NSA Can Peek Into Your Smartphones: Report (via slashdot)The National Security Agency can access data from smartphones, according to Germany’s Spiegel Online. Google Android and BlackBerry devices, as well as Apple iPhones, are among the smartphones apparently vulnerable to government snooping. Spiegel…
By The Sizemore Letter
It’s tough to make predictions. Especially about the future.
The quote above is alternatively attributed to the physicist Neils Bohr and to the New York Yankee catcher Yogi Berra. But it is nonetheless true, particularly in the financial markets.
Of course, that doesn’t seem to stop us from trying.
I bring this up because Barron’s recently polled its “10 Street Seers,” an elite group of Wall Street strategists, to get their forecasts for S&P 500 year-end value, the 10-year Treasury yield and more. The results were a little underwhelming.
On average, the analysts expected the S&P 500 to rise by 65 points—or about 4% from current levels. The most bearish analyst saw the S&P 500 shedding 33 points. The highest forecast was also the most popular; three out of the ten saw the S&P 500 adding 117 points to 1750 by year end. The entire range of forecasts was only 150 points; not a lot of independent thought here.
The forecasts for the 10-year Treasury yield were even less diverse. The average forecast was for a 0.12% rise in yield. Four of the ten analysts had a target yield of 3%, and the range from highest estimate to lowest estimate was a pitiful 50 basis points.
These are ten extremely bright people with ten forecasts that are noteworthy only for their lack of originality. What gives? Why the excessive conservatism?
Wall Street analysts aren’t that different from the rest of us. They suffer from a recency bias, or a tendency to give a disproportionate importance to recent events. Yet at the same time, they have a tendency to anchor and adjust their forecast rather than start a fresh forecast with revised assumptions. And capping it all off, they are prone to groupthink and herding behavior. And finally, there is what I like to call the “save your ass” bias. If a forecaster makes a bold call—and turns out to be wrong—he is probably going to be out of a job. This incentivizes them to make their forecast within a tight band of acceptable, consensus thinking.
All of these combine to make a foul cocktail of conflicting mental impulses that give us forecasts that are consistently too bland to be useful.
I have a piece of advice: Don’t waste your time forecasting.
You should have a basic understanding of the macro environment you are in, and you should have an opinion of, say, the direction the stock market or interest rates are likely to go. But this kind of thinking shouldn’t occupy a lot of your time, and there is no value in being overly precise in your estimates.
Instead of focusing on the precise interest rate, think in terms of contingencies. What would happen to my portfolio if interest rates shot higher? And what can I do to mitigate that risk? And importantly, at current market prices, am I being compensated adequately for the risks I’m taking?
As a practical example, I expect bond yields to fall from current levels, as I believe that the tapering fears are vastly overdone. But I also know that I could be wrong about that. To protect my Dividend Growth Portfolio from this risk, I am focusing on companies with a history of aggressively raising their dividends rather than focusing on high current yield.
As they say, past performance is no guarantee of future results. A company with a long history of paying dividends can abruptly stop. We saw plenty of that in 2008 and 2009. But I would trust a good company’s dividend record before I put my faith in a Wall Street forecast.
This piece first appeared on MarketWatch.
Charles Lewis Sizemore, CFA, is the editor of the Sizemore Investment Letter and the chief investment officer of investments firm Sizemore Capital Management. Click here to learn about his top 5 global investing trends and get your copy of “The Top 5 Million Dollar Trends of 2013.”
This article first appeared on Sizemore Insights as Forecasts are Useless
By Admiral Markets
You may have heard about forex trading bots or automatic trading software and how they can make huge profits in the currency markets so easy that you won’t even have to monitor them. The marketing gurus says all you have to do is simply turn them on and let them start making a profit for you. You will be rich in no time at all!
Of course, it is not that easy. But in reality, beyond the “get rich instantly” hype, there can be many benefits to using automated currency trading software to make your trades for you. There are many things machines can do better than humans when it comes to the trading game and executing orders. Of course, there are also downsides that you have to consider as well.
Here is our quick list of the pros and cons of automated forex software so you can make an informed decision as to whether you should use it or not.
Pros
Forex trading software can help you trade without emotion. One of the biggest downfalls of a currency trader is when he lets emotions such as fear and greed influence the way he makes his trades. With automated software, this won’t happen since the program makes trades based purely on the strategy programmed into it.
