Approximately once per month I will be running a high-yield momentum screen and post the results. Last months results are here.

The first screen looks for high yielding high momentum stocks. I screened the S&P 500 for stocks yielding greater then 4% and then ranked them by 6 month returns. There were 55 results and per a previous article, the highest momentum, high yield stocks have historically been the best performing so I have listed the top 20% (based on 6 month returns) of results, or 11 stocks:

I previously wrote that the Dubai default could lead to a short-term rally in the dollar, which consequently would drop equities. The idea was to hedge long equity positions by going long UUP if it broke above the $22.50-$22.65 level.

That trade did not materialize. However, UUP is still worth watching as a potential hedge play. The dollar is trading inversely to equities, so a rally in the dollar could potentially lead to a strong drop in equities. As Mebane Faber has noted, there is only one trade now (short dollar, long risk-assets, or vice versa). In addition, Jim Welsh recently noted:

I featured a custom portfolio at the beginning of July, titled 'Scott's Alternative'. Below is the update for December if you were to base buy / sell decisions on the 200 day moving average at the end of November. All of the ETFs are above their 200 day SMA except for LSC.

The portfolio is updated once per month.

Below are the 20 hottest ETFs , including leveraged funds, at the close on November 30th, based on the 6 month performance. A second list which excludes leveraged funds is listed second. Data excludes leveraged ETFs and the data source is FINVIZ.com.

For a list including leverage ETFs please visit the right hand side of Scott's Investments. Emerging market and commodity (metal) related ETFs are the general theme of the list below:

Below is a table in order of the sum of the 3, 6, and 12 month returns for individual country ETFs. Each column represents returns for various timeframes and the percent each ETF is above (or below) the 200 day moving averages as of November's close. Note that all country ETFs are above their 200 day moving average but that Japan's ETFs are flirting with the 200 day moving average. The top 5 based on the sum of the 3-6-12 month returns are below. They are familiar names: EWZ (Brazil), RSX (Russia), THD (Thailand), EWA (Australia), PIN (India). At the end of October, the top 5 were: EWZ, TUR (Turkey), THD, EWO (Austria), and RSX.

One potential strategy investors could use would be to purchase the top ETFs based on the sum of their returns over 3, 6, and 12 months. Or, one could purchase ETFs based solely on 6 month returns (a strategy featured on ETF Screen). An additional twist would be to only purchase the top performing ETFs if they are also above the 200 day moving average.

According to IndexUniverse, an intriguing leveraged ETN offering from Barclays is on the way. According to IU:

When you buy one of these ETNs, you are getting essentially fixed leveraged or inverse exposure to the market. If you bought the Barclays ETN+ Long C S&P 500 (NYSEArca: BXUC) on the day it launched, you would receive 200% of the return of the S&P 500 from the day you bought until the day you sell, minus expenses. If the S&P 500 goes up 10%, you’re investment will return 20%, before fees.

If you have followed the news the past few days, you are already aware of Dubai's inability to make their debt payments on schedule. The market sold off hard (albeit on low volume) on Friday in what is typically a sleepy day after Thanksgiving. It seems that US firms have little exposure to Dubai debt, with most of the direct exposure in the Middle East and Europe. Cumberland Advisors stated yesterday that they don't see a long term impact on the US or the dollar.

In the short-term, the dollar could rally on the Dubai news as overseas institutional investors seek safety. This is significant for equity investors because the dollar and equity markets have been negatively correlated for much of the past two years. A rising dollar has meant a falling market and vice versa (see first chart comparing $USD and $SPX). This is most likely a result of the 'dollar carry-trade' in which institutional investors are short the low-yielding dollar and long virtually everything else. So long as the dollar continues to fall, those who are short the dollar can continue to pour funds into every corner of the market; a rising dollar could mean quick liquidations of leveraged investment positions. Hence, we have seen the market rally in the face of seemingly bad news and porous fundamentals for much of 2009. Long term the fundamentals for the dollar are not encouraging and the Fed has shown no signs of raising rates (which would damper the dollar carry-trade).

Below is another great study profile at cxoadvisory.com with regards to value stocks and positive earnings surprises. The study was conducted by Zhipeng Yan and Yan Zhao and CXO summarizes below:

Below is a list of ETFs making trading at new 52 week highs on Friday, ranked in order of 6 month performance. Leveraged ETFs are included. Gold is one theme on the list, as is technology and 3 international oriented funds made the list, iShares Israel (EIS), iShares United Kingdom (EWU), and Currency Shares Australian Dollar Trust (FXA):

Author's Disclosure: No Positions

In early October I detailed 2 high yield investment strategies (part 1 and 2) that have had a history of outperformance. Below is the list of stocks meeting the two strategies criteria as of the close on November 6th. Obviously, past performance does not mean these strategies will continue to outperform in the future. However, a variety of momentum strategies (part 1) have been detailed extensively on Scott's Investments and the high yield momentum strategy is similar in nature to other successful momentum strategies.

