Chart of the Week Archive

Oil Dips (Again)

Oil prices have slipped back to a seven week low, falling below $60 a barrel on Friday.  Over-supply, weaker than expected demand and a rally built on unrealized hopes are to blame.

The largest oil ETF, the $2 billion United States Oil Fund (USO) is down 18% from where it was just a month ago.  USO tracks the spot price movements of light, sweet crude oil with a portfolio of listed crude oil futures contracts and other oil related futures, forwards

Technology in the Spotlight

As the Q2 earnings season unfolds, investors will be watching the Technology sector closely.

After outperforming the broader market for most of the year (see Technology Pulls Ahead from early April) technology stocks will now need to deliver on anticipated improvement in earnings performance.  For more on Q2 earnings, see Mark Gongloff's Crunch Time: How Toug

Utilities Pull Ahead

While the rest of the market is taking a breather from the extended rally, utilities are pulling ahead.

Utilities have been the best performing sector over the past 4 weeks with the Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLU) up nearly 9% compared to 4% for the broader market.

Part of the reason for the improved performance on the part of utilities is the increasing resistance to the heavy handed tax schemes proposed by the Obama administratio

Global Rally Stalls

The global rally in stocks that began in March has stalled.

US stocks have been flat for a month and the rest of the world is pulling back after surging past the U.S. market over the past few weeks.

After gaining 40% from the early March lows, the  SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) has been in a decline over the past 6 trading sessions and is now back to where it was trading a month ago.

Stocks outside the U.S.

European Small Caps Revive

Investors are making early bets on an economic recovery in Europe by putting money into small cap stocks.

The WisdomTree Europe SmallCap Dividend Fund (DFE) is up 22% year to date compared to a positive 5.6% return for the Europe large cap fund DJ Stoxx 50 ETF (FEU).

DFE invests in the small-capitalization segment of the European dividend-paying market and companies are weighted based on annua

Long Term Treasuries Weaken

Investors who fled to the safety of long term treasuries at the beginning of the year have to be second guessing themselves.

Since January 2, the Barclays Capital 20+ Year Treasury Bond Fund (TLT) is down 22%.  That compares to a flat return for stocks with the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) up a little over 2% on the year.

Long term treasuries are under pressure due to the threat of in

Investors Pile Back Into Gold

Gold is back in fashion.

After taking a breather in March, the precious metal has been on a steady climb as the overall demand for commodities has seen a resurgence and investors have begun to flee the safety of the dollar in search of higher returns.

The SPDR Gold Shares ETF (GLD) is up 13% in the past 6 weeks with trading sometimes exceeding $2 billion a day.  GLD is designed to reflect the performance of the price of gold bullion, less the Trust's

Oil Makes a Come Back

After a long decline, oil is gushing higher.

The decline began last summer when oil was trading above $145 a barrel.  As the U.S. economic slowdown spread globally, demand for oil dried up driving the price to just a fraction of the former highs by mid-February.

Since then, oil has begun to bounce back as OPEC cut back production and massive economic stimulus actions in the U.S., China and U.K.

India Election Ignites Stocks

The election in India signaled the potential for stronger economic growth and Indian stocks rose 23% on the news.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's victory was the biggest by any Indian politician in two decades, freeing him to form a government without needing the support of communist lawmakers who have blocked efforts to attract direct foreign investment.

Even before the election news, the WisdomTree India Earnings Fund (EPI) had signficantly

Russia Rises from the Rubble

After starting the year in a very sharp decline, Russian stocks have rocketed ahead, far outpacing US equities.

The Market Vectors Russia ETF (RSX) is up 45% year-to-date compared to a nearly flat performance for the SPDR S&P 500 (SPY).

Russia has made a come back on strengthening commodity prices and RSX's top holdings Gazprom, LUKOIL