Stocks finished a wild November in benign fashion on Friday as
the the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average inched
higher while the Nasdaq took a small loss. Those looking at the
world through rose-colored glasses might be apt to note that the
last trading day of November is traditionally a rough one for
stocks. They might also be apt to note the first trading of
December is historically a bullish day. That remains to be
seen.
Of course what really matters is the fiscal cliff. The harsh
reality is lawmakers have until the end of this month to avoid
the dreaded, GDP-draining scenario or risk another U.S.
recession. Unfortunately, the term that best describes the
progress, or lack thereof, being made on the fiscal cliff front
is stalemate. When that word is linked to Capitol Hill, Wall
Street usually suffers. With that in mind, keep an eye on these
ETFs
this week.
iShares MSCI Brazil Index Fund (NYSE:
EWZ
)
Yes, U.S. equities will likely be beholden to U.S.-specific
issues this week, but there is no getting around the fact that
Brazilian stocks and EWZ have been struggling as of late. Last
week,
Barclays Capital forecast Brazilian GDP growth of
just one percent this year
.
That is far from what investors expect when taking on emerging
markets risk. Another way of looking at Brazil's anemic growth
rate is this: Why take the risk on EWZ when one can just own the
SPDR S&P 500 (NYSE:
SPY
) and get at least double the GDP growth out of the U.S. economy?
If EWZ drops below $50, selling pressure could accelerate.
Alternative idea: ProShares UltraShort Brazil (NYSE:
BZQ
).
PowerShares S&P 500 Low Volatility ETF (NYSE:
SPLV
)
With fiscal cliff fears lingering and some international
destinations, such as Brazil, being home to disappointing growth
rates, a low volatility approach could pay dividends. Enter the
PowerShares S&P 500 Low Volatility ETF. Over the past three
months, SPLV has outperformed SPY by 15 basis points.
There is one risk with SPLV: Utilities exposure. The fund has
an almost 31 percent allocation to that sector. Utilities names
have struggled amid all the fiscal cliff chatter, until last week
when the Utilities Select Sector SPDR (NYSE:
XLU
) put in a sharp 3.6 percent rally. One has to wonder if that is
too much too soon for embattled utilities names.
iShares MSCI China Index Fund (NYSE:
MCHI
)
While Brazilian growth continues to disappoint, China is showing
signs of a rebound. These are more than just nascent signs.
November's official manufacturing purchasing managers' index
jumped to 50.6 from 50.2 in October, according to data released
by China's National Bureau of Statistics on Saturday. The
November reading is good for a seven-month high.
So why MCHI over the larger, more widely known iShares FTSE
China 25 Index Fund (NYSE:
FXI
)? Because MCHI has made good on the
the prediction that it will outperform FXI
. Over the past month, MCHI has outperformed FXI by 43 basis
points.
Global X Social Media Index ETF (NYSE:
SOCL
)
Despite what appears to be a tricky environment for Groupon
(NASDAQ:
GRPN
) and Zynga (NASDAQ:
ZNGA
), the Global X Social Media Index ETF has held up nicely in
recent weeks. And in what would seem like a defiance of common
logic, shares of Facebook (NASDAQ:
FB
) have surged following the expiration of the company's most
recent lockup period.
The performance of those three stocks over the past month has
lifted SOCL by nearly 2.4 percent and that is better than double
the gains offered by the PowerShares QQQ (NASDAQ:
QQQ
) over the same period.
For more on ETFs, click
here
.
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