Sector and style rotation watch (DSG, DSV, ELG, ELV, IDU, IWB, IWM, IWZ, IYC, IYE, IYM, SHY, TIP, TLT)

The following table shows a number of classic style and sector rotation strategies that attempt to generate above index returns by correctly forecasting turning points in the economy, writes  Index Investor editor Tom Coyne. This table assumes that active investors are trying to earn high returns by investing today in the styles and sectors that will perform best in the next stage of the economic cycle.

The logic behind this is as follows: Theoretically, the fair price of an asset (also known as its fundamental value) is equal to the present value of the future cash flows it is expected to produce, discounted at a rate that reflects their relative riskiness. Current economic conditions affect the current cash flow an asset produces. Future economic conditions affect future cash flows and discount rates.

Because they are more numerous, expected future cash flows have a much bigger impact on the fundamental value of an asset than do current cash flows. Hence, if an investor is attempting to earn a positive return by purchasing today an asset whose value (and price) will increase in the future, he or she needs to accurately forecast the future value of that asset.

To do this, he or she needs to forecast future economic conditions, and their impact on future cash flows and the future discount rate. Moreover, an investor also needs to do this before the majority of other investors reach the same conclusion about the asset's fair value, and through their buying and selling cause its price to adjust to that level (and eliminate the potential excess return).

We publish this table to make an important point: there is nothing unique about the various rotation strategies we describe, which are widely known by many investors. Rather, whatever active management returns (also known as "alpha") they are able to generate is directly related to how accurately (and consistently) one can forecast the turning points in the economic cycle.

Regularly getting this right is beyond the skills of most investors. In other words, most of us are better off just getting our asset allocations right, and implementing them via index funds rather than trying to earn extra returns by accurately forecasting the ups and downs of different sub-segments of the U.S. equity and debt markets.

That being said, the highest year-to-date returns in the table give a rough indication of how investors employing different strategies expect the economy to perform in the near future. The highest returns in a given row indicate that most investors are anticipating the economic and interest rate conditions noted at the top of the next column. Similar returns in multiple columns (within the same strategy) indicate a relative lack of agreement between investors about the most likely future state of the economy.

Year-to-Date Classic Rotation Strategies

Economy	Bottoming	Strengthening	Peaking	Weakening
Interest Rates	Falling	Bottom	Rising	Peak
Style	Growth (IWZ) -1.76%	Value (IWW) 1.56%	Value (IWW) 1.56%	Growth (IWZ) -1.76%
Size	Small (IWM) -0.97%	Small (IWM) -0.97%	Large (IWB) 0.25%	Large (IWB) 0.25%
Style and Size	Small Growth (DSG) -1.16%	Small Value (DSV) -1.09%	Large Value (ELV) 0.38%	Large Growth (ELG) -4.01%
Sectors	Cyclicals (IYC) -3.26% Technology (IYW) -5.40%	Basic Materials (IYM) -7.24% Industrials (IYJ) -4.77%	Energy (IYE) 20.41% Staples (IYK) -1.02%	Utilities (IDU) 14.15% Financials (IYF) -2.42%
Bond Market	High Risk (VWEHX) 0.80%	Short Maturity (SHY) 0.90%	Low Risk (TIP) 2.50%	Long Maturity (TLT) 7.30%

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