For the past several weeks I've been waiting for BKF to come down into the $45 range and it finally happened this past week. This etf is equally weighted between Brazil, Russia, India and China.... all of which have been suffering the past several months as investors have unwound huge "Emerging Market" over-weightings.
The Brazilian market is off over 25% due to the recent deflation in the energy and commodity markets.
The Russian market has been absolutely killed due to the war with Georgia as well as commodity declines. This has been a double whammy which has caused a 35% slide in the Templeton Russia Fund ( TRF ) in just the past 10 weeks.
There is pessimism over Chinese productivity due to the shut downs that have occurred in preparation for the olympic games. It's kind of amazing to think how poor the air quality must be over there to justify such an extreme measure.
India went through a good correction along with the others, but reached it's low in mid-July along with the U.S. markets.
I feel that investing in BKF is probably a better move for my SEP retirement account than trying to time the various emerging markets. There 4 markets all have different strengths ( China - Production, Russia - Vast Energy Reserves, India - IT Services, Brazil - Natural Resources & Agriculture ) and all 4 have incredible growth potential over the next 30-40 years.
Tuesday, August 12
Friday, February 24
Dow Jone Utility Average ( IDU )
The Dow Jones Utility Average recently bounced off it's 200 day moving average so I decided to see if I could find an ETF that tracks the DJUA. What I found was the following iShare product:
Dow Jones U.S. Utilities Sector Index Fund (IDU)
Top Holdings* (Daily) as of 2/22/2006
7.95% Exelon Corp
5.30% Dominion Resources Inc
5.26% Southern Co (The)
5.22% Duke Energy Corp
4.69% TXU Corp
3.47% FirstEnergy Corp
3.43% Public Service Enterprise Group Inc
3.16% FPL Group Inc
3.13% Entergy Corp
2.92% PG&E Corp
*Holdings are subject to change. Check the IShares site for current info.
Top Sectors as of 2/22/2006
75.93% Electricity
23.61% Gas, Water & Multiutilities
It appears to mimic the Dow Jones Utility Average quite accurately and has good average daily volume of nearly 77,000 shares per day.
Dow Jones U.S. Utilities Sector Index Fund (IDU)
Top Holdings* (Daily) as of 2/22/2006
7.95% Exelon Corp
5.30% Dominion Resources Inc
5.26% Southern Co (The)
5.22% Duke Energy Corp
4.69% TXU Corp
3.47% FirstEnergy Corp
3.43% Public Service Enterprise Group Inc
3.16% FPL Group Inc
3.13% Entergy Corp
2.92% PG&E Corp
*Holdings are subject to change. Check the IShares site for current info.
Top Sectors as of 2/22/2006
75.93% Electricity
23.61% Gas, Water & Multiutilities
It appears to mimic the Dow Jones Utility Average quite accurately and has good average daily volume of nearly 77,000 shares per day.
Wednesday, January 18
Worst Performing ETF's Of 2005
For those of you who are contrarian by nature, you may be interested in the worst 10 performers of 2005. Many of these areas showed life in the first week of 2006.
Internet Infrastructure Holdrs - IIH (15.80%)
B2B Internet HOLDRS - BHH (10.88%)
Telecom HOLDRS - TTH (9.63%)
Internet HOLDRS - HHH (7.68%)
Internet Architecture HOLDRS - IAH (6.98%)
iShares:S&P Global Telecom - IXP (6.72%)
Consumer Discretionary SPDR - XLY (6.57%)
iShares Goldman Sachs Software Index - IGV (5.53%)
Vanguard Consumer Discretionary VIPERs - VCR (4.10%)
Pharmaceutical HOLDRS - PPH (3.71%)
The worst performing ETFs of 2005 are dominated by Merrill Lynch Technology Holdrs, Telecom, Big Pharma and Large Cap Growth.