You can make trades around the clock. You won’t have to be limited to making trades when you’re awake, since the program can trade for you 24 hours a day. Since currency trading is a global activity, you can usually find trading going on somewhere and make profit from it. And you don’t even need to have your computer turned on since some software providers allow you to trade on their servers.
Since you’re trading using proven strategies, you can potentially make bigger profits than if you traded live on your own.
The software can discover trading opportunities for you that you may otherwise never have discovered, by finding patterns and trends in the price data.
The software can react more quickly than a live trader to trading opportunities that may last for just a short time, allowing you to capture profits from quick price fluctuations.
Cons
The software works purely by technical analysis or trading algorithms. If you are a trader who uses fundamental analysis, the software may not be useful for you since it is not good at identifying trading opportunities based on political and economic developments and other fundamental factors.
The effectiveness of the software in making successful trades may be overstated. Many times, the claims come from results derived through “back testing” rather than actual live trades so the software may not work as well in a real-world setting.
The automated software may not be able to adjust to markets that are experiencing a lot of volatility, depending on how sophisticated its programming is.
Not all trades will work with automated software, which may result in losing money on some trades because the program did not know how to handle them.
Hopefully, our list above will help you in your decision-making on whether automated forex trading software is right for you or your trading style. As always when trying out new trading tools, it is important to practice with them before you try them with real money.
Content Source: http://www.admiralmarkets.com.au/platforms-software/
London Gold Market Report
from Adrian Ash
BullionVault
Mon 9 Sept 08:30 EST
The PRICE of GOLD edged $10 per ounce lower Monday morning in what dealers called “dull, thin” trade following Friday’s sharp jump on US jobs data.
A surge in Asian share prices – attributed to Tokyo winning the 2020 Olympics bid, plus official news of 7% annual growth in China’s exports and imports in August – failed to lift European stock markets.
Gold dropped back to $1382 as commodities also fell with major European government bond prices.
Silver lost 1.5% from Friday’s finish, reached after weaker-than-expected US jobs data saw the precious metal regain the previous day’s near-4% loss.
“Gold shot up over $30 as a result,” notes Mitsubishi strategist Jonathan Butler, “as expectations of significant QE tapering were pushed out beyond September.
“If gold successfully clears the $1400 level, the next technical stop is around $1435.”
But “with a lot of analysts calling for tapering to start in September,” reckons broker Marex Spectron, “this will limit the upside [in silver and gold prices].
“If it wasn’t for the Syrian situation, we would be lower.”
Pointing to last week’s peak of 3% in 10-year US Treasury yields, “Gold [had] felt some pressure from rising interest rates,” says Edward Meir, writing for brokers INTL FC Stone.
Thanks to conflicting US data, “Confusion will likely prevent gold from weakening substantially over the course of this week,” he add, “but we suspect that the selling should intensify after the Fed meeting is out of the way.”
“Heightened geopolitical tensions regarding Syria contributed to gold’s recent strength,” agrees Barclays’ analyst Suki Cooper, warning gold investors that “our economists believe [Friday’s US non-farm payrolls] report was sufficient to greenlight a tapering of Fed asset purchases this month.”
Fresh from the G20 summit of developed and emerging-market economies in St.Petersburg, IMF director Christine Lagarde asked the US Fed in comments at the weekend to consider the global impact of any tapering of its QE program.
Thanks to pressure on emerging-market currencies, “There is a lack of buyers in the Treasury market,” Bloomberg today quotes a trader at Scotiabank, because emerging-market central banks are selling US bonds “to back up their currencies” on the FX market.
However, “as US yields continue to rise,” notes Japanese trading house Mitsui’s Singapore team, “so too do the servicing costs of the US debt. [Gold] will likely hold above $1350” in the near term.
Alongside a bullish bet on base metals, commodity analysts at US investment bank J.P.Morgan advised clients on Friday to close their “underweight [position] in precious metals” because of “positive momentum, cleaner positions and the impending start to the US debt ceiling negotiations.”
Hedge funds and other professional speculators in the US derivatives market last week grew their bullishness on gold to the highest level since end-March.
The group’s “net long” position of bullish minus bets rose 1.1% to equal 397 tonnes, according to the weekly commitment of traders data from US regulator, the CFTC.
That rise came primarily thanks to another drop in the number of bets that gold would fall – now cut below 40% of July’s multi-decade peak.
Private investors trading gold futures and options meantime grew their net long as a group to the highest level since 16 April – the spring’s first gold-price crash, and the worst two-day drop in 33 years.
