ETF Global

Congratulations to the owners, players and fans of the NHL, there will be a hockey season after all!  It will be a small one but small is not so bad.  We have seen small cap funds scoring well where the iShares Russell 2000 Fund (IWM) has backed off a couple of days at 1^st place but is still in 3^rd today. The growth and value versions, IWO and IWN, are at 13^th and 27^th place respectively, no thin ice in those solid rankings.  This morning we see another small cap player checking into the elite ranks.

The Vanguard Small-Cap Fund (VB) has been languishing in the minor leagues for most of the recent months but it came into 2013 in the top 50 and has made the top 10 today at 5^th place.  It gets there with an assist from a spiking Sentiment Score but its Technical Score has been grinding higher over recent weeks to this morning’s all star level of 72.1.  The difference has been its Fundamental Score which saw a late December breakaway into the mid 60s when the fund paid a distribution of $1.485 per share, up significantly from last year’s 94¢.

The higher risk with small caps can get you in the penalty box and their increasing presence in the top ranks is bringing up the average Red Diamond Risk Rating of those ranks which had been dropping sharply.  The top 10 have an average Risk Rating of 4.27 today, higher than the top decile’s average of 4.17 which is up from Friday’s very low levels but still lower than usual.  So keep an eye on risk but let that other eye wander to the small caps facing off in today’s lineup.  We are happy to not have to go through the rest of the winter without goals and remind you to get this blog in your inbox each day and follow us on Twitter.  It will keep your portfolios lighting the lamp.