We Begin the First 100 Days

Monday, January 30, 2017 - Ever since Franklin D. Roosevelt assumed his role as the 32nd President of the United States in March of 1933, each subsequent presidency has often been defined and judged by the actions they take during their first 100 days in office. FDR inherited a nation that was mired in the depths of the Great Depression. Upon assuming office, FDR immediately used the powers of the presidency to undo certain policies of his predecessor and steer the country into a new direction. 15 landmark bills were passed during FDR's first 100 days that laid the groundwork for his entire presidency. While FDR's circumstances were unique, the legacy of the first 100 days has endured, as a period for a new president to take swift and decisive actions to reshape the country according to his or her vision. This transition period is now often regarded as a measure of presidential effectiveness and a barometer of the policy direction the country will undergo with each new president.

Accordingly, the first week of Trump's presidency has been subject to intense scrutiny. Similar to FDR, albeit for different reasons, Trump has taken office during a period of widespread uncertainty. This uncertainty has kept the markets on edge since November's election, as investors have awaited a clear policy direction from our new administration. The uncertainty that accompanied the Trump administration began to abate this week, during which Trump acted on several of his campaign pledges on trade, regulation, immigration and foreign policy. As the priorities of Trump's administration have begun to emerge, investors are now assessing the areas of the economy that appear poised to benefit from our new President.

The major benchmarks all registered new highs thanks to last week's emerging policy clarity, positive earnings reports, and continued hope for faster economic growth. Most notably, the Dow Jones Industrial Average broke through 20,000 milestone for the first time in its 120 year history. Not surprisingly, the Dow's index-tracking counterpart, the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (DIA), was among the top asset-gathering funds for the week, attracting nearly $595M in inflows.

Trump's early executive actions indicate that deregulation and infrastructure spending will be priorities of his administration. This fueled optimism among investors for related sector and industry funds deemed to benefit from these policy shifts, such as the Materials Select Sector SPDR (XLB) and ALPS Alerian MLP ETF (AMLP). XLB and AMLP rose 3.4% and 3.5% respectively for the week.

Our Quant Movers list paints a similar picture, where the perceived winners and losers of the Trump rally have registered the largest movements. IJR, the iShares Core S&P Small Cap ETF, is currently the top rated fund according to our Quant model. This conforms to the prevailing sentiment that domestically focused small-cap companies will prosper under Trump's protectionist policies and relaxation of regulations. Similarly, our top two Quant movers on the week are from the financial sector, whose prospects appear bright under Trump's pro-growth, anti-regulatory policy shifts. The Financial Select Sector SPDR (XLF) and iShares U.S. Broker-Dealers ETF (IAI) saw large rises in their behavioral scores amid this improving sentiment and ended the week as our top Quant gainers. Conversely, sentiment continued to sour on defensive sectors, like utilities, with the Utilities Selector Sector SPDR (XLU) experiencing the largest drop in our Quant behavioral score.

As the Trump administration's priorities continue to crystallize during his first 100 days, so will investors' understanding of how to operate and where they should consider deploying capital under our new president.

Thank you for Reading ETF Global Perspectives!

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Assumptions, opinions and estimates constitute our judgment as of the date of this material and are subject to change without notice.  ETF Global LLC (“ETFG”) and its affiliates and any third-party providers, as well as their directors, officers, shareholders, employees or agents (collectively ETFG Parties) do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, adequacy or timeliness of any information, including ratings and rankings and are not responsible for errors and omissions or for the results obtained from the use of such information and ETFG Parties shall have no liability for any errors, omissions, or interruptions therein, regardless of the cause, or for the results obtained from the use of such information. ETFG PARTIES DISCLAIM ANY AND ALL EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, SUITABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE.  In no event shall ETFG Parties be liable to any party for any direct, indirect, incidental, exemplary, compensatory, punitive, special or consequential damages, costs, expenses, legal fees, or losses (including, without limitation, lost income or lost profits and opportunity costs) in connection with any use of the information contained in this document even if advised of the possibility of such damages.

ETFG ratings and rankings are statements of opinion as of the date they are expressed and not statements of fact or recommendations to purchase, hold, or sell any securities or to make any investment decisions. ETFG ratings and rankings should not be relied on when making any investment or other business decision.  ETFG’s opinions and analyses do not address the suitability of any security.  ETFG does not act as a fiduciary or an investment advisor.  While ETFG has obtained information from sources they believe to be reliable, ETFG does not perform an audit or undertake any duty of due diligence or independent verification of any information it receives.