Compared to their 5-year average, traders with so-called “unreportable” positions now hold 7.6% more bearish bets on US gold derivatives. Larger speculators on the other hand now hold 37.6% more bearish contracts than their 5-year average.
Even so, “We believe the risks are still skewed to the downside” for gold prices, says a note from Swiss investment bank – and London market maker – UBS today, “especially given how much shorts have covered over the past two months.
“There is now ample room for fresh selling should QE-tapering be confirmed.”
Gold price chart, no delay | Buy gold online
Adrian Ash is head of research at BullionVault, the secure, low-cost gold and silver market for private investors online, where you can buy gold and silver in Zurich or Singapore for just 0.5% commission.
(c) BullionVault 2013
Please Note: This article is to inform your thinking, not lead it. Only you can decide the best place for your money, and any decision you make will put your money at risk. Information or data included here may have already been overtaken by events – and must be verified elsewhere – should you choose to act on it.
EURUSD found a support on Friday after NFP report around 1.3100 area from where we have seen 80 pip rally back to the wave 2-wave 4 trendline. Usually when this occurs it means that five wave decline is complete and that market reversed into a temporary correction. As such, we are now tracking an A-B-C retracement back to 1.3225-1.3250 region before we may turn bearish again. In that zone we can also see a former wave four that may react as a reversal zone and cause a new sell-off for the pair.
EURUSD 4h Elliott Wave Analysis
Written by www.ew-forecast.com | Try EW-Forecast.com’s Services Free for 7 Days at http://www.ew-forecast.com/service
Asian equities started the trading week with gains, which were assisted by the array of positive news and upbeat data released on Monday and over the weekend. Equities in Japan was seen with the most gains after the economy posted a rise in growth in the second quarter, along with news that Japan would be hosting the 2020 Olympic Games.
The Japanese benchmark Nikkei 225 index advanced 2.48% to 14,205.23 points, following the positive news posted earlier showing a rise in the country’s economy in the second quarter..
Japan’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate on an annual basis rose to 3.8% higher, climbing higher than previous reading of 2.6%.
Investors were pleased with the positive news announced over the weekend that the country’s capital will be hosting the 2020 Olympics, as the event is expected to boost the real estate and construction sectors.
Another separate report released, showed that Japan’s ministry of finance said that the current account balance ended with a ¥334-billion surplus at the end of August, compared to ¥646 billion in the previous month.
The weaker yen also assisted the stocks and exporters, as it headed towards the ¥100 threshold. The nation’s currency was seen 0.55% lower against the greenback at ¥99.64 at the time of writing.
Tokyo’s broader Topix index gained 2% 1,170.82 points.
The trading session in China also started positive with gains, as Hong Kong’s Hang Seng advanced 0.55% higher to 22,744.98 points and the country’s mainland Shanghai composite rose 3.15% to 2,207.32 points.
The gains were assisted by the upbeat data released over the weekend, which showed the number of exporters rose in August by 7.2% on an annual basis, indicating that the world’s second-largest economy is recovering faster than expected.
The country’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose by 2.6% year-on-year in August, while on a monthly basis it rose 0.5% in August.
Another reports released from the National Bureau of Statistics of China showed that the Producer Price Index (PPI) for August edged up to -16% from -2.3 in the previous month.
China’s politburo is expected to cut the annual growth target to 7% by 2014 and 2015, however the expansion pace will be higher, according to reports from the state research institute.
The South Korean benchmark Kospi index advanced 0.99% higher to 1,974.67 points.
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The post Asian Equities Gains Led By Upbeat Data & Olympics appeared first on | HY Markets Official blog.
Article provided by HY Markets Forex Blog
European Stocks were seen starting the week mixed as investors’ worries over the expected decision from the US policymakers, whom are expected to decide if any military attack in Syria will be taken or not.
The European Euro Stoxx 50 edged 0.04% lower to 2,802.24 at the time of writing, while the German DAX advanced 0.11% to 8,284.65. The French CAC 40 dipped 0.18% to 4,041.99 and the British FTSE 100 dropped 0.19% to 6,535.42.
The US congress is expected to decide on whether the US will take on any military action against Syria by Tuesday, as the President Barack Obama is expected to talk more on his call for intervention in Syria with major US television stations later on Monday. Obama is scheduled to hold a televised speech on Tuesday.
According to Yves Mersch, Executive board member of the European Central Bank, a second debt haircut for Greek was not necessary.
