International ETFs have exploded in popularity, largely due to the fact that they make it relatively easy for an individual investor to trade a singe focused country or region. Remember, however, that ETFs differ from each other, sometimes in huge ways, so be sure to investigate the holdings and structure of an ETF/ETN before you invest or trade in it.

Let's take a look at the top-performing International ETFs on a Year-To-Date basis for 2009 (data source here):

2009 YTD Top Performing International ETFs

The Financial sector led us into the market meltdown of the past couple of years. Since the market bottomed in March, however, Financial shares have led us higher. So what is this important sector, specifically the Banks, telling us now?

Let's take a look at the performance of the diversified S&P 500 Index (SPX) (SPY) versus the long-standing KBW Bank Index (BKX). In the first chart below, you can see that the BKX has basically doubled the gain of the SPX since the March 9th market bottom.

Internet retail giant Amazon (AMZN) reported blowout earnings Thursday (see earnings call transcript here), with strong numbers on its Kindle electronic book technology impressing many.

AMZN continues to be the dominant player in the "click-and-mortar" sales biz ... they seem to offer virtually every product in the world through their site and their various partners.

Usually we here at BigTrends are focused on shorter-term charts, such as 60 minute and Daily ... all in an effort to gain an edge over the markets through the use of indicators and the leverage of options. However, it can be important to see the "big picture" from long-term charts. Stepping back to "see the forest" can often help in your long-term investing and asset allocation.

With that in mind, take a look at the S&P 500 Index (SPY) Monthly Chart below. This chart covers about 15 years of data. You can see the large swings and clear Bull & Bear markets we have had over this time frame, all of which lasted multiple years. Depending on your technical viewpoint, it also forms famous patterns such as Double Top, 'M' Shape, or even a "Reverse Head and Shoulders".

Much has been made recently about the recent strength in Silver, especially relative to Gold. Some pundits said the ratio between the two metals could continue to expand. Statistically, we know that trends often tend to revert to the mean ... and that anamolies in price performance between 2 related securities often dissipate eventually.

If you take a look at the price performance chart of the iShares Silver Trust (SLV) and the SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) ETFs below, you can see that the outperformance of SLV recently reached an extreme level. However, since about September 16th, we look to be heading lower in this ratio. Two previous outperformance spikes in SLV this year were reversed sharply lower to near the performance level of GLD. These previous instances were also mildy bearish indications for GLD, but relative to SLV it was an outperformer.

Gold has bumped up against its recent highs. This is an area where over the past it has reversed lower. Will this occur again?

In my analysis, the likelihood is that Gold will break through to new relative highs. There may be a pullback in the short-term, but it will be a relatively small and healthy correction.

The Airline Sector has been on a roll recently. Yesterday, in fact, the AMEX Airline Index (XAL) gained about 1.8%, while the S&P 500 Index (SPX) was down around 0.3%. This group has long been disliked on a fundamental basis due to their low profit margins, poor balance sheets, and unwieldy cost structures.

However, the tape tells all, as they say, and this group has been very strong in the 3rd quarter of 2009. Take a look at how an Airline ETF, Claymore Arca Airline (FAA), has performed versus the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) since July of this year:

The fast-food restaurant behemoth McDonald's (MCD) reported same-store year-over-year sales growth of 2.2% Wednesday. This news caused the shares to move lower as it didn't match up well to last year's numbers. MCD has not really participated in the market rally since March ... on the other hand, it didn't get crushed in the market selloff from September 2008 to March 2009.

If you take a look at the longer-term MCD Weekly Chart below, you can see that it is forming what could be called a "sideways triangle" formation. This is due to lower highs and higher lows, forming a narrowing range of movement and volatility. The Band Width Indicator at the bottom of the chart shows the narrowing range of the Bollinger Bands, also indicating the decreasing volatility. This type of formation is often a "coiled spring" which precedes a major breakout OR breakdown in a stock, index, commodity, etc.

The financial sector is continuing its strong uptrend today. It appears that many investors/traders/funds are reconsidering the positioning, balance sheets, and profit potential of many companies in this group. After the massive selloffs seen over the past 2 years, many financial stocks are coming off extremely low levels and have made huge gains since the March market bottom.

Currently, it looks as if the runup in banks, brokers, and many other financial-related companies is accelerating. There appears to be developing a buying near-panic which is turning almost parabolic in its nature -- somewhat the reverse of the panic selling we saw last year and early in 2009. This could also include shorts being squeezed. Another factor contributing to the runup may be large amounts of Call buying, which then causes Market Makers (who fill public option orders) to buy underlying stock to hedge their short Call positions.

There's been much talk of potential future inflation due to worldwide governmental monetary policies -- and many focus on potential future upside in Gold. But what about Gold's "little sister" Silver? The inter-relationship between the two metals has long been discussed and analyzed -- while there probably are not as many Silver "Beetles" as Gold Bugs, they certainly do exist. The metals have long been intertwined in the minds of many investors -- seen for example by the fact that one of the oldest sector indices is the Philadelphia Gold & Silver Index (XAU) which covers a variety of mining companies.

Using the iShares Silver Trust ETF (SLV) as a proxy for Silver prices, you can see on the following Weekly chart that there has been a basic uptrend in place since October 2008. The main trendline channel that I have drawn has been violated on the downside recently -- however, this looks to me as if SLV is forming a secondary channel within the bigger uptrend. You can see the upside break of this channel in February 2009 was quickly reversed back to the mean. Weekly Percent R has pulled back to the key middle areas around 50, which is a possible area of support for a bounce higher.

The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 Index (SPX) options. After hitting over 80 last year, the VIX has been downtrending in recent months.

As you can see on the following chart, the VIX has broken below its previous range. How low can the VIX go? Well, looking back to 2007/2008, the 17 area was an important bottom several times.