Internet Infrastructure Holdrs - IIH (15.80%)
B2B Internet HOLDRS - BHH (10.88%)
Telecom HOLDRS - TTH (9.63%)
Internet HOLDRS - HHH (7.68%)
Internet Architecture HOLDRS - IAH (6.98%)
iShares:S&P Global Telecom - IXP (6.72%)
Consumer Discretionary SPDR - XLY (6.57%)
iShares Goldman Sachs Software Index - IGV (5.53%)
Vanguard Consumer Discretionary VIPERs - VCR (4.10%)
Pharmaceutical HOLDRS - PPH (3.71%)
The worst performing ETFs of 2005 are dominated by Merrill Lynch Technology Holdrs, Telecom, Big Pharma and Large Cap Growth.
The Best ETFs Of 2005
According to the end of the year data provided by Yahoo Finance, here is a list of the top 10 performing etf's for 2005.
iShares S&P Latin America 40 Index - ILF 54.59%
iShares MSCI South Korea Index - EWY 53.90%
iShares MSCI Brazil (Free) Index - EWZ 52.66%
iShares MSCI Mexico (Free) Index - EWW 43.82%
BLDRS Emerging Markets 50 ADR Index ADRE 40.80%
Energy Select Sector SPDR - XLE 40.17%
Vanguard Energy VIPERs - VDE 39.05%
iShares Goldman Sachs Natural Res. - IGE 35.98%
iShares Dow Jones US Energy - IYE 34.67%
iShares MSCI Emerg Mkts Index - EEM 32.62%
You can see a very clear pattern of Emerging Markets and Natural Resources (led by the energy complex). The Biotech Holdr BBH also had a good year posting a 31.29% gain and the rally in gold to 20 year highs led the streetTRACKS Gold Trust GLD to a 17.76% gain for the year.
iShares S&P Latin America 40 Index - ILF 54.59%
iShares MSCI South Korea Index - EWY 53.90%
iShares MSCI Brazil (Free) Index - EWZ 52.66%
iShares MSCI Mexico (Free) Index - EWW 43.82%
BLDRS Emerging Markets 50 ADR Index ADRE 40.80%
Energy Select Sector SPDR - XLE 40.17%
Vanguard Energy VIPERs - VDE 39.05%
iShares Goldman Sachs Natural Res. - IGE 35.98%
iShares Dow Jones US Energy - IYE 34.67%
iShares MSCI Emerg Mkts Index - EEM 32.62%
You can see a very clear pattern of Emerging Markets and Natural Resources (led by the energy complex). The Biotech Holdr BBH also had a good year posting a 31.29% gain and the rally in gold to 20 year highs led the streetTRACKS Gold Trust GLD to a 17.76% gain for the year.
Wednesday, January 4
Hot hand ETF for the new year
By Jim Lowell
Last Updated: 1/3/2006 12:01:00 AM
"WATERTOWN, Mass. (MarketWatch) -- Unveiling of my Hot Hands ETF is now officially an annual event.
And, if you followed the Hot Hands for 2005, it would have been a profitable event: last year's Hot Hands ETF was the iShares S&P Latin American 40 - and it gained 54.5% in 2005, thank you very much.
What's a Hot Hands ETF you ask? Easy. Last year, I introduced a simple and straightforward way to invest in exchange-traded funds: buy last year's best performing one. At the start of each and every New Year, buying the prior year's top-performing ETF turns out to be a stellar strategy. See column from a year ago.
No way?
The rewards, as demonstrated since January 2001 (when there were enough ETFs in existence to start tracking this strategy), puts performance posers in their place -- and it doesn't cost an arm and a leg to sidle up to the bar of year-end results and spit in the eye of the nearest high priced hedge fund.
But before I get to the strategy's details, and before I count down to my Hot Hand ETF For 2006, let me throw what will now be my annual monkey wrench into this particular financial engine.
While this strategy does reveal a healthy trend, the data only goes back five years; hardly long term. Yes, of course, past performance doesn't guarantee that the sun will rise tomorrow, but it also doesn't mean that you shouldn't set the alarm clock. Further, I do not advocate sinking your entire investment kit and caboodle into one of anything -- ever. That would foolishly fly against the diversified investment approach that I practice and preach personally and professionally. So, be forewarned: this isn't meant to be an all-or-nothing strategy. But it could be a complementary one.
