First Leg of Trade Pact

December 16, 2019 - It was a record week for the major US Indices as trade talks between the US and China ushered their first resolution. The first leg of the trade deal was agreed to in principal meaning the imposition of new tariffs, scheduled for December 15^th, was put on hold while China agreed to purchase more US agricultural goods. For the week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended just 0.1% off of its record high at 28,135. The S&P 500 gained 21 points to 3,168 and the Nasdaq Composite also finished up, gaining 57 to close the week at 8,734, both record highs.

In ETFs, we saw the largest inflows into the biggest ETFs on the market. SPY, the SPDRS S&P 500 ETF, led the way gaining over $3.8B in assets for the week. That was followed by VTI, the Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF, which gained over $1.5B in assets. In outflows, we saw investors pull money out of fixed income ETFs. LQD, the iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF, lost over $700M in assets the last week. That was followed by IEF, the iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF, which lost over $400M, all according to our ETFG Fund Flow Summary.

ETFG Quant Movers – Those ETFs who have had the largest weekly change in their respective, overall ETFG Quant ratings.

ETFG Quant Winners: In ETFG Quant Movers, we had an eclectic group of products add the most to their overall scores. The VictoryShares International High Dividend Volatility Weighted ETF, CID, gained the most points to its overall score with the addition of 9.43. That was followed by the Legg Mason Small-Cap Quality Value ETF, SQLV and the SPDR NYSE Technology Fund, XNTK, which added 7.11 and 7.02 to their overall Quant scores respectively.

ETFG Quant Losers: On the loser’s side, we saw Japanese focused ETFs drop in their overall scores. This was led by the SPDR Solactive Japan ETF, ZJPN, which lost 7.65 to its overall score. That was followed by the iShares MSCI Japan ETF, EWJ and the WisdomTree Japan Hedged Equity ETF, DXJ, which lost 7.39 and 6.20 to their overall scores respectively.

ETFG Weekly Select List - The five most highly rated ETFs per Sector, Geographic Region and Strategy as ranked by the ETFG Quant model.

Because of this sector’s success, we’d like to highlight some substantial movement in the Communications portion of this week’s Select List. The Communications Services Select Sector SPDR Fund, XLC, took the reigns at the top of the list. That knocked off the Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Communication Services ETF, EWCO, which finished in second place this week. IYZ, the iShares US Telecommunications ETF swapped places with the Fidelity MSCI Telecommunications Services Index ETF, FCOM, which finished 3rd and 4th respectively.  Rounding out the top 5 this week was the SPDR S&P Telecom ETF, XTL, which knocked the Vanguard Communications Services ETF, VOX, off the list.

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