By Kevin Grewal
As 2009 is coming to an end, we have watched the equity markets rally by over 30% and gold hit all time highs. Additionally, signs of a global economic recovery have emerged and the future of the biotechnology, energy and materials sectors remains bright.
As 2009 is coming to an end, we have watched the equity markets rally by over 30% and gold hit all time highs. Additionally, signs of a global economic recovery have emerged and the future of the biotechnology, energy and materials sectors remains bright.
Biotechnology
Despite much uncertainty in the massive healthcare reform bill that is making its way through the legislative process, it is a safe bet to say that some sort of the bill will be passed. With this in mind, heavy regulation and tax bills will likely hit Big Pharma, but not the biotech sector. As a result, massive amounts of cash could flow into biotech. Additionally, not all biotech companies have rallied from March lows and valuations for some are relatively still reasonable. An ETF to watch is the PowerShares Dynamic Biotech & Genome (PBE), which is up 51% from its March low of $11.03 to close at $16.65 on Tuesday.
Energy
As the world’s economy is expected to continue to rebound through 2010, the demand for energy, in particularly oil is likely to increase. China, India, Brazil and the United States are all expected to show economic growth in 2010 which will spur demand for energy, while production is anticipated to remain steady. They key place to focus on in the energy sector is exploration and production. With this in mind, an ETF to watch here is the iShares Dow Jones US Oil & Gas Exploration Index (IEO). IEO is up 80% from a March low of $30.17 to close at $54.30 on Tuesday.
Materials
Much like the energy sector, as global economies start to rebound and expand basic materials will be in demand. Many countries, like China and the United States, are focusing on improving infrastructure which will likely spur the demand for steel, aluminum, copper and other building materials. An ETF to watch here is the iShares S&P Global Materials (MXI), which is up % from its March low of VV to close at YY on Tuesday.
These three sectors are likely to shine in 2010, but nothing is 100% certain. With this in mind, it is important to have an exit strategy which indicates when an upward trend in these mentioned ETFs could come to an end. Such a strategy can be found at www.SmartStops.net.
Disclosure: No Positions