Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR (XLP)

All Comments on XLP

  • commenter
    Oct 11 02:41 AM
    Market Strategy: Sector vs. Style [view article]
    One of the best article I have read. Great info, very insighful tool for understanding price performance. Thank you. Reply
  • commenter
    Oct 08 01:10 PM
    Image of a Rotating Bear Market [view article]
    interesting chart. how much will xlf be influenced by global actions. global sector funds: IXG, MXI, IXC, KXI may offer a better look at rotation. thanks Reply
  • commenter
    Oct 07 05:23 PM
    Global Market Roundup: Will the Bailout Work? [view article]
    @Bill James: grammar check, please!

    @Shiv: "take time to work its magic"?? There is no magic to it. And it will not work. That was a scam, a farce...it serves only the banks and to further indenture the people, by handing over yet more control to the government. The real solution? Massive cuts to government and massive TAX CUTS. I'm not talking 5% or even 10%. I'm talking, cut the federal government to the core, and a flat tax never to exceed 10% on *anyone*. That is just...and it's overdue. Sooner or later enough people will wake up and demand it. This economic situation may just be the time that it happens. Hopefully!!
    Reply
  • How Do Commodities ETFs Compare to ETNs? [view article]
    The article is very informative. Thanks. Reply
  • commenter
    Oct 06 12:18 PM
    How Do Commodities ETFs Compare to ETNs? [view article]
    You had my attention until you decided to turn this into an internet advertisement of your newsletter.

    I think that Seeking Alpha should send you a bill.
    Reply
  • commenter
    Oct 06 11:10 AM
    My Website
    Image of a Rotating Bear Market [view article]
    DJIA below 10,000!!

    It's obviously those darned short sellers again. Oh wait! We banned short selling. Uhhhhh...well, they must be spreading vicious (if true) rumors again. Yeah, THAT'S the ticket.
    Reply
  • commenter
    Oct 05 01:09 PM
    My Website
    Global Market Roundup: Will the Bailout Work? [view article]
    The rescue package will take time to work its magic. And while people watch for indicators of success from implementaion of the rescue package, there is a possibility that better opportunities might emerge. This is time when perceived risks are higher than real risks. In the short term, corporations may well find earnings potential fall below long term earnings potential; and this might cause better entry points. However several economic risks are already priced in. This is a market for long term investors (5/6 years). Sector allocation is important, overweight positions need to determined based on which sectors will benefit most during the next cyclical upswing; also to consider is over-weighting the presently undervalued sectors; and finally consider the sectors which outprform based on where we are in the economic cycle today. Investors should also not forget to rebalance portfolios more frequently than in normal times. Finally, do not forget diversification across asset classes. Its a good market for traders too; volatility is high which is good for day traders. Positional traders can also look forward to an up quarter followed by a re-test of lows. This is one of those times when there is opportunity for everyone, regardless of style - short term/long term/trader/bull/bear. The only styles I would say might feel a bit left out is growth; because I think this is a time value will outperform and off course, small caps should lag large caps. Reply
  • commenter
    Oct 05 09:00 AM
    My Website
    Global Market Roundup: Will the Bailout Work? [view article]
    End government control over rights of way, implement Performance Standards for power generation and transportation and in 6 years. seekingalpha.com/artic...

    Building the Physical-Internet will likely working family disposable income can increase by $3,200 per year. www.jpods.com/ar_Burde...
    Reply
  • commenter
    Oct 05 08:55 AM
    Global Market Roundup: Will the Bailout Work? [view article]
    Excellent review! The Doom & Gloom scenario seems almost universal - indicating that perhaps the worst has already been discounted. But "hold on" for more volatily until the dust settles and investors begin looking past the devastation to the inevitable economic and market recovery. Reply
  • commenter
    Oct 05 01:18 AM
    My Website
    What To Do in a Rebuilding Year [view article]
    The equity and bond markets have benefited from a long period of low inflation, but ongoing and massive central bank liquidity injections point to a far less benign environment of elevated inflation ahead. Research by our firm, Agcapita Farmland Investment Partnership (Calgary, Canada based agriculture private equity firm – farmlandinvestmentpart...) shows investors must be prepared to rotate into asset classes with different characteristics. During the last commodity bull market & high inflation period in the 1970’s, equities materially underperformed farmland.
    - Western Canadian farmland went from around $100/acre to $550/acre (550% total return and 176% in inflation adjusted terms);
    - Cash held in a money market account barely kept ahead of inflation (6% inflation adjusted return); and the
    - S&P 500 index returned less than 2% per year (a loss of almost 50% in inflation in adjusted terms)