This material is not intended as an offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any security or other financial instrument. Securities, financial instruments or strategies mentioned herein may not be suitable for all investors.  Any opinions expressed herein are given in good faith, are subject to change without notice, and are only correct as of the stated date of their issue.  Prices, values, or income from any securities or investments mentioned in this report may fall against the interests of the investor and the investor may get back less than the amount invested.  Where an investment is described as being likely to yield income, please note that the amount of income that the investor will receive from such an investment may fluctuate.  Where an investment or security is denominated in a different currency to the investor's currency of reference, changes in rates of exchange may have an adverse effect on the value, price or income of or from that investment to the investor.

Short Week but Historic

Monday, January 23, 2017 - This was certainly an historic week given the inauguration of our new President, Donald Trump and the ongoing reviews and confirmations of now President Trump's cabinet members.

With the short trading week and the uncertainty of political change, volume was significantly lower than normal as stocks dropped for the second week in a row. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell .3%, the S&P 500 Index dropped .1% and the NASDAQ lost .3%. Company Earnings reports fueled most of the volume in the market this week.

Interestingly, only 3 Sectors ended the week in the red but two of them were pretty significant - the Financials and Health Care sectors took the biggest hit losing 1.5% each, while consumer Discretionary only took a small .04% loss. On the other side, Consumer Staples was the best performing sector with a gain of 2.06%. A big driver of the Consumer Staples gain was Procter and Gamble’s beating analyst estimates on Friday with profits of $1.08 per share versus expectations of $1.06 per share on sales of $16.85 B versus the $16.77 B expectation and an increase of 3% in the stock price.

Via the ETF Exposure report, we can see what ETFs have the greatest exposure to Proctor and Gamble and see how they performed this week. The 3 biggest holders of Proctor and Gamble are XLP, Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund, FSTA, Fidelity MSCI Consumers Staples ETF, and VDC Vanguard Consumer Staples ETF. They hold 12.37%, 10.9%, and 10.51% respectively and all 3 funds increased by roughly .5% this week.

This week in the ETFG Quant Movers, we have IJR, Ishares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF, BWV, iPath CBOE S&P 500 buywrite index ETN, and JDG, Wisdomtree Japan Dividend Growth Fund, that gained the most in our quant score.  IJR increased by 22.61 points, BWV increased by 18.88, and JDG increased by 14.18 points.  On the flip side we have HDEF, Deutsche X trackers MSCI EAFE High Dividend Yield Hedged Equity ETF, XLF, Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund, and VRP PowerShares Variable Rate Preferred Portfolio that lost the most points in our quant score. HDEF lost 23.25, XLF lost 20.52, and VRP lost 19.7.

This week in our Select List we have 2 funds that went from being unraked last week all the way to the number 1 spot in their respective Categories.  IJR, iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF in the North America category, and TAN, Guggenheim Solar ETF, in the Theme Category.

Thank you for Reading ETF Global Perspectives!

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Assumptions, opinions and estimates constitute our judgment as of the date of this material and are subject to change without notice.  ETF Global LLC (“ETFG”) and its affiliates and any third-party providers, as well as their directors, officers, shareholders, employees or agents (collectively ETFG Parties) do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, adequacy or timeliness of any information, including ratings and rankings and are not responsible for errors and omissions or for the results obtained from the use of such information and ETFG Parties shall have no liability for any errors, omissions, or interruptions therein, regardless of the cause, or for the results obtained from the use of such information. ETFG PARTIES DISCLAIM ANY AND ALL EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, SUITABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE.  In no event shall ETFG Parties be liable to any party for any direct, indirect, incidental, exemplary, compensatory, punitive, special or consequential damages, costs, expenses, legal fees, or losses (including, without limitation, lost income or lost profits and opportunity costs) in connection with any use of the information contained in this document even if advised of the possibility of such damages.

ETFG ratings and rankings are statements of opinion as of the date they are expressed and not statements of fact or recommendations to purchase, hold, or sell any securities or to make any investment decisions. ETFG ratings and rankings should not be relied on when making any investment or other business decision.  ETFG’s opinions and analyses do not address the suitability of any security.  ETFG does not act as a fiduciary or an investment advisor.  While ETFG has obtained information from sources they believe to be reliable, ETFG does not perform an audit or undertake any duty of due diligence or independent verification of any information it receives.

