Indexor

ETF Market Trends: Just Another 'Debase' Party on Wall Street

Happy B-Day Clinton. Hope you enjoy Thanksgiving as well.

Good article. I always enjoy both your perspective as well as the data you present.

ETF Trends: New Reality Weighs on Investors and Stocks

Excellent article. I appreciate the sharing of your trend work on such a broad array of asset classes, especially Bonds and Sectors, which are often overlooked. Your Momentum and Market Diary numbers are also routinely ignored by many but actually can provide very good tells. Thank you.

Tuesday Outlook: Commodities, Global Markets

Dave:

I always appreciate your work. In your chart of WIP you noted: "Are WIPs better than TIPs? Some must think so." There is a big tax difference between the two. Phantom income.

The drawback to holding TIPs in a taxable account is that they generate "phanton income." The principal value is adjusted annually to reflect inflation, and you're forced to pay taxes on the increase - even though you don't actually receive the money until you sell the bond or it matures. iShares will send you a 1099 that calculates your phantom income each year but TIP remains best for QUALIFIED ACCOUNTS only.

WIPs are somewhat different. The monthly distributions made by WIP include the coupon interest accrual and the CPI adjustment on the principal. The fund is able to pay this out by selling a very small
portion of the portfolio every month that there is a positive CPI
adjustment. Since the CPI adjustment is paid out every month, from a tax standpoint, there is no "phantom income" realized by the shareholder.

Hope this helps.

Six Month Correlation Among iShares ETFs

Richard:

Thanks for the data, as the last 6-month time frame has changed many of these correlations considerably. Apparently, several readers are either new to investing and not familiar with correlation tables, or simply feel it is their job to complain. In any event, I appreciate your efforts in this post and the many others you have provided here.