AdvisorShares, one of the largest issuers of actively-managed ETFs, has forged a partnership to bring an active sector rotation ETF to market. The new Rockledge SectorSAM ETF (SSAM), which began trading Thursday, will seek to generate stable and consistent returns in all market conditions, developing a dollar neutral portfolio comprised of sector ETFs. The new ETF will utilize the Sector Scoring and Allocation Methodology (“SSAM”), a technique based on a proprietary quantitative analysis model that forecasts the projected returns to various sectors of the U.S. economy. The ETF will establish long positions in sector ETFs that are expected to outperform the S&P 500 and short positions in those that are expected to underperform that benchmark. [click to continue…]
This time last year, investors were generally thrilled with the performances of their portfolios, which had continued to bounce back nicely from the devastating recession that hit in 2008. Unfortunately, few are feeling the same sense of accomplishment as 2011 draws to a close; this year has been frustrating in that a few large, swift [...]
Equity markets have taken a wild ride this past year as everything from an unimaginable earthquake in Japan to a looming debt crisis in Europe has taken its toll on investors’ confidence. As 2011 draws to a close, many are left scratching their heads in confusion and uncertainty, given the predominantly gloomy economic outlook that [...]
Although stocks initially rose in Monday’s trading session on the back of a solid jobs report, markets plunged soon afterward as fears of a European crisis once again crushed investor confidence. Fitch downgraded the sovereign debt of both Italy and Spain, while some are speculating that a similar move may be in the near future [...]
As the economy has continued to weaken in recent months, investors have pushed towards safer choices in a number of sectors of their portfolios. Generally speaking, funds in a few select, defensive sectors tend to benefit in this environment, namely those in the health care, utilities, and consumer staples niches. Yet, while some sectors have held up pretty well [...]
To call the last few weeks volatile would be an understatement. Markets have some of their most violent trading days in recent memory, as the beginning of August brought multiple days with swings higher than 5% in major equities indices. Amid a botched debt negotiation and a downgrade of U.S. debts by Standard and Poor’s, [...]
Sector rotation techniques have been around for decades, a relatively simple strategy often used by investors seeking to capitalize on short-term mispricings in order to generate alpha. In its most basic form, sector rotation involves segmenting the equity universe by industry, and moving into and out of various sectors depending on relative attractiveness from a [...]
Despite a sinking dollar and a move away from U.S. Treasury bonds, most equities finished the session lower thanks to more poor data and speculation over Friday’s jobs report. The Dow led the way on the downside, falling by 0.3% in the session, compared to a 0.1% loss for the broad S&P 500. Meanwhile, the [...]
Last week marked a shortened trading week in observance of Good Friday, but that does not mean that investors were left with an uneventful four days. On the contrary, markets went haywire last week as a downgrade of the outlook on U.S. debt crushed markets one day, only to see them rally on strong earnings [...]
With markets reaching highs not seen since 2008, investor confidence is quickly on the rise. Yesterday marked a seventh straight finish in the green for the Dow, as positive indicators continue to flow in from a variety of market sectors. It would appear that markets have overcome the struggles in Egypt, as major indexes have [...]
Equity markets have been extremely rocky as of late with many sectors oscillating between heavy gains and losses thanks to a variety of new data points from around the world. As a result, many investors have placed a renewed focus on firms targeting ‘safer’ industries such companies operating in the consumer staples field. Some of [...]