This material is not intended as an offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any security or other financial instrument. Securities, financial instruments or strategies mentioned herein may not be suitable for all investors.  Any opinions expressed herein are given in good faith, are subject to change without notice, and are only correct as of the stated date of their issue.  Prices, values, or income from any securities or investments mentioned in this report may fall against the interests of the investor and the investor may get back less than the amount invested.  Where an investment is described as being likely to yield income, please note that the amount of income that the investor will receive from such an investment may fluctuate.  Where an investment or security is denominated in a different currency to the investor's currency of reference, changes in rates of exchange may have an adverse effect on the value, price or income of or from that investment to the investor.

Winner's Spotlight - ETF Global® Portfolio Challenge

Thursday, January 19, 2017 - Wyatt Smith is a student at the University of Central Florida who will be graduating in 2017. He has been a prominent player in the ETF Global Portfolio Challenge since its inception but this past semester he was a standout as he placed 1^st in our highest played competition to date!

We asked Wyatt a few questions about the game and his career aspirations – here’s what he had to say:

Q.  What's your biggest takeaway from the ETF Global Portfolio Challenge?

A.  Practice is the prequel. Through the ETF Global Portfolio Challenge, I was able to take advantage of rebalancing strategies while leveraging access to a multitude of different market sectors, indices and commodities to be successful. The opportunities that accompany the ETF Global Portfolio Challenge have assisted me in identifying trends and growing my knowledge base on the use of Exchange-Traded-Products. Learning this and applying it to the markets in a simulated manner has been extremely advantageous in applying investment hypotheses.

Q.  What are your career aspirations?

A.  My aspirations focus on serving others with their investments. Whether it is working as an Investment Adviser and applying sound, specific financial recommendations for clients, or as a licensed Agent of a broker-dealer to execute trades and requests for my book of investors, I would be doing what I am deeply passionate about. I would not be opposed to gaining experience in either avenue of this diverse industry.

Q.  What did you learn about ETFs and investing?

A.  ETFs have been a great educational tool for me, as it has been for many students and aspiring investors. ETFs capture overall industries, sectors, indices and commodities with all of the exposure to the systematic and unsystematic risk of the market. They provide diversification and are extremely useful to money managers who expose their clients to specific areas of the market while still remaining diversified. What has been most educational and experimental for my own experiences are the different implementation/trading methods that can be executed through the use of leveraged funds.

We thank Wyatt for his participation in this survey and commend him on his impressive performance in our portfolio challenge.

Enrollment (Free) for the Spring 2017 Portfolio Challenge is currently open until Friday, February 17^th at www.etfportfoliochallenge.com. We invite all college students to compete and learn about the markets and the fast-growing world of ETFs.

Thank you for reading ETF Global Perspectives!

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Assumptions, opinions and estimates constitute our judgment as of the date of this material and are subject to change without notice.  ETF Global LLC (“ETFG”) and its affiliates and any third-party providers, as well as their directors, officers, shareholders, employees or agents (collectively ETFG Parties) do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, adequacy or timeliness of any information, including ratings and rankings and are not responsible for errors and omissions or for the results obtained from the use of such information and ETFG Parties shall have no liability for any errors, omissions, or interruptions therein, regardless of the cause, or for the results obtained from the use of such information. ETFG PARTIES DISCLAIM ANY AND ALL EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, SUITABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE.  In no event shall ETFG Parties be liable to any party for any direct, indirect, incidental, exemplary, compensatory, punitive, special or consequential damages, costs, expenses, legal fees, or losses (including, without limitation, lost income or lost profits and opportunity costs) in connection with any use of the information contained in this document even if advised of the possibility of such damages.

ETFG ratings and rankings are statements of opinion as of the date they are expressed and not statements of fact or recommendations to purchase, hold, or sell any securities or to make any investment decisions. ETFG ratings and rankings should not be relied on when making any investment or other business decision.  ETFG’s opinions and analyses do not address the suitability of any security.  ETFG does not act as a fiduciary or an investment advisor.  While ETFG has obtained information from sources they believe to be reliable, ETFG does not perform an audit or undertake any duty of due diligence or independent verification of any information it receives.