    We believe the world is still in the early stages of this current commodity bull market. When agriculture commodities prices are compared against their previous inflation adjusted highs they are significantly discounted implying scope for further increases:
    - Corn is US$ 5/bushel currently compared to US$16/bushel in 1974,
    - Wheat is US$ 7/bushel currently compared to US$27/bushel in 1974
    - Canadian farmland is C$ 660/acre currently compared to C$1,100/acre in 1981

    Another interesting metric is the long-term average ratio of the Commodities Research Bureau Index versus the S&P 500 which is currently around 1.5 times. Simplistically, this ratio indicates how much S&P 500 stock you can buy with a fixed basket of commodities. Some important points:
    • During the commodity bull market of the 1970s, the ratio was consistently higher than 2 times for over 10 years – it peaked at almost 4 times.
    • The ratio is currently at around 0.5 times - significantly below the 1.5 times long-term average, just slightly above the 0.15 all time low reached in 1999/2000 and still very far below the almost 4 times multiple reached in the last commodity bull market. We still appear to be at an all time low relative valuation between “hard assets" versus "stocks.”
    • If history is a guide, the ratio of hard assets to stocks will have moved much higher before this commodity bull market is over.
    • How? Stocks will continue to fall and/or commodities will continue to climb – most likely a serious combination of both as investors, fearing inflation, rotate out of stocks into commodities – the cycle of “inflation, rotation, hard assets”.
    Agcapita is a Calgary based, agriculture private equity firm that allows investors to cost effectively allocate a portion of their portfolios to hard assets in the form of Canadian farmland via its professionally managed Agcapita Farmland Investment Partnership. Agcapita Farmland Investment Partnership is the third in a family of private equity funds which has grown to almost $100 million in assets under management. Agcapita’s investment team has over 40 years private equity and fund management experience and over $1 billion in total career transactions and previously managed a group of emerging market funds with almost C$500 million in assets for one of the largest banks in Europe.

    Reply
  • commenter
    Oct 03 07:24 PM
    What the Sectors Are Telling Us [view article]
    I think he was referring to (corporate) bond prices falling, which is probably a flight to safety (treasuries), which drives down the price of money for government, at the exact time they pass $700 bailout. Good timing. Reply
  • commenter
    Oct 02 10:56 AM
    What the Sectors Are Telling Us [view article]
    I'm a bit confused (well, a bit more than normal anyhow). If bond prices are falling then bond yields must be rising. How do rising yields translate into fear of deflation? Isn't it more likely a fear of economic weakness hand in glove with inflation (the proverbial stagflation scenario)? Reply
  • commenter
    Oct 01 08:48 AM
    Tuesday Outlook: Bailout Brouhaha [view article]
    So much depends on the "package"!

    They have it all wrong.

    Freeze interest resets from Jan 2008 for 3 years.

    To heck with lenders making more money!

    Got to stop foreclosures NOW!

    Government cannot manage vacant houses!

    The "package stinks" and I don't trust Paulson since he was part of the reason we are here with the stupid Fannie-Freddie Fraud beginning in 1995.

    All the top democrats, Dodd, Oboman, Frank are at the root of the problem along with Franklin Rains!

    How can we trust any of these LIARS?
    Reply
  • commenter
    Sep 30 09:12 AM
    Tuesday Outlook: Bailout Brouhaha [view article]
    Just got this message when I tried to contact my US Representative

    "Messaging Service Unavailable
    The House of Representatives is currently experiencing an extraordinarily high amount of email traffic. The Write Your Representative function is therefore intermittantly available. While we realize communicating to your Members of Congress is critical, we suggest attempting to do so at a later time, when demand is not so high. System engineers are working to resolve this issue and we appreciate your patience."

    AND, you want these guys to manage $700B with no strings attached (you really want to know where the &700B went, sorry due to ext ordinary demand, we stopped keeping records) and after that, run your health care (sorry, that life saving operation is temporarily unavailable) plus any other socialized program they can think of? Heaven help us if they succeed!!
    You think its just an isolated government bungle? Try buying gold coins from the US mint; sorry, we ran out.
    Reply
  • Looking Beyond Inflation - Barron's Interview [view article]
    For "Closed Book". Nice story. Get one of the old thermoses, put some gold coins in it, and bury it in the back yard. Reply