced with hope that a resolution could be possible.

Consumer confidence took a hit, but that did not matter as equities were stuck in a one way street with green being the preferred color of the day. Not only did the S&P log its 6th record close, it also logged its 8th up-day in a row, which is its longest win streak since 2012. Throwing an assist to make this possible was the VIX, which was crushed again to an intra-day low of 9.13.

In ETF land, we saw predominantly gains but also some losses. Aerospace & Defense (ITA) took the lead with a gain of +0.61%, which was followed by US LargeCaps (SCHX) with +0.58% and the Dividend ETF (SCHD) with +0.42%. On the downside, International SmallCaps gave back -0.28% while the Transportations (IYT) surrendered -0.20%.

Interest rates rose with the yield on the 10-year bond climbing 2 basis points to 2.35%. Gold gave back -0.46%, Crude oil reclaimed its $50 marker; the US dollar jumped and gained +0.54%.

  1. 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.

  1. Trend Tracking Indexes (TTIs)

Our Trend Tracking Indexes (TTIs) continue higher with the bulls firmly in charge.

Here’s how we closed 10/5/2017:

Domestic TTI: +3.27% (last close +3.07%)—Buy signal effective 4/4/2016

International TTI: +7.30% (last close +7.22%)—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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