When things get quiet—and they have become SO quiet lately, as if people have decided just to call the entire year a “wrap” at this point—I like to trot out the ETFs and speak in general terms about what I’m seeing. So that’s what we’ll do this with post.
Below are ten exchange traded funds, with some commentary in the caption of each. As usual, click on any chart for a much larger version.
1. Invesco DB Commodity Index Tracking Fund (NYSE:DBC): Commodities continue to hover in their “stalled” position. I think it’s going to just hover below that horizontal until it finally succumbs to economic gravity.
2. iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (NYSE:EEM): This had been (past tense!) a beautiful pair of rounded tops, but it broke free and has now lurched to lifetime highs.
3. VanEck Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:GDX): I was really pleased with how this went. I’ve been waiting for precious metals, and miners, to turn lower, and perhaps we got a start on this yesterday.
4. SPDR® Gold Shares (NYSE:GLD): The same can be said, of course, for gold, which has a nice clean pattern above it.
5. iShares U.S. Home Construction ETF (NYSE:ITB): Homebuilders ever-so-slowly continue to carve out what, in the end, could be a very good top
6. SPDR® S&P Bank ETF (NYSE:KBE): Banks got some strength yesterday. There are some formidable horizontals above, most particularly the higher one, which is anchored to a price gap.
7. Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ:QQQ): The NASDAQ 100 gave up about 7 days’ worth of gains in a single session. We are very near an important support level.
8. VanEck Vectors Semiconductor ETF (NYSE:SMH): A bulwark of the NASDAQ’s strength is semiconductors. This sector slipped, although it is nowhere near breaking its long-term uptrend.
9. Energy Select Sector SPDR® Fund (NYSE:XLE): Energy is very close to its own price gap, so this could be a low-risk, high-reward zone for shorting.
10. Financial Select Sector SPDR® Fund (NYSE:XLF): Finally, the financials fund has the same characteristics of KBE, shown earlier.