Nasdaq Pumps And Energy Dumps

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[Chart courtesy of MarketWatch.com] 

  1. Moving the markets

It was a tug-of-war between bulls and bears with the major indexes vacillating back and forth above and below their respective unchanged lines. In the end, only the Nasdaq managed to show a green number, although the S&P scored a close second. The Energy sector as a whole looked frail with XLE losing -1.30%, but Crude Oil was the real weakling of the day and got spanked at the tune of -2.86%.

In ETF space, we again had more losers than winners. On the upside, we saw Aerospace & Defense (ITA) logging in a gain of +0.85% while Semiconductors (SMH) finally ended up in the green by adding a modest +0.23%. Giving back some of its YTD gains were Emerging Markets (SCHE) with -1.17% and International SmallCaps (SCHC) with -0.72%.

Interest rates dropped slightly after their recent push higher with the 10-Year bond yield losing 3 basis points to close at 2.33%. That allowed the 20-year bond (TLT) to rally +0.35% to close above its recent high at a level last seen in September. Gold stayed just about even, but the US Dollar (UUP) rallied for the 3rd straight day by adding +0.25% to kiss its 50-day M/A.

  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) were mixed with the Domestic one gaining and the International once losing.

Here’s how we closed 12/06/2017:

Domestic TTI: +3.18% above its M/A (last close +3.14%)—Buy signal effective 4/4/2016

International TTI: +4.84% above its M/A (last close +5.13%)—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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