This material is not intended as an offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any security or other financial instrument. Securities, financial instruments or strategies mentioned herein may not be suitable for all investors.  Any opinions expressed herein are given in good faith, are subject to change without notice, and are only correct as of the stated date of their issue.  Prices, values, or income from any securities or investments mentioned in this report may fall against the interests of the investor and the investor may get back less than the amount invested.  Where an investment is described as being likely to yield income, please note that the amount of income that the investor will receive from such an investment may fluctuate.  Where an investment or security is denominated in a different currency to the investor's currency of reference, changes in rates of exchange may have an adverse effect on the value, price or income of or from that investment to the investor.

4th Quarter Earnings Season

Tuesday, January 17, 2017 - With the beginning of the fourth quarter's earnings season, major U.S benchmarks ended the week with mixed results. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was off .4%, the S&P 500 index dropped .1% and the NASDAQ eked out a gain of 1%.

Financials, which have been outperforming since the election of Trump, ended on a high note. Most of the earnings released this week were from major banks. Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase outperformed expectations, while on the other hand, Wells Fargo fell short of estimates. During earnings seasons, we review the ETFG Equity Exposure report to determine which ETFs carry the greatest exposure to these stocks. The ETFs with the greatest collective exposure to these three stocks are XLF, Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund, VFH, Vanguard Financials Index Fund and FTXO, First Trust NASDAQ Bank ETF, which hold 8%, 6.4% and 4.07% respectively.

Some other sectors also squeaked out small positive margins - Industrials, Consumer Discretionary, Information Technology and Healthcare had respective returns of .33%, .31%, .27% and .11%. Some of this was caused by the good news data that came out that retail sales increased by 0.6% in December, specifically with gains in autos, furniture and online sales.

In our ETFG Quant movers section, we have CSLS, Credit Suisse X-Links Long/Short Equity ETN, HDEF, Deutsche X-Trackers MSCI EAFE High Dividend Yield Hedged Equity ETF and FNDE, Schwab Fundamental Emerging Markets Large Company Index ETF as the Biggest Gainers for the week. They gained 13.74%, 11.05%, and 9.75%.

The 3 funds that dropped the most in our ETFG Quant score were BWV, iPath CBOE S&P 500 Buy Write Index ETN, INCO, EGShares India Consumer ETF and SILJ, Purefunds ISE Junior Silver Small Cap Miners/Explorers ETF. They dropped 17.11%, 9.78%, and 9.51% respectively.

On the Weekly ETFG Select List, 3 new funds made it to the top spot in their respective categories: XRT, SPDR S&P Retail ETF, moved from the 3rd spot to first in the Consumer Discretionary category, BBH, VanEck Vectors Biotech ETF, moved to number one in the Health care category and EMIF, iShares Emerging Markets Infrastructure ETF, was the number 1 ranked in the Theme category.

Thank you for Reading ETF Global Perspectives!

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Assumptions, opinions and estimates constitute our judgment as of the date of this material and are subject to change without notice.  ETF Global LLC (“ETFG”) and its affiliates and any third-party providers, as well as their directors, officers, shareholders, employees or agents (collectively ETFG Parties) do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, adequacy or timeliness of any information, including ratings and rankings and are not responsible for errors and omissions or for the results obtained from the use of such information and ETFG Parties shall have no liability for any errors, omissions, or interruptions therein, regardless of the cause, or for the results obtained from the use of such information. ETFG PARTIES DISCLAIM ANY AND ALL EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, SUITABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE.  In no event shall ETFG Parties be liable to any party for any direct, indirect, incidental, exemplary, compensatory, punitive, special or consequential damages, costs, expenses, legal fees, or losses (including, without limitation, lost income or lost profits and opportunity costs) in connection with any use of the information contained in this document even if advised of the possibility of such damages.

ETFG ratings and rankings are statements of opinion as of the date they are expressed and not statements of fact or recommendations to purchase, hold, or sell any securities or to make any investment decisions. ETFG ratings and rankings should not be relied on when making any investment or other business decision.  ETFG’s opinions and analyses do not address the suitability of any security.  ETFG does not act as a fiduciary or an investment advisor.  While ETFG has obtained information from sources they believe to be reliable, ETFG does not perform an audit or undertake any duty of due diligence or independent verification of any information it receives.

