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11 Sep: VIX Weekly

The CBOE Volatility Index, or “VIX”, is a real-time market index representing the market’s expectations for volatility over the coming 30 days. Investors use the VIX to measure the level of risk, fear, or stress in the market when making investment decisions. Traders can also trade the VIX using a variety of options and exchange-traded products, or use VIX values to price derivatives.

11 Sep: XLV

XLV ETF is one of the most popular options for gaining exposure to the U.S. health care sector, and as such might be an attractive option for investors looking to tilt exposure towards lower risk industries. XLV is among the cheapest ways to gain access to health care companies, and offers impressive depth of holdings as well. XLV can be a good option for a sector rotation strategy or as a means of establishing a long term tilt towards the health care sector.

11 Sep: NYMO/SPX200

NYMO & SPX200R are excellent momentum indicators that provide a peek “under the hood” of what happening beneath the surface to monitor what real market breadth is signalling. Depending on how the charts look, they provide insight whether a rally is “narrow” or “broad” depending on how many stocks are actually participating in an advance…

10 Sep: WTI Weekly

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) is a light, sweet crude oil that serves as one of the main global oil benchmarks. It is sourced primarily from inland Texas and is one of the highest quality oils in the world, which is easy to refine. WTI is the underlying commodity for the NYMEX’s oil futures contract. WTI is known as a light sweet oil because it contains around 0.34% sulfur, making it “sweet,” and has a low density (specific gravity), making it “light.”1

10 Sep: WTI/DXY Ratio

WTI:DXY comparison chart is one of my favorite macro crude oil charts to look at because it provides a true GLOBAL price of oil adjusted to an entire basket of currencies, not just USD itself.  Once we take a look at the chart above we see just how RARE this drop is on a relative basis.  To put it in perspective, the WTI during $147 peak was 205% the DXY, and now it is just 12%!! (8% at the lows if you count that)…. needless to say this is a generational low.  the bigger issue is its running out of downside room so the bottom is approaching soon…

10 Sep: XLC

The XLC ETF is State Street’s Communication Services Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLC) is one of the newest additions to State Street’s popular legacy lineup of sector ETFs. It including many of the major communications, advertising & social media companies in its index. Given its heavy bias towards social media mega-cap stocks (which are often mistaken for Tech) this ETF has a heavy bias towards mega cap growth.