Ticker	Company	Free Trend Analysis	Dividend Yield	Performance (Half Year)	200-Day SMA	Price
RRD	R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company	Here	4.96%	62.64%	56.30%	20.98
PLD	ProLogis	Here	5.18%	41.74%	30.86%	11.58
VTR	Ventas Inc.	Here	5.24%	39.60%	27.39%	39.13
MRK	Merck & Co. Inc.	Here	4.66%	37.05%	16.79%	32.59
LEG	Leggett & Platt, Incorporated	Here	5.35%	32.52%	26.41%	19.44
HCP	HCP, Inc.	Here	6.63%	32.08%	21.15%	27.75
EQR	Equity Residential	Here	4.68%	30.54%	22.54%	28.85
HCN	Health Care REIT Inc.	Here	6.45%	29.82%	17.89%	42.14
DTE	DTE Energy Co.	Here	5.53%	27.29%	22.12%	38.34
TEG	Integrys Energy Group, Inc.	Here	7.61%	27.13%	15.73%	35.75
POM	Pepco Holdings, Inc.	Here	7.08%	27.06%	12.71%	15.26
SE	Spectra Energy Corp.	Here	5.17%	26.74%	18.48%	19.34

Below are the 20 hottest ETFs (excluding leveraged funds) at the close November 5th, based on the 6 month performance.

Data excludes leveraged ETFs and the data source is FINVIZ.com. For a list including leveraged ETFs please see the right hand side of the page here.

I featured a custom portfolio at the beginning of July, titled 'Scott's Alternative'. Below is the update for November if you were to base buy/sell decisions on the 200 day moving average at the end of October. All of the ETFs are above their 200 day SMA except for LSC.

The portfolio is updated once per month.

Please see the right hand side of Scott's Investments for the November update to the US Sector ETFs. A summary of the data is listed below, including the percent each ETF is above the 200 day moving average.

1. All of the US sector ETFs are above their 200 day moving average,
2. The top three based on 3-6-12 month returns are XLK (technology), XLY (consumer discretionary), XLE (energy).

Potential strategies an investor could employ would be the following:

Global sector ETF performance update for the close of October is below. Note that all ETFs are above the 200 day moving average. The top three at the end of October are IXG (financials), IXN (technology) and MXI (Materials). I have previously discussed some possible strategies using this data here.

The momentum strategy that an investor could implement would be to purchase the best returning Global sector ETF(s) over the trailing 3, 6, and 12 months. This strategy has been written about extensively by Mebane Faber, author of The Ivy Portfolio: How to Invest Like the Top Endowments and Avoid Bear Markets. Another strategy would involve purchasing the top performing ETFs based on 6 month (half year) returns. (click on chart to enlarge)

Below is a table in order of the sum of the 3, 6, and 12 month returns for individual country ETFs. Each column represents returns for various timeframes and the percent each ETF is above (or below) the 200 day moving averages as of the close October 30th. Note that all country ETFs are above their 200 day moving average. The top 5 based on the sum of the 3-6-12 month returns are below. Last month we saw resource rich countries at the top of the list: Australia (EWA), Brazil (EWZ), and Russia (RSX). Turkey (TUR) and Thailand (THD) rounded out the list. At the end of October, the top 5 are: EWZ, TUR, THD, Austria (EWO), and RSX.

One potential strategy investors could use would be to purchase the top ETFs based on the sum of their returns over 3, 6, and 12 months. Or, one could purchase ETFs based soleley on 6 month returns (a strategy featured on ETF Screen). An additional twist would be to only purchase the top performing ETFs if they are also above the 200 day moving average.

Even though I said I would be only posting links to articles this week, I couldn't help myself. The SPY is either going through a healthy consolidation, or the end of the bull run is here. It is too early to tell, either way we have seen a significant pullback in the last week.

Jon Markman of MSN Money is a bullish contrarian - I call him a 'contrarian' because his stance seems so bullish that he is outside even the normal realm of bullishness. This is in stark contrast to David Rosenberg, another thinker I feature, whom I would consider a bearish contrarian.

Keep it simple. Adding sectors and specific regions will increase the complexity of your portfolio but probably won't add much more in returns, which could well exceed 15% per year after the recent crash in value.