ETF Global

We entered 2013 with Quant heavily weighted towards the US and it has been the right call as the S&P 500 outpaces the MSCI All World Index.  Not wanting to abandon what works, Quant still favors America in an unusually large way; all of today’s top 10 are US funds.

One of those is the iShares S&P 500 Index Fund (IVV) in 10^th place, scoring better than its two friends who also track that index but are not getting as high Sentiment Scores today.  All three get decent Technical and Fundamental Scores so Quant likes them.  There are three other US broad market funds in the top 10, the 3^rd place iShares Russell 3000 Fund (IWV) seeks to replicate the broadest slice of the US market where their Russell 2000 and Russell 2000 Growth Funds (IWM and IWO) stick with the small caps and rank 5^th and 7^th today.  Energy is the favorite sector in today’s top 10 with XOP in 1^st place, XLE in 4^th and PXI in 8^th.  All three have been mentioned in this space recently and still rank well as they have performed well.  Quant says it’s not too late to buy energy even though the mild winter is forecast to return to Wall Street next week.  Two of today’s top 10 can be thought of as tech funds where the 6^th place Powershares XTF: Dynamic OTC Portfolio ETF (PWO) has 54.3% of AUM in that sector and the 8^th place iShares Goldman Sachs Technology Index Fund (IGM) has 94% and the other 6% in internet retail which many consider to be tech.  Rounding out the top 10 in 2^nd place today is the SPDR S&P Metals and Mining Fund (XME) which has ranked well all year but has yet to perform accordingly.  We should also mention the Market Vectors Gold Miners Fund (GDX) tied at 10^th place today.  It has been in the top 10 for 3 days which is its best run since October when it spent most of the month in those top ranks.  That prior call has been Quant’s worst yet as the fund has lost about 12% since then.  Let’s call it the exception that proves the rule and hope for a better outcome this time.

Nobody’s perfect and neither are most machines, Quant included.  But as our performance pages attest, the ETFG models are uniquely adept at identifying relative outperformance.  Do your own research and see if it conforms to Quant’s view, if not do some more research or wait for Quant to see things your way.  If you want to see how a fund you like has been ranking in recent months send us an email to support@etfg.com and we’ll be happy to research it for you.  At ETFG the customer comes first.