In an interview for Presse am Sonntag , Mersch said that he “can’t prevent anyone from starting speculative rumors, but at the moment we have a program in which [another debt haircut] is not envisaged and isn’t necessary, either.”
He also stated that it would still take some time before Europe beat the crises, regardless of the positive macroeconomic data’s released during the summer.
Mr Mersch also added that Europe was not facing any danger in inflation at the present.
France gross domestic product (GDP) advanced in the third quarter, compared the previous forecasted rise of 0.1%, estimated by the Bank of France (BoF).
The Bank of France is predicting the business and services climate indicators in France to pick up in August, reaching 97 and 93 points respectively.
Gains were seen during the Asian trading session, assisted by the positive news over the weekend and the upbeat data released on Monday. As stocks in Japan advanced the most after the country’s economy showed a rise in growth in the second quarter, along with the news that Tokyo would host the 2020 Olympics games.
While in China, the consumer prices edged up 2.6% higher in August, while the wholesale price deflation eased at 1.6% in August.
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The post European Stocks Mixed on Syria Worries appeared first on | HY Markets Official blog.
Article provided by HY Markets Forex Blog
By www.CentralBankNews.info
The unprecedented response of central banks to the global financial crises has fundamentally changed the framework and nature of central banking by blurring the lines between fiscal and monetary policy, according to Stephen Cecchetti, outgoing chief economic adviser to the Bank for International Settlements (BIS).
Now that the U.S. Federal Reserve is preparing to exit from quantitative easing, the issue for Cecchetti is what central banks are exiting to and what the future operating framework will be.
One thing is clear to Cechetti: “We are not going to go back,” he told Central Bank News in an interview.
Later today the board of the BIS is expected to pick a successor to Cecchetti, who is leaving as planned after a five-year term as adviser.
As part of their response to the crises, major central banks slashed their policy rates to essentially zero and stuffed their balance sheets with assets that traditionally were never held by central banks, be it the Fed’s purchases of mortgage-backed securities of the Bank of Japan’s purchases of corporate debt.
In the years to come, the balance sheets of major central banks will slowly shrink as they exit quantitative easing, but they are likely to remain much larger than before the crises, Cecchetti said.
This will have consequence for central banks’ operational framework.
One of the lessons from the massive expansion of central banks’ balance sheets is that the composition, or maturity structure of their assets, matters much more than previously thought and affects the yield curve more than most people accept.
Just as the mandates of many central banks have been widened to include responsibility for financial stability, the tools used by central banks to guide economic activity have multiplied and are now much more targeted and refined compared with the relatively blunt tool of a single benchmark interest rate.
Central banks are now targeting specific economic sectors rather than just providing credit to the banking sector, whether this targets small businesses, the housing sector or the dairy industry.
A few examples of the tools that target an economy’s specific sectors include the Federal Reserve’s purchases of housing-related debt, the countercyclical buffers being introduced by the central banks of Norway and Switzerland to cool property prices and Sri Lanka central bank’s loan scheme for its dairy industry.
Another consequence of the change in U.S. financial markets since the crises is that the Federal Reserve may pick a new operational target for implementing monetary policy.
“I am not sure the Fed in the future will target the overnight unsecured interbank lending rate,” Cecchetti said, referring to the fed funds rate.
Since the early 1980s the Federal Reserve has used open market operations – typically the sale and purchase of treasury securities – to affect the fed funds rate, which is used by banks when they lend excess reserve balances at the Fed to each other overnight.
“The reason is that there may not be a very big market because banks will be more hesitant to lend unsecured to each other,” he added.
At this point, the fed funds rate is largely symbolic as it was cut to between 0 and 0.25 percent in December 2008 in response to the crises and probably won’t be raised until 2015 when the U.S. jobless rate is forecast to fall the 6.5 percent, one of the Fed’s two thresholds for raising rates.
“Maybe they are going to pitch some other operational target,” Cechetti said, suggesting repurchase rates.
And there are indeed growing signs that the Fed is preparing to use new tools in the world post-QE.
Since 2009 the Fed has carried out several reverse repurchase agreements with its primary dealers to test the operational readiness of such a tool.
Most recently, the New York Fed said on Aug. 5 that it would be conducting another series of small-value reverse repurchase transactions using Treasury and mortgage backed security collateral “to ensure that this tool will be ready to support any reserve draining operations that the Federal Open Market Committee might direct.”
During the April meeting of the FOMC, the Fed’s policy-making body, several members raised the possibility that “the federal funds rate might not, in the future, be the best indicators of the general level of short-term rates,” according to the minutes from the meeting.