This material is not intended as an offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any security or other financial instrument. Securities, financial instruments or strategies mentioned herein may not be suitable for all investors.  Any opinions expressed herein are given in good faith, are subject to change without notice, and are only correct as of the stated date of their issue.  Prices, values, or income from any securities or investments mentioned in this report may fall against the interests of the investor and the investor may get back less than the amount invested.  Where an investment is described as being likely to yield income, please note that the amount of income that the investor will receive from such an investment may fluctuate.  Where an investment or security is denominated in a different currency to the investor's currency of reference, changes in rates of exchange may have an adverse effect on the value, price or income of or from that investment to the investor.

ETF Global Dynamic Model Portfolios

Friday, January 13, 2017 - The ETFG Dynamic Model Portfolios (4 Base Portfolios and 8 “Tilts”) continued to perform well in wrapping up 2016 - updated portfolio performance may be viewed here:  ETF Global Dynamic Model Portfolio Performance through 4Q 2016

All information on the program including Components, Asset Class, Geography and Focus exposure for the ETFG Model Portfolio Program is available under the “Model Portfolios” Tab at www.etfg.com

In looking at the Selections and Rebalancing for 1Q 2017, two primary themes emerge within the equity allocations:

·         On the Domestic Equity allocations, there is a continued overweight to Small Cap with a slight focus towards Value and Momentum. Both the PowerShares Contrarian Opportunities (CNTR) and iShares Core S&P MidCap (IJH) ETFs rotated out and were replaced with two SPDR funds, SPDR Russell Small Cap Completeness (SMD) and SPDR Russell 1000 Yield Focus (ONEY).

·         On the International Equity allocations, exposure to the Asia Pacific region was increased with the addition of the First Trust Asia Pacific Ex-Japan AlphaDEX (FPA) fund.  While both the iShares Core MSCI EAFE (IEFA) and the FlexShares Morningstar Developed Markets ex-US Market Factor Tilt (TLTD) were removed on the broad international allocations, Schwab Fundamental International Large Company (FNDF) was added to the already mentioned First Trust fund (FPA).

·         Please note that actual changes are specific to each model.

Each ETFG Dynamic Portfolio is a multi-asset class portfolio and comprised of the top ETFs as ranked by the ETF Global Quant model. All portfolios rebalance quarterly. The universe of U.S. Listed, equity ETFs is reviewed by the ETFG Quant model daily and represents the broadest range of industry groups, sectors and geographic regions.  Please see the most recent quarter's overview, holdings and updated performance for the ETFG Dynamic Model Portfolio Program here:  http://www.etfg.com/about-model-portfolios

Thank you for Reading ETF Global Perspectives!

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Assumptions, opinions and estimates constitute our judgment as of the date of this material and are subject to change without notice.  ETF Global LLC (“ETFG”) and its affiliates and any third-party providers, as well as their directors, officers, shareholders, employees or agents (collectively ETFG Parties) do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, adequacy or timeliness of any information, including ratings and rankings and are not responsible for errors and omissions or for the results obtained from the use of such information and ETFG Parties shall have no liability for any errors, omissions, or interruptions therein, regardless of the cause, or for the results obtained from the use of such information. ETFG PARTIES DISCLAIM ANY AND ALL EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, SUITABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE.  In no event shall ETFG Parties be liable to any party for any direct, indirect, incidental, exemplary, compensatory, punitive, special or consequential damages, costs, expenses, legal fees, or losses (including, without limitation, lost income or lost profits and opportunity costs) in connection with any use of the information contained in this document even if advised of the possibility of such damages.

ETFG ratings and rankings are statements of opinion as of the date they are expressed and not statements of fact or recommendations to purchase, hold, or sell any securities or to make any investment decisions. ETFG ratings and rankings should not be relied on when making any investment or other business decision.  ETFG’s opinions and analyses do not address the suitability of any security.  ETFG does not act as a fiduciary or an investment advisor.  While ETFG has obtained information from sources they believe to be reliable, ETFG does not perform an audit or undertake any duty of due diligence or independent verification of any information it receives.

This material is not intended as an offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any security or other financial instrument. Securities, financial instruments or strategies mentioned herein may not be suitable for all investors.  Any opinions expressed herein are given in good faith, are subject to change without notice, and are only correct as of the stated date of their issue.  Prices, values, or income from any securities or investments mentioned in this report may fall against the interests of the investor and the investor may get back less than the amount invested.  Where an investment is described as being likely to yield income, please note that the amount of income that the investor will receive from such an investment may fluctuate.  Where an investment or security is denominated in a different currency to the investor's currency of reference, changes in rates of exchange may have an adverse effect on the value, price or income of or from that investment to the investor.