Read The Whole Story
Last Updated: 1/3/2006 12:01:00 AM
"WATERTOWN, Mass. (MarketWatch) -- Unveiling of my Hot Hands ETF is now officially an annual event.
And, if you followed the Hot Hands for 2005, it would have been a profitable event: last year's Hot Hands ETF was the iShares S&P Latin American 40 - and it gained 54.5% in 2005, thank you very much.
What's a Hot Hands ETF you ask? Easy. Last year, I introduced a simple and straightforward way to invest in exchange-traded funds: buy last year's best performing one. At the start of each and every New Year, buying the prior year's top-performing ETF turns out to be a stellar strategy. See column from a year ago.
No way?
The rewards, as demonstrated since January 2001 (when there were enough ETFs in existence to start tracking this strategy), puts performance posers in their place -- and it doesn't cost an arm and a leg to sidle up to the bar of year-end results and spit in the eye of the nearest high priced hedge fund.
But before I get to the strategy's details, and before I count down to my Hot Hand ETF For 2006, let me throw what will now be my annual monkey wrench into this particular financial engine.
While this strategy does reveal a healthy trend, the data only goes back five years; hardly long term. Yes, of course, past performance doesn't guarantee that the sun will rise tomorrow, but it also doesn't mean that you shouldn't set the alarm clock. Further, I do not advocate sinking your entire investment kit and caboodle into one of anything -- ever. That would foolishly fly against the diversified investment approach that I practice and preach personally and professionally. So, be forewarned: this isn't meant to be an all-or-nothing strategy. But it could be a complementary one.
Read The Whole Story
Wednesday, December 7
3 New ETFs From PowerShares
CHICAGO, IL.--(MARKET WIRE)--Dec 6, 2005 -- PowerShares Capital Management LLC continues to "Lead the Intelligent ETF Revolution" with the launch of four new Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) today, December 6, 2005, at the American Stock Exchange. This launch includes the PowerShares Value Line Timeliness™ Select Portfolio and three industry group portfolios. The new PowerShares ETFs and ticker symbols are listed below.
-- (AMEX:PIV - News) PowerShares Value Line Timeliness™ Select Portfolio
-- (AMEX:PHO - News) PowerShares Water Resources Portfolio
-- (AMEX:PHW - News) PowerShares Dynamic Hardware & Consumer Electronics
Portfolio
-- (AMEX:PTE - News) PowerShares Dynamic Telecommunications & Wireless
Portfolio
The PowerShares Value Line Timeliness™ Select Portfolio is based on the Value Line Timeliness™ Select Index, which chooses securities using Value Lines' proprietary ranking systems of Timeliness™, Safety™ and Technicals™. The index seeks to identify companies that have the potential to outperform the overall U.S. equity market. The Value Line Timeliness™ Select Index has outperformed the S&P 500 benchmark over the past 1, 3, 5 and 10 year periods. (See table below)
Index History (%) as of 9/30/05 1 Year 3 Year 5 Year 10 Year
------------------------------- ------ ------ ------ -------
Value Line Timeliness™Select
Index 29.84 24.77 4.06 16.95
------------------------------- ------ ------ ------ -------
S&P 500 Index + 12.24 16.71 -1.49 9.49
------------------------------- ------ ------ ------ -------
Russell 2000 Index + 14.57 18.13 -0.72 9.54
------------------------------- ------ ------ ------ -------
The Index performance results are hypothetical and index returns do not represent Fund returns. An investor cannot invest directly in an index. The Index does not charge management fees or brokerage expenses, and no such fees or expenses were deducted from the hypothetical performance shown nor does the index lend securities, and no revenues from securities lending were added to the performance shown. In addition, the results actual investors might have achieved would have differed from those shown because of differences in the timing, amounts of their investments, and fees and expenses associated with an investment in the Fund.