Then at the July meeting, Fed staffers briefed the FOMC on how an overnight reverse repo facility could be designed as a possible complement to the payment of interest on banks excess reserves to improve the Fed’s “ability to keep short-term market rates at levels that it deems appropriate,” according to the minutes.
While Cecchetti admits that has no insight into the Fed’s decision-making process, he is familiar with its inner workings.
Among the positions Cecchetti held before joining the BIS in 2008 was executive vice president and director of research from 1997-1999 at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the arm of the Fed that implements monetary policy through market operations.
Though the Fed says that “no inference should be drawn about the timing of any change in the stance of monetary policy” from the tests of repo rates, it adds that they are “a matter of prudent advance planning by the Federal Reserve.”
The main issue that Cecchetti and the BIS has with the larger role of central banks in economic policy is that it has blurred the lines between fiscal and monetary policy, thus threatening their independence.
“What you now see is that central banks can essentially subsidize certain kinds of activities in the real economy through their balance sheet manipulation and that is a concern to me because we had always drawn a line between fiscal and monetary policy,” he said.
Cecchetti doesn’t fault central banks for taking the decisions they took during the height of the global financial crises, but questions how you can describe the Federal Reserve’s purchase of substantial amounts new mortgages since 2009 and 2010 as solely a monetary policy operation.
“We are going to have a hard time pulling back from this quasi-fiscal nature with their balance sheets. That is my biggest concern,” Cecchetti said.
Cecchetti first warned in May that the process of exiting quantitative easing by the Federal Reserve would trigger financial market volatility and he expects foreign exchange rates to continue to move a lot, presaging further volatility in the months ahead.
“You will see policy adjustments that can be pretty big as some central banks will be tightening while others are continuing to ease at the same time,” he said.
“There will be interest rate volatility, there will be exchange rate volatility, there will be a need for different policy paths as some economies are going to be recovering and others not.”
By www.CentralBankNews.info Stephen Cecchetti, chief economic adviser to the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), is leaving Basel, Switzerland and heading back to his home in Lexington, Massachusetts on a high.
This year’s annual BIS report was a blockbuster, creating more newspaper headlines than any of the institution’s previous 82 annual reports, a personal success for Cecchetti who has spent the last five years working to get the BIS message across to a wider audience than just central bankers.
For Cecchetti, however, it’s still too early to tell whether this year’s message was transmitted effectively and understood by policy makers, his main objective since he joined BIS in 2008.
“Much of the press think we must be speaking to central banks but in fact our audience is wider” Cecchetti told Central Bank News in an interview.
“The BIS needs to engage constituencies beyond the central banks in order to ensure that its message is effective,” he added.
Later today, the BIS board is expected to announce the name of a new economic adviser who will succeed Cecchetti who only intended to serve one five-year term.
As head of the BIS’ monetary and economic department, Cecchetti is responsible for the annual report, which this year hammered home the message that central banks have pulled the global economy back from the abyss and it is now up to politicians to do the heavy lifting.
Instead of engaging in quasi-fiscal policies, central banks should take a step back and return to their traditional focus of price stability along with the new task of insuring financial stability.
Cecchetti’s strategy for getting central bank governors to pay attention to this message is initially to go beyond merely speaking to them and engage opinion leaders, academics, journalists and the public.
“I need the thought leaders to hear what we say so that our messages come back to the governors through the channels that they listen to in their own countries,” he said.
“These are the people that are partly influencing public opinion and the governors are accountable to the public in their countries.”
The picture that Cecchetti paints is a far cry from the populist descriptions of the BIS as an Orwellian Big Brother where shadowy private financiers collude with unelected central bank governors and manipulate the global economy over a glass of cognac in a smoke-filled room.
This image of the BIS is partly fueled by its ownership structure – only central banks can now its shares – and what a casual observer passing by Basel’s main train station would see:
A daily parade of serious-looking central bankers and financial supervisors in dark suits that disappear into the 18 story BIS tower building, at times guarded by armed Swiss police.
Black limousines with smartly-dressed drivers wait a few quick steps from the building’s revolving doors, ready to speed off into the night at a moments notice with governors of the world’s most powerful central banks.
If the BIS has any power, it is its ability to get these governors to sit around a table six times a year and listen to each other.
BIS management, including Cecchetti, get to know the views and sensitivities of some of the governors, but monetary policy is ultimately based on national economic conditions.