General Electric (GE) has long been considered one of the ultimate market bellwethers, with its giant industrial components combined with a massive finance arm. The company has been a Dow Jones Industrial Average component since inception in 1896. GE reported earnings last week and gave a fairly bleak outlook for its various industrial divisions (including broadcasting). Second quarter industrial sales fell 7%, order backlog fell, and the company ratcheted down their expectation of industrial earnings to break-even from a possible $5 billion profit previously. Its GE Capital division did post a profit, but this unit has been a major contributor to the company cutting its dividend and losing its 'AAA' bond rating this year.

GE shares have drastically underperformed the markets in 2009. As you can see in the following chart, GE (yellow) is down about 30% YTD, while the S&P 500 Index (SPX) is up around 5% currently.

GE vs SPX 2009 Performance Chart

Google (GOOG) is due to report earnings next Thursday, July 16th (likely due after the market closes). This is one day before July Options expire on July 17th, so it provides an interesting situation to examine for option traders. This article is for educational purposes only and is not to be considered a specific trade recommendation on GOOG options, I do not have any current positions or recommendations on the shares, and other BigTrends analysts may trade GOOG in either direction before next week's earnings. These are the kinds of techniques and analysis we utilize in BigTrends Advanced Options Strategies advisory service program and in BigTrends ACE Live Coaching.

The following chart shows data captured today from OptionVue regarding GOOG options prices. You can see that with the stock around 409, the July 410 Straddle (which is the Call & Put combined) was priced a bit under 28, which is around a 54% implied volatility. The August options, on the other hand, are only priced around a 37% implied volatility -- this discrepancy can largely be explained by the fact that earnings are due before July Expiration.

Oil prices peaked at around $147 a barrel on July 11, 2008. We are now about 11 months after that bubble burst, and Oil has recently climbed as high as $70 a barrel. A scan of the best and worst performing ETFs over a 52 week time frame (excluding Ultra and Short ETFs) shows the damage that has been seen in the Energy Sector since that time.

On the Worst Performers list below, you can see 3 directly related Energy ETFs, all down 56%+ over the past 52 weeks: Natural Gas (UNG), Crude Oil (USO), and Heating Oil (UHN). Interestingly enough, an "alternative energy" ETF that is involved in Solar stocks (TAN) is also down over 56%.

Let's take a look at some of this week's top- and bottom-performing ETFs and ETNs. Keep in mind that we cull the list to avoid duplicate sectors and we toss out Ultra, UltraShorts, 2X, 3X, Inverse, etc. ETFs. Some of these names are lightly traded and may be fairly illiquid. Make sure that you research the holdings and design of these ETFs before considering any trade.

click to enlarge

Let's take a look at some of this week's top- and bottom-performing ETFs and ETNs. Keep in mind that we cull the list to avoid duplicate sectors and we generally toss out Ultra, UltraShorts, 2X, 3X, Inverse, etc. ETFs (although there is 1 Ultra and 1 Short in this week's list).

Some of these names are lightly traded and may be fairly illiquid. Make sure that you research the holdings and design of these ETFs before considering any trade.

Let's take a look at some of this week's top- and bottom-performing ETFs and ETNs. Keep in mind that we cull the list to have a variety of sectors and we toss out Ultra, UltraShorts, 2X, 3X, & Inverse ETFs.

Some of these names are lightly traded and may be fairly illiquid. Make sure that you research the holdings and design of these ETFs before considering any trade.

We examined the performance of some leading broad-based and sector indices since the March 9th bottom. The first chart below shows the percent gain/loss in 9 widely followed indices from March 9th to the present.

You can see the biggest gains were in the Bank and Broker/Dealer sectors, with the S&P Bank Index ($BIX) up over 110% when this data was captured yesterday. Of course, even including the recent gain, this Bank Index is down about 71% going back 2 years, so the recent performance must be taken with a grain of salt. After Banks & Brokers, the next 2 recently outpeforming groups among those examined are Retail and Transports, both up in the 50% range off their lows. These economically-sensitive groups are somewhat logical outperformers, given that economic expectations have risen greatly in recent weeks. Next we have the S&P 500 Index ($SPX) and Nasdaq 100 Index ($NDX), both up 30% plus off the March lows. What is interesting here is that the S&P 500 has matched the Nasdaq's performance, which is a bit of a reversal from previous months where the Nasdaq was outperforming.

Co-authored by Joe Sunderman

If you are a long premium options trader, volatility is a necessary element to be successful. If volatility is lacking, time decay (Theta) will make this financial instrument a challenging (or even more challenging) one. These days, volatility is not lacking. In fact, volatility is thriving. For a long premium options trader, there is nothing like having market tailwinds to benefit your options strategy.

First, I don't claim to be a world-class expert on the intricacies of bank balance sheets, collateralized mortgage obligations (CMOs), and the like. But the debate regarding the "mark-to-market" (MTM) of bank and investment company assets is a fairly familiar subject to me, as I am experienced with derivatives, leverage and risk. As a former CBOE Market Maker, I had open options positions with a stock hedge (that were at times gigantic and involved hundreds of strikes on a single equity) that had to be priced every single trading night. The pricing of these options is called mark-to-market -- basically the clearing firm would price every option, usually using a bid/ask average or a theoretical price, depending on its liquidity. This would then be compiled into a risk profile/risk matrix on that particular equity's options.

Currently as a Portfolio Manager at BigTrends, we "mark-to-market" our client trade recommendations every trading night, using auto-broker fill prices and bid/ask averages. A Bid/Ask average is often better to use for options than Last Trade, because some options may not trade very often if at all during a given day. For stock positions, the Last Trade is an easy logical way to mark-to-market, which is what brokerage houses use to value your positions.