ETF Global

Big rally yesterday as the market is getting in the holiday spirit and hoping Washington’s politicians do too, we’ll see.  The strongest ETF Global Sector Index was the Materials rising 2.71% on the day which put it in the green for the year at 2.45%.  Quant has 7 funds devoted to the sector in the top 100 today with three in the top 25 led by the iShares Dow Jones U.S. Basic Materials Index Fund (IYM) in 11^th place.  Information Technology has been stronger year to date with its index up by 13.21% in 2012 after rising 2.52% yesterday.  Out of 45 Technology funds, 5 are in today’s top 100 with the highest, VGT, ranking at 35^th place.  Energy funds are well represented in the top 100 with 8 out of 49 funds on the list and 4 of them in the top 25.  The highest ranking is the SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production Fund (XOP) in 8^th place.  The Energy Index was also a leader in yesterday’s rally with a 2.24% rise on the day to bring its YTD gain to 2.89%.  Industrials have been scoring well recently and its index rose 2.06% yesterday bringing it YTD gain to 7.89%.  Five funds in this sector make the top 100 today with one, IYT, in the top 25 but yesterday it and another were in the top 10 so use caution with this group.  Rounding out the 2% gainers yesterday brings us to the consumers where the ETF Global Consumer Discretionary Index rose 2.04% on the day to pad its leading YTD gain at 51.35%.  Quant thinks that’s enough and has none of these funds in the top 100 today.  The Consumer Staples Index was up 2.16% yesterday and is up 6.33% YTD; out of 15 funds devoted to this sector, only 1 makes the top 100 at 87^th place.  Quant seems skeptical about the upcoming holiday shopping season.  The Financials Index barely missed a 2% day rising 1.96% to bring its YTD gain to 30.66%.  Their fundamentals will have to get a lot better before Quant shines its love on them, none of the 49 funds in this group make the top 100 and the highest only gets up to 272^nd out of 808 equity funds in today’s rankings.  Telecom is another out of favor group where yesterday’s 1.84% gain puts that index in the YTD green by 1.82% but none of its 10 funds makes the top 100 today and it’s best ranking only gets to 362^nd place.  The ETFG Health Care Index was up 1.34% yesterday and 25.25% YTD.  Two of its 32 funds make the top 100 at 91^st and 97^th place today.  Bringing up the rear most of this year is the forlorn Utilities Index, the only red in the YTD column of the Sector Index page down by 14.69% so far this year despite yesterday’s meager 0.2% gain.  None of its 15 funds make today’s top 100 and its highest ranking only gets to 289^th place.  If you are looking for some sector exposure for the rest of the year, Quant likes the Materials and Energy sectors the best.