+The S&P 500 and Russell 2000 Indexes are unmanaged indexes used as a measurement of change in stock market conditions based on the average performance of approximately 500 and 2000 common stocks, respectively.
The PowerShares Water Resources Portfolio is based on the Palisades Water Index which seeks to identify companies that focus on the provision of potable water, the treatment of water, and the technology and services that are directly related to water consumption.
The PowerShares Dynamic Hardware & Consumer Electronics and PowerShares Dynamic Telecommunications & Wireless Portfolios are both based on Intellidex indexes which incorporate advanced quantitative methodologies to discriminate between securities and select the stocks within an industry group identified as having the greatest capital appreciation potential.
"Today, for the first time investors will have access to Value Lines proprietary ranking systems in a low cost ETF format," said Bruce Bond, President of PowerShares Capital Management. "Our Water Resource and Hardware & Consumer Electronics Portfolios are also industry firsts for the ETF market. We're pleased to offer these new PowerShares portfolios providing investors with unique options to meet their personal financial goals. The launch of these four new ETFs brings the total number of PowerShares ETF portfolios to 35."
PowerShares Capital Management, LLC
PowerShares Capital Management, LLC provides institutional caliber asset management and market exposure through the replication of enhanced indexes. PowerShares delivers this sophisticated asset management in one of the more benefit rich investment vehicles available today, the exchange traded fund. The firm is committed to theoretically sound portfolio construction and empirically verifiable investment management approaches. PowerShares' asset management philosophy and investment discipline are deeply rooted in the application of intuitive factor analysis and model implementation to enhance investment decisions.
Risks of Owning PowerShares
PowerShares funds are made up of publicly traded securities that can and will move higher and lower with market movements. You should anticipate that the value of the shares of each fund will advance or decline more or less in correlation with the advance or decline in value of the applicable index. The funds are not actively managed and shares of the funds may trade at or below the funds' NAV. Exchange traded funds are subject to risks similar to those of stocks, including risks associated with short-selling and margin account maintenance.
An investor should consider investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses carefully before investing. A prospectus which contains more complete information about PowerShares, including, risks, fees and expenses can be obtained by visiting the PowerShares web site at www.PowerShares.com or by calling 800-THE-AMEX. The prospectus should be read carefully before investing.
The information in the prospectus is not complete and may be changed. The portfolio may not sell its Shares until the registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission is effective. The prospectus is not an offer to sell the portfolio Shares, nor is the portfolio soliciting an offer to buy its Shares in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is not permitted.
ALPS Distributors, Inc. is the distributor of the PowerShares Exchange-Traded Fund Trust.
Contact:
For Media Inquiries Contact:
CTA Public Relations
Bill Conboy
303-665-4200 x 106
Email Contact
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: PowerShares Capital Management
-- (AMEX:PIV - News) PowerShares Value Line Timeliness™ Select Portfolio
-- (AMEX:PHO - News) PowerShares Water Resources Portfolio
-- (AMEX:PHW - News) PowerShares Dynamic Hardware & Consumer Electronics
Portfolio
-- (AMEX:PTE - News) PowerShares Dynamic Telecommunications & Wireless
Portfolio
The PowerShares Value Line Timeliness™ Select Portfolio is based on the Value Line Timeliness™ Select Index, which chooses securities using Value Lines' proprietary ranking systems of Timeliness™, Safety™ and Technicals™. The index seeks to identify companies that have the potential to outperform the overall U.S. equity market. The Value Line Timeliness™ Select Index has outperformed the S&P 500 benchmark over the past 1, 3, 5 and 10 year periods. (See table below)
Index History (%) as of 9/30/05 1 Year 3 Year 5 Year 10 Year
------------------------------- ------ ------ ------ -------
Value Line Timeliness™Select
Index 29.84 24.77 4.06 16.95
------------------------------- ------ ------ ------ -------
S&P 500 Index + 12.24 16.71 -1.49 9.49
------------------------------- ------ ------ ------ -------
Russell 2000 Index + 14.57 18.13 -0.72 9.54
------------------------------- ------ ------ ------ -------
The Index performance results are hypothetical and index returns do not represent Fund returns. An investor cannot invest directly in an index. The Index does not charge management fees or brokerage expenses, and no such fees or expenses were deducted from the hypothetical performance shown nor does the index lend securities, and no revenues from securities lending were added to the performance shown. In addition, the results actual investors might have achieved would have differed from those shown because of differences in the timing, amounts of their investments, and fees and expenses associated with an investment in the Fund.