“We want them to think more about the impact of their policies on each other,” said Cecchetti, echoing the BIS’ long-standing view that major central banks should pay more attention to the global repercussions of their national policies.
The BIS has always considered itself to be independent of national interests and takes pride in forming its own view of global economic policies. This is commonly known as the “BIS view” and most poignantly expressed in its respected annual reports.
“We’re an independent global voice in the central banking community,” Cecchetti said.
The annual reports are never sent to BIS shareholders or directors in advance but the views expressed naturally reflect some of the ideas that Cecchetti and BIS management pick up during the two days every other month that they spend with the governors.
“It is possible for us to say things that some of the governors may be thinking,” he said.
Regardless of their statutory independence, it may be difficult for some governors to publicly criticize their own governments so the BIS can sometimes help provide a cover for those views.
“Sometimes we can say things that hopefully will be helpful,” he said.
One of Cecchetti’s legacies is forging closer ties to the academic community. Since its founding in 1930, the BIS has been a focal point for cooperation among the world’s central banks, not only as a host for central bank governors but also for research of international finance and monetary economics.
But while a global network of central bank economists has been built up over the years, BIS never actively engaged with academics. This began to change around 2000 and now researchers from academic institutions spend time at the BIS and conduct joint research with BIS colleagues.
“We want to get the best minds on board,” said one BIS staffer.
Cecchetti – professor of finance at Brandeis University before joining the BIS with a degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a doctorate from the University of California Berkeley – has helped strengthen this network with academics.
“It has made the BIS much more effective in its work to be engaged with the global research community,” said Cecchetti.
BIS working papers – between 20 and 30 are published every year – reflect the closer cooperation between its own staff and economists from universities or research institutions with the work becoming more technically sophisticated and academically solid.
At the same time, Cecchetti has made it a point to make the BIS writing style easier to digest, or “more journalistic,” as he said.
“We want to make our products more focused and clearer, less central-bank-like. I wanted to make our messages more direct,” said Cecchetti – at his core an American but with the sensibilities of a European.
By The Sizemore Letter
Two macro themes that have been plaguing the market this summer should be reaching their conclusions this month: the Syria War and the long-awaited tapering of quantitative easing.
I’ll start with Syria. The civil war has been raging for more than two years, and I am not suggesting that it is anyone close to being over. But the Western response to the use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime could be launched within the week.
Should we fear a long and drawn out war? No. As I wrote this week, the goal of the United States and France is to punish Assad, not remove him from power.
Will he retaliate? I doubt it. He’s winning his war, and I don’t see him being foolish enough to put his regime at risk. And the West has no stomach for a drawn-out engagement.
For investors, I expect developments in Syria to be non-events.
What about the Fed’s tapering? Once it begins, won’t it suck out the liquidity that the bull market has depended on?
Not likely. In the absence of real information from the Fed, bond investors have decided to sell first and ask questions later, essentially pricing the worst-case scenario into bond prices. When the Fed shows its cards (presumably at its meeting this month), I expect bond yields to fall as tapering proves to be less bad than feared.
Great. Now, what are we supposed to do with this information? I expect the market to trade in a choppy range until there is guidance from the Fed and until the Syrian crisis has passed. This give us an opportunity to accumulate the highest-quality equities that have seen their prices sag this summer.
A great ETF option is the Cambria Shareholder Yield ETF (SYLD). SYLD is an actively managed ETF that invests in 100 stocks with market caps greater than $200 million that rank among the highest in (a) paying cash dividends, (b) engaging in net share repurchases, and (c) paying down debt on their balance sheets.
Any of these criteria alone would be a good screen for quality, good management, and shareholder friendliness. Taken together, and SYLD becomes a veritable super-ETF.
SYLD is not an ETF I recommend you actively trade. There are better options out there for short-term market timing, and SYLD is a new security with somewhat thin trading volume. But for the portion of your portfolio invested in long-term growth assets, SYLD should feature prominently.
I added SYLD to my Tactical ETF Portfolio earlier this summer, and I continue to recommend it on any pullbacks.
This article first appeared on TraderPlanet.
Charles Lewis Sizemore, CFA, is the editor of the Sizemore Investment Letter and the chief investment officer of investments firm Sizemore Capital Management. As of this writing, he was long SYLD. Click here to learn about his top 5 global investing trends and get your copy of “The Top 5 Million Dollar Trends of 2013.”
This article first appeared on Sizemore Insights as SYLD: An ETF to Accumulate on Market Pullbacks
