ETFG Diamonds Shine Bright

Since today’s 10 Green Diamond SPDR S&P China Fund (GXC) reacquired that distinction on July 12^th it is up almost 9% as the S&P 500 has declined by over 1%.  That run is not factored into our latest performance report that covers selections made up to July 1^st, the last day for which we have 1 month performance as of July 31^st.   Like its related Quant model, our Green Diamond Reward Ratings have done an excellent job identifying the best parts of the international equity markets for the intermediate term.

We group the selections by number of Green Diamonds assigned each day and compare the 7s and better to the S&P 500 over rolling 1, 2 and 3 month periods.  Also like Quant, our numbers came down from lofty heights earlier this year as most of 2013 favored US broad market funds that basically track the benchmark.  The numbers also took a hit after selecting the gold miners fund before their spring crash.  That was humbling and we hope you used stops but we are glad to have selected those US broad market funds that led the world for so many months even if it dinged our relative numbers.  The model has proven its value again by separating from the benchmark right before it began to falter over the past month.  However, our 3 month numbers still bear those winter bruises as the 2 month heal but our 1 month are back to the races.  That does not include GXC’s 10 Diamond run but it does include PWO which similarly dominated the Green Diamond model for most of the spring and outperformed handsomely.  It has dropped down to the low 7s with its latest quarterly reconstitution which is underperforming.  That is a risk with smart beat funds that can change substantially each quarter.

We do not measure the performance of our reflective Red Diamond Risk Ratings because they are not predictive.  Our Green Diamond Reward Ratings, along with our Quant scores have proven to be even more effective than their numbers suggest.  We are glad to finally get some separation from the benchmark with the emerging markets funds that are performing so well.  Not many other sources were recommending emerging markets after the June swoon and nobody else reports on the performance of their ratings.  Thank you for recognizing the value of ETF Global^® and have a nice weekend.