+The S&P 500 and Russell 2000 Indexes are unmanaged indexes used as a measurement of change in stock market conditions based on the average performance of approximately 500 and 2000 common stocks, respectively.
The PowerShares Water Resources Portfolio is based on the Palisades Water Index which seeks to identify companies that focus on the provision of potable water, the treatment of water, and the technology and services that are directly related to water consumption.
The PowerShares Dynamic Hardware & Consumer Electronics and PowerShares Dynamic Telecommunications & Wireless Portfolios are both based on Intellidex indexes which incorporate advanced quantitative methodologies to discriminate between securities and select the stocks within an industry group identified as having the greatest capital appreciation potential.
"Today, for the first time investors will have access to Value Lines proprietary ranking systems in a low cost ETF format," said Bruce Bond, President of PowerShares Capital Management. "Our Water Resource and Hardware & Consumer Electronics Portfolios are also industry firsts for the ETF market. We're pleased to offer these new PowerShares portfolios providing investors with unique options to meet their personal financial goals. The launch of these four new ETFs brings the total number of PowerShares ETF portfolios to 35."
PowerShares Capital Management, LLC
PowerShares Capital Management, LLC provides institutional caliber asset management and market exposure through the replication of enhanced indexes. PowerShares delivers this sophisticated asset management in one of the more benefit rich investment vehicles available today, the exchange traded fund. The firm is committed to theoretically sound portfolio construction and empirically verifiable investment management approaches. PowerShares' asset management philosophy and investment discipline are deeply rooted in the application of intuitive factor analysis and model implementation to enhance investment decisions.
Risks of Owning PowerShares
PowerShares funds are made up of publicly traded securities that can and will move higher and lower with market movements. You should anticipate that the value of the shares of each fund will advance or decline more or less in correlation with the advance or decline in value of the applicable index. The funds are not actively managed and shares of the funds may trade at or below the funds' NAV. Exchange traded funds are subject to risks similar to those of stocks, including risks associated with short-selling and margin account maintenance.
An investor should consider investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses carefully before investing. A prospectus which contains more complete information about PowerShares, including, risks, fees and expenses can be obtained by visiting the PowerShares web site at www.PowerShares.com or by calling 800-THE-AMEX. The prospectus should be read carefully before investing.
The information in the prospectus is not complete and may be changed. The portfolio may not sell its Shares until the registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission is effective. The prospectus is not an offer to sell the portfolio Shares, nor is the portfolio soliciting an offer to buy its Shares in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is not permitted.
ALPS Distributors, Inc. is the distributor of the PowerShares Exchange-Traded Fund Trust.
Contact:
For Media Inquiries Contact:
CTA Public Relations
Bill Conboy
303-665-4200 x 106
Email Contact
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: PowerShares Capital Management
Wednesday, November 16
New ETF Targets High Dividend Stocks
The SPDR Dividend ETF (SDY.A: Quote, Profile, Research) tracks the Standard & Poor's High Yield Dividend Aristocrats Index, which includes 50 high- yielding companies in the S&P Composite of 1,500 stocks that meet certain criteria and have increased their dividends every year for at least 25 years.
Howard Silverblatt, market equity analyst for S&P, said at a briefing at the Amex that dividends have been regaining favor with investors since late in 2002, after a long period in which they were out of fashion.
"Basically, companies were penalized for returning cash to their owners," he said. But the bear market of 2000-2002 brought a change in the way companies and investors viewed dividends, he said.
