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XLK

Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF

5/21/2013, 1:26 PM ET

Quote & Headlines Market Currents StockTalk

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Friday, May 17, 8:13 AM Thomas Lee lifts his year-end S&P 500 (SPY) forecast to 1,715 from 1,580 as the bull has already outrun his expectations. His team sees clues economic performance is picking up, including the outperformance of semiconductors (XSD) vs. transports (IYT), and the steepening of the 10 year/30 year Treasury curve. Risk/reward is particularly appealing in tech (XLK), healthcare (XLV), and financials (XLF). Comment!
Wednesday, May 15, 1:23 AM IDC cuts its 2013 IT spending growth forecast to 4.9% from 5.5%, citing macro issues and weak PC demand; 2012 growth was 5.6%. Gartner, which includes a bigger array of products/services in its numbers, forecast 4.1% growth last month. IDC now sees U.S. software spending (MSFT, ORCL) growing 6%, down from a prior 7%. Storage hardware revenue (EMC, NTAP) is only expected to grow 2.4%, down from 2012's 6.1%, and carrier spending on networking gear (CSCO, JNPR, ALU, CIEN) is expected to grow just 1.1% vs. 5.8% in 2012. Recent earnings reports and warnings (I, II, III, IV) help explain the subdued outlook. 2 Comments [Tech]
Friday, May 3, 4:55 PM The week's ETF movers - Gainers: XLK +3.9%. QQQ +3.7%. EPI +3.6%. EWY +3.2%. ILF +3.1%.
ETF Losers: GAZ -4.6%. UNG -4.2%. VXX -2.8%. GDXJ -2.4%. TLT -2.0%. Comment! [On the Move]
Friday, May 3, 12:54 PM Stocks remain sharply higher midday (SPY +1.2%), with the year's leaders - healthcare (XLV +0.7%), utilities (XLU +0.2%), and staples (XLP +0.7%) - lagging, and the year's laggers - industrials (XLI +2.1%), tech (XLK +1.1%), and energy (XLE +1.9%) - leading. Treasurys (TLT -2.1%) are suffering one of their worst days of the year, and broader fixed income (AGG -0.3%). 1 Comment
Monday, April 29, 12:13 PM "Which has a higher P/E - Procter & Gamble (PG) or Google (GOOG)," asks the WSJ's Tom Lauricella. Enthusiasm for anything with yield has driven the P-E ratios of dividend payers (DVY) like P&G maybe way too high. Techs (XLK) with double-digit earnings growth, no debt, and massive cash balances trade at 12x, says MFS' James Swanson, while a utility (XLU) in Ohio is at 16x. "How far do you go with this game?" "Pretty far," says Templeton's Donald Taylor. "The macro environment (causing this) is not at all likely to change anytime soon." 7 Comments [Quick Ideas]
Friday, April 26, 8:34 AM The beginning of a bigger move? Two of the year's three strongest performing sectors - healthcare (XLV) and consumer staples (XLP) - are down on the week as the three weakest sectors - energy (XLE), materials (XLB), and tech (XLK) - post gains of 3%-4.5%. 2 Comments
Wednesday, April 24, 3:58 PM Richard Pzena (PZN) - still heavily overweight financials (XLF) and mature tech (XLK) - makes his case for global banks in today's earnings call (transcript): With capital levels of 11-13% at JPM, C, and BCS double what they were pre-crisis, will regulators allow banks to earn a decent return on said capital? A definite "yes," says Pzena, seeing no reason demand for financial products won't continue to grow faster than GDP, and noting bank managers' "laser-like focus" on improving returns. An average price-to-book ratio of 0.7x combined with a modest ROE of 12-13% suggests fair value more than double current prices. Comment! [Financials, Tech, Quick Ideas]
Wednesday, April 24, 10:10 AM Turning 10 this week, the Guggenheim S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF (RSP) has outperformed the SPY by 5,900 basis points since its launch. The RSP was one of the pioneers of equal-weighting - created in the aftermath of the 2000 bust to give investors exposure to stocks without so high a focus on large caps (the so-called "Cisco effect"). It's time for a renaming to the "Apple effect" as QQQE - the Nasdaq 100 Equal Weighted ETF - has outperformed the QQQ by 850 bps YTD. 3 Comments
Thursday, April 18, 1:08 PM Stocks have bounced off their worst levels, but remain lower in afternoon trade. Tech (QQQ -1%) shows particular weakness, with Apple dug in below $400 and Google off 1.8%. Verizon, however, is an area of tech sector strength, +3.7% following earnings. S&P 500 down just 0.3%. 1 Comment
Thursday, April 11, 7:03 PM The pace at which new technologies are disrupting companies makes it dangerous to be a value investor, argues VC Ashvin Bachireddy. As mobile devices, cloud software, e-commerce, and much else upends old business models, investing in a BlackBerry or an OfficeMax/Office Depot due to a low P/E can prove painful. "While there may still be opportunities for value investing, you need to be cautious of businesses that appear to be on a slow decline." His remarks seem prescient in light of what happened today to several PC-related names with low multiples. 14 Comments [Tech, Consumer, Quick Ideas]
Wednesday, April 3, 3:02 PM The S&P and DJIA may have just hit new all-time highs, but the Health Care (XLV), Consumer Staples (XLP) and Discretionary (XLY) sectors left their records in the dust some time ago. Technology (XLK) and Financials (XLF) are the two biggest sectors and it could be years, if not decades before they put in new records. Comment!
Wednesday, April 3, 1:58 PM Gartner forecasts global IT spending will grow 4.1% this year to $3.8T; that represents a pickup from 2012's 2.1% growth. Hardware is expected to grow 8% to $718B as mobile strength offsets PC/printer weakness, and enterprise software 6.4% to $297B. Gartner: "The global steady growth rates are a calm ocean that hides turbulent currents beneath ... there are clear winners and losers over the next three to five years, as we see more of a transition from PCs to mobile phones, from servers to storage, from licensed software to cloud, or the shift in voice and data connections from fixed to mobile." Comment! [Tech]
Tuesday, April 2, 1:22 PM Already the best sector YTD, Healthcare widens its lead even further thanks to hikes in Medicaid Advantage rates. The XLV's 17.1% gain is more than 200 bps greater than 2nd place Consumer Staples (XLP), and about 700 bps better than SPY. Getting a relative drubbing are Materials (XLB) and Tech (XLK) - each up less than 4%. Comment!
Wednesday, March 27, 3:07 PM Updating its ETF matrix, Bespoke finds all the major U.S. index ETFs up about 10% YTD, with the leading sectors health care (XLV) and consumer staples (XLP) - each up more than 13%. Dragging are telecom (IYZ), materials (XLB), and tech (XLK). About all country ETFs are in the red, with the exceptions of Japan (EWJ) and Mexico (EWW). Leading everything is natural gas (UNG), up 17.7%. Comment!
Wednesday, March 27, 12:47 PM "For the 1st time in long time I have begun to short big-cap techs," tweets high-profile tech newsletter writer Fred Hickey. He refers to the market's recent gains as " a dangerous, unsustainable Fed-induced rally." Last month, Hickey offered a downbeat view on tech stocks in Barron's, citing high multiples and weak PC, mobile phone, and enterprise IT demand. 2 Comments [Tech, Quick Ideas]
Friday, March 15, 10:11 AM Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLK) announces quarterly distribution of $0.1243. 30-day SEC yield of 1.73% (as of 03/14/2013). For shareholders of record Mar. 19. Payable Mar. 25. Ex-div date Mar. 15. Comment! [Dividends]