Age of Entropy

Monday, January 9, 2017 - The election of Donald Trump replaces an era of relative predictability with one of uncertainty which our colleagues at Societe Generale so appropriately named the Age of Entropy – after the thermodynamic term used to describe higher levels of randomness.

The post WWII era of free trade, open markets and Pax Americana looks to be ending and more to the wallet, being succeeded by the era of cheap money from Central Banks as G-7 Governments pivot to Fiscal Spending. What will replace this regime and what the consequences will be are unknown.

What is known is that the President-Elect’s tweets targeting Boeing, Ford, and Toyota have not been ignored by their corporate stewards or investors. In US economic news, Average Hourly Earnings grew 2.9% year-over-year, the fastest pace since 2009. ISM Manufacturing and Non-Manufacturing Indexes came in better than expected indicating that the Republican Administration is inheriting a healthy economy – at least on a statistical level. Investors continue to be confident by voting with their wallets and bidding up stocks this week with the S&P 500 up 1.70% and the Russell 2000 up by .75%. Long Live the Trump Rally!

More importantly for those of us who are ETF investors, 2016 was another banner year for the ETF Industry.  Worldwide investors put at least $375bn in new money into ETFs according to early estimates from BlackRock. Indeed the historic shift seems to be accelerating as investors shift more money from actively managed mutual funds to ETFs and various lower fee indexing strategies. This gives investors of all sizes equal access to various asset classes previously only available to institutional investors. This shift is likely to bring new funds into difficult to access asset classes like Gold via GLD and with it, new price levels and volatility. No asset class will be spared including crypo-currencies once they are approved.

A number of other concerns could spoil the party and here are just a few:

First, there are the currency markets.  The dollar continues its upward move against most currencies at a level not seen since the Plaza Accord in the mid 1980s. Sooner or later, a strong dollar is bound to slow down exports and manufacturing employment.

Secondly, we have elections coming up in France and Germany which if populist politicians win, will make it more likely that the Euro will cease to exist as a currency regime. New Trump policies deregulating energy exploration, transportation and exportation are likely to rattle any price stability reached by OPEC and Non-Opec Energy producers.

Then of course the wild card is the imposition of tariffs, if any, in international trade, which could dramatically change the flow of goods, services and capital flows. Seldom do these adjustments occur without some pain.

Looking at our ETFG Quant Movers List for ETFs with highest percentage change in scores, we again see another  Russian ETF (ERUS) rising up the ranks, HUSE – US Equity Rotation - continues to move up as does VDC , the Vanguard Consumer Staples ETF and interesting, SBIO - the Alps Medical BreakThroughs ETF despite the virtual certainty to restructure the Healthcare Sector. Likewise, a number of Energy and related ETFs show up in our top 25 Global Theme list:  IEO, IXL, FILL, IYE, and IPW. Traders seeking short positions or to trade volatility should check our Red Diamond Risk Ratings particularly those rated at 7 or above. We continue to urge some caution to Fixed Income investors as the direction of interest rates is up.

Thank you for reading ETF Global Perspectives.

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Assumptions, opinions and estimates constitute our judgment as of the date of this material and are subject to change without notice.  ETF Global LLC (“ETFG”) and its affiliates and any third-party providers, as well as their directors, officers, shareholders, employees or agents (collectively ETFG Parties) do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, adequacy or timeliness of any information, including ratings and rankings and are not responsible for errors and omissions or for the results obtained from the use of such information and ETFG Parties shall have no liability for any errors, omissions, or interruptions therein, regardless of the cause, or for the results obtained from the use of such information. ETFG PARTIES DISCLAIM ANY AND ALL EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, SUITABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE.  In no event shall ETFG Parties be liable to any party for any direct, indirect, incidental, exemplary, compensatory, punitive, special or consequential damages, costs, expenses, legal fees, or losses (including, without limitation, lost income or lost profits and opportunity costs) in connection with any use of the information contained in this document even if advised of the possibility of such damages.

ETFG ratings and rankings are statements of opinion as of the date they are expressed and not statements of fact or recommendations to purchase, hold, or sell any securities or to make any investment decisions. ETFG ratings and rankings should not be relied on when making any investment or other business decision.  ETFG’s opinions and analyses do not address the suitability of any security.  ETFG does not act as a fiduciary or an investment advisor.  While ETFG has obtained information from sources they believe to be reliable, ETFG does not perform an audit or undertake any duty of due diligence or independent verification of any information it receives.

