Today in the market, Wednesday, August 20, 2008: There was a lot of chop in the market with no real trend. The averages ended in the plus column, but the market internals showed no discernable outcome to the bull/bear struggle. The S&P500 ended up 0.62% and the Nasdaq up a mere 0.20%. Uncertainty remains high in the markets as Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE) trade at 18 year lows.
ETF/CEF Medium Volatility:
- IYM – Basic Matls iShares
- PXJ – PowerShares Dynamic Oil & Gas Services Portfolio
ETF/CEF Catch a Falling Knife on the Road to Recovery (FKRR):
- BEP – S&P 500 Covered Call Fund
- EWC – Canada iShares
- EWW – Mexico iShares
- FGF – Sun America Focused Alpha Growth Fund Inc.
- IXC – iShares S&P Global Energy Sector Index Fund
- JKH – iShares Morningstar Mid Growth Index Fund
- PIV – PowerShares ValueLine Timeliness Select Portfolio
- PWJ – Powershares Dynamic Mid Cap GR
- UTH – Utilities Holders
- XLU – Utilities Select Sector SPDR
ETF/CEF Discussion: Today we have a lot of picks; many of them are repeats from my past blogs. Showing up are out neighbors represented by EWC & EWW. Maybe RSI is predicting a turnaround in the US translating to our neighbors. Also there is a prediction of returned strength in the energy markets. Plus a strong vote in the utility sector; also predicting an economic rebound? Finally mid-cap growth runs throughout the past few blogs.
BEP hasn’t been covered before, so let me spend a minute on it. It is a CEF and has a P/Y/E of -4.11/14.29/1.06…not too shabby. This fund plays the covered calls on the S&P500 and earns yield on this strategy (a healthy 14.29% at that!). This fund will perform well as long as the market goes up. So this is a bet on the overall market. And as all bets, it’s a crap shoot.
Catch you tomorrow.