The components must have a minimum market capitalization of $500 million and must trade an average of 1.5 million shares or more per year.
Concentration limits prevent any stock from being more than 4 percent of the index weight at the time of a quarterly re-balancing. Those issues with the highest yield get the biggest weight in the index.
Most recently, the yield on the portfolio was about 3.4 percent.
"There are other dividend products out there that are very heavily weighted toward utilities and financial," said Jim Ross, co-head of the SSgA Advisor Strategies Group.
The SPDR Dividend ETF is currently about 26 percent in financial stocks, and utilities and financials together make up less than 50 percent.
Stock Market News and Investment Information | Reuters.com
Howard Silverblatt, market equity analyst for S&P, said at a briefing at the Amex that dividends have been regaining favor with investors since late in 2002, after a long period in which they were out of fashion.
"Basically, companies were penalized for returning cash to their owners," he said. But the bear market of 2000-2002 brought a change in the way companies and investors viewed dividends, he said.
The components must have a minimum market capitalization of $500 million and must trade an average of 1.5 million shares or more per year.
Concentration limits prevent any stock from being more than 4 percent of the index weight at the time of a quarterly re-balancing. Those issues with the highest yield get the biggest weight in the index.
Most recently, the yield on the portfolio was about 3.4 percent.
"There are other dividend products out there that are very heavily weighted toward utilities and financial," said Jim Ross, co-head of the SSgA Advisor Strategies Group.
The SPDR Dividend ETF is currently about 26 percent in financial stocks, and utilities and financials together make up less than 50 percent.
Stock Market News and Investment Information | Reuters.com
Monday, November 14
Beware The Faults in Homebuilding ETF
PowerShares recently came out with an ETF aimed at the red hot housing sector. It's the Building and Construction Portfolio trading under the symbol PKB. At first it seemed like a great way to trade a basket of homebuilders, but as you will see upon examination, it's much broader than homebuilding stocks.
Here is a good indepth article that talks about the broad makeup of the portfolio.
Beware Faults in Homebuilding ETF
Here is a good indepth article that talks about the broad makeup of the portfolio.
Beware Faults in Homebuilding ETF
SMH Rallied & So Did The Nasdaq
After getting to the middle of the range at 32.50 the Semiconductors staged a sharp rally that brought the SMH back over $35. The semiconductors haven't been leading the nasdaq's moves higher this year, but have been providing downward pressure. The fact that they had a sharp snap back rally, allowed the nasdaq to rally back toward it's highs.
Notice, the QQQQ (Nasdaq 100) has actually rallied to new highs for the year which means Large Cap Tech is leading the market. Another area of leadership has been the Dow Jones Transportation Index, which is surprising considering the high energy prices. If you are a believer in Dow Theory, a break out in the Dow Jones Industrials this fall would be very bullish!
The Dow Jones Utilities just completed the most incredible 3 year rally that looked more like a tech or biotech rally. But they have cooled off in recent weeks as the bond market moved lower.
Notice, the QQQQ (Nasdaq 100) has actually rallied to new highs for the year which means Large Cap Tech is leading the market. Another area of leadership has been the Dow Jones Transportation Index, which is surprising considering the high energy prices. If you are a believer in Dow Theory, a break out in the Dow Jones Industrials this fall would be very bullish!
The Dow Jones Utilities just completed the most incredible 3 year rally that looked more like a tech or biotech rally. But they have cooled off in recent weeks as the bond market moved lower.
Friday, October 28
SMH Has Been Pressuring The Nasdaq
If you are looking for the source of weakness in the nasdaq, you need to look no further than the Semiconductors ( SMH ). After breaking out of it range (above $35) the SMH recently failed and broke back down through that level. It appears to want to test the bottom end of that range around $30. If that takes place it will continue to weigh on the nasdaq for the time being. A move back above $35 would allow the nasdaq to regain it's footing.
Here is the chart, for now it's rather ugly:
Here is the chart, for now it's rather ugly:
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