This material is not intended as an offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any security or other financial instrument. Securities, financial instruments or strategies mentioned herein may not be suitable for all investors.  Any opinions expressed herein are given in good faith, are subject to change without notice, and are only correct as of the stated date of their issue.  Prices, values, or income from any securities or investments mentioned in this report may fall against the interests of the investor and the investor may get back less than the amount invested.  Where an investment is described as being likely to yield income, please note that the amount of income that the investor will receive from such an investment may fluctuate.  Where an investment or security is denominated in a different currency to the investor's currency of reference, changes in rates of exchange may have an adverse effect on the value, price or income of or from that investment to the investor.

Winner's Spotlight - ETF Global® Portfolio Challenge

Friday, January 6, 2017 - Matthew Tarka, a sophomore at Xavier University, stands out when it comes to contestants in the ETF Global® Portfolio Challenge. He is the only student to ever finish in the top 25 in all three of our challenges, finishing 5^th in our most recent Fall 2016 ETF Portfolio Challenge and placing 1^st in our inaugural Fall 2015 contest.

We asked him a few questions about his experience in the portfolio challenge and his career aspirations:

Q: What is your primary takeaway from the ETF Global Portfolio Challenge?

A: My largest takeaway would be that it expanded my knowledge about using ETFs and how to use them in my personal investments. From basic ETFs that mirror major indices, to fixed income based ETFs, to leveraged inverse ETFs, there are so many different products on the market.

The ETF Global Competition has increased my awareness of investing using ETFs and truly how many different ETFs are on the market. It has provided with me invaluable opportunities to tour the NYSE and the NASDAQ as well as networking on Wall Street that I could not get through my university or where I am from because of the region I live in.

Q: How did the portfolio challenge help increase your knowledge about ETFs and investing?

A: I learned about ETFs and investing from competing in the ETF Global Portfolio Challenge and also what my trading strengths and weaknesses are and how they relate to markets.

Competing has helped me to better process market information and make decisions based upon that. I have found the competition invaluable for helping me figure out my personal desire to take on risk in a portfolio for potential returns.

Q: How was ETF Global’s research when evaluating and constructing your portfolio?

A: The ETF Global research platform proved to be incredibly useful in creating my portfolios. The information the platform has is unparalleled to any product on the market today. Being able to see in-depth information about a fund’s holdings and various useful statistics has helped me create winning portfolios.

Q: What are your career aspirations?

A: I would like to pursue trading for a commodity firm. The overall exposure I’ve gained to the investment field through attending the Expert Series conference by placing in the ETF Global Portfolio has been priceless.

We thank Matt for his participation in this survey and commend him on his impressive performance in our portfolio challenge.

Free enrollment for the Spring 2017 portfolio challenge is currently open until Friday, February 17th at www.etfportfoliochallenge.com. We invite all college students to compete and learn about the fast-growing ETF market!

Thank you for reading ETF Global Perspectives!

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Assumptions, opinions and estimates constitute our judgment as of the date of this material and are subject to change without notice.  ETF Global LLC (“ETFG”) and its affiliates and any third-party providers, as well as their directors, officers, shareholders, employees or agents (collectively ETFG Parties) do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, adequacy or timeliness of any information, including ratings and rankings and are not responsible for errors and omissions or for the results obtained from the use of such information and ETFG Parties shall have no liability for any errors, omissions, or interruptions therein, regardless of the cause, or for the results obtained from the use of such information. ETFG PARTIES DISCLAIM ANY AND ALL EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, SUITABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE.  In no event shall ETFG Parties be liable to any party for any direct, indirect, incidental, exemplary, compensatory, punitive, special or consequential damages, costs, expenses, legal fees, or losses (including, without limitation, lost income or lost profits and opportunity costs) in connection with any use of the information contained in this document even if advised of the possibility of such damages.

ETFG ratings and rankings are statements of opinion as of the date they are expressed and not statements of fact or recommendations to purchase, hold, or sell any securities or to make any investment decisions. ETFG ratings and rankings should not be relied on when making any investment or other business decision.  ETFG’s opinions and analyses do not address the suitability of any security.  ETFG does not act as a fiduciary or an investment advisor.  While ETFG has obtained information from sources they believe to be reliable, ETFG does not perform an audit or undertake any duty of due diligence or independent verification of any information it receives.

