Did you ever just look at a list of stocks or ETFs, roll your eyes, and feel tempted to start shopping on line for a dartboard? That’s pretty much how I felt looking this week at the list produced by my ETF Pullback strategy (see Appendix below for details and performance information). Here’s the current list:
- PowerShares DB Commodity (DBC)
- WisdomTree International Real Estate (DRW)
- iShares MSCI Switzerland (EWL)
- Market Vectors Poland (PLND)
- PowerShares S&P SmallCap Energy (PSCE)
Here was last week’s list:
- PowerShares DB Silver Fund (DBS)
- CurrencyShares Swedish Krona (FXS)
- Market Vectors Poland (PLND)
- ETFS Silver Trust (SIVR)
- iShares Silver Trust (SLV)
(I suppose this might be a good time to mention that if that dartboard approach is starting to intrigue you, the Winmau Blade III Bristle Dartboard is ranked 5-star by 64 reviewers on Amazon.com.)
For those who aren’t yet ready to go the dartboard route, I need to start by noting that the PowerShares DB commodity fund serves as a reminder of how we can’t always rely on the name of an ETF to cue us as to the factors likely to most heavily influence its performance. It appears to provide general commodities exposure. It does, indeed, touch on all the major categories. But about half the portfolio is energy with another 10% consisting of precious metals. If you’re interested in things like industrial metals, grains, softs, etc., this is not the best choice for you.
As to the energy exposure, I’m not sure how I feel this at present. The first time I looked at today’s headlines, it appeared that oil had finished correcting and was poised to recover a bit in response to reports of lower inventories. Barely an hour later, it appeared that oil would continue to fall given the prospect of ongoing economic sluggishness. Who can