This material is not intended as an offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any security or other financial instrument. Securities, financial instruments or strategies mentioned herein may not be suitable for all investors.  Any opinions expressed herein are given in good faith, are subject to change without notice, and are only correct as of the stated date of their issue.  Prices, values, or income from any securities or investments mentioned in this report may fall against the interests of the investor and the investor may get back less than the amount invested.  Where an investment is described as being likely to yield income, please note that the amount of income that the investor will receive from such an investment may fluctuate.  Where an investment or security is denominated in a different currency to the investor's currency of reference, changes in rates of exchange may have an adverse effect on the value, price or income of or from that investment to the investor.

Entering the World of Trump

Tuesday, January 3, 2017 - The year 2016 was one that defied expert predictions from the expected Federal Reserve rate hikes, rises in energy, company bankruptcies, oil prices to the outcome of the Brexit referendum and the surprise upset of Donald Trump winning the US Presidency.

With lingering clouds in Europe, including bank insolvencies in Italy and the upcoming elections in both Germany and France, as well as the inherent challenges that the new President-Elect will encounter after January 20^th, 2017 promises to be a riveting year fraught with many potential bumps that could derail the Trump rally.

Despite 2016 starting on a rough road in Q1 with the S&P 500 being down over 9% by mid-February, the equity index rallied to end the year up with a total return of at 9.79%. With oil prices stabilizing, housing prices up, increasing consumer confidence, the rally in stocks seems likely to continue despite headwinds from a strong dollar. The US Bond Market is likely to remain choppy as the markets revalue interest rates and various types of fixed income instruments under a Trump Economic Reflation Strategy.

Looking at our ETFG Quant List, we see significant percentage gainers in increases for Russian Equities ERUS as well consumer staples with VDC, KXI, FXG and PSCC.   Interesting HUSE – the US Equity Rotation Strategy ETF moved up over 27% last week.  On our Behavioral scores, JDG, JPN, HAHA and EEMA reflecting Japanese equities, benchmark China CSI 300 and the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Asia ETF respectively moved up as well. Consumer and Asian ETFs also moved up in our Fundamental Ratings. Investors however should keep reserves to be prepared to take advantage of any “Black Swan” Events.

We wish all of our readers a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year - thank you for reading ETF Global Perspectives!

ETFG 21 Day Free Trial:  https://www.etfg.com/signup/quick

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Assumptions, opinions and estimates constitute our judgment as of the date of this material and are subject to change without notice.  ETF Global LLC (“ETFG”) and its affiliates and any third-party providers, as well as their directors, officers, shareholders, employees or agents (collectively ETFG Parties) do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, adequacy or timeliness of any information, including ratings and rankings and are not responsible for errors and omissions or for the results obtained from the use of such information and ETFG Parties shall have no liability for any errors, omissions, or interruptions therein, regardless of the cause, or for the results obtained from the use of such information. ETFG PARTIES DISCLAIM ANY AND ALL EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, SUITABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE.  In no event shall ETFG Parties be liable to any party for any direct, indirect, incidental, exemplary, compensatory, punitive, special or consequential damages, costs, expenses, legal fees, or losses (including, without limitation, lost income or lost profits and opportunity costs) in connection with any use of the information contained in this document even if advised of the possibility of such damages.

ETFG ratings and rankings are statements of opinion as of the date they are expressed and not statements of fact or recommendations to purchase, hold, or sell any securities or to make any investment decisions. ETFG ratings and rankings should not be relied on when making any investment or other business decision.  ETFG’s opinions and analyses do not address the suitability of any security.  ETFG does not act as a fiduciary or an investment advisor.  While ETFG has obtained information from sources they believe to be reliable, ETFG does not perform an audit or undertake any duty of due diligence or independent verification of any information it receives.

This material is not intended as an offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any security or other financial instrument. Securities, financial instruments or strategies mentioned herein may not be suitable for all investors.  Any opinions expressed herein are given in good faith, are subject to change without notice, and are only correct as of the stated date of their issue.  Prices, values, or income from any securities or investments mentioned in this report may fall against the interests of the investor and the investor may get back less than the amount invested.  Where an investment is described as being likely to yield income, please note that the amount of income that the investor will receive from such an investment may fluctuate.  Where an investment or security is denominated in a different currency to the investor's currency of reference, changes in rates of exchange may have an adverse effect on the value, price or income of or from that investment to the investor.