The Hot Utilities Sector Needs Risk Management

Posted on by Robert Boslego

Robert Boslego - INO.com Contributor - Energies


Because the yield in fixed income has remained so low for so long due to the Federal Reserve maintaining low interest rates, investors have transitioned to utilities because they want dividend yields. As a sector, utilities are up 21.96% year-to-date, 24.7% over the past year and provided an average return of 15.78% per year over the past three years.

Graph of XLU Prices

To participate, the exchange-traded fund (ETF) Utility Select Sector SPDR ETF (PACF:XLU), tracks the price and yield of the Utilities Select Sector Index. The largest holdings of XLU are as follows: Continue reading "The Hot Utilities Sector Needs Risk Management" →

FX Volatility To Pick Up With Growth

Posted on by Lior Alkalay

Lior Alkalay - INO.com Contributor - Forex


Despite the Federal Open Market Committee voting last week to maintain all of the Federal Reserve’s current rates, some market experts — including this one — are projecting that a rate hike is coming soon, and the Foreign Exchange market could see significant volatility because of it.

Indeed, as we suspected back on July 1, the Federal Reserve, in its release about the policy meeting held July 26-27, signaled that headwinds from Brexit are waning and pointed to diminishing near-term risks. But what does that mean, in practical terms? It means that the Fed is back in business: delivering mildly hawkish rhetoric, while preparing for the next rate hike. Continue reading "FX Volatility To Pick Up With Growth" →

The Best Is Yet To Come

Posted on by The INO.com Team

Hello MarketClub members everywhere. Looking at the markets, it seems to me that the best is yet to come. What I mean by that is I think that the equity markets can still go higher, a lot higher based on the Trade Triangles and the technical formations on the charts.

MarketClub's Mid-day Market Report

In today's video update I will be looking at all three major indices and sharing with you exactly how high I think one index is heading and one to avoid.

I will also be analyzing the gold (FOREX:XAUUSDO) market which closed out the week on a very positive note. This week could be a key week for gold and gold stocks in particular. I will give you my reasons why you should be paying close attention to gold right now.

Has crude oil (NYMEX:CL.U16.E) reached a crucial Fibonacci retracement level? What crude does at this stage is crucial to its future direction.

Stay focused and disciplined.

Every success with MarketClub,
Adam Hewison
President, INO.com
Co-Creator, MarketClub

Trading or Investing In Netflix - Options Are Your Friend

Posted on by The INO.com Team

Whether you’re investing or trading in Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX), it’s difficult to avoid a discussion surrounding an options strategy to augment this position. Netflix has an outrageous valuation and a wide range of intrinsic volatility, where swings of $10-$15 in one day are fairly common. This intrinsic volatility is more so pronounced during any major news story (i.e. expansion into international markets or subscriber price increases) and specifically around earnings announcements. As a result of the nosebleed valuation and volatility, in my opinion, options go hand-in-hand when committing capital to Netflix stock. Netflix is high growth stock thus investors are willing to pay a premium for this growth. However, the tradeoff is that traditional metrics such as the price-to-earnings multiple (P/E ratio) and the PEG ratio do not apply. Due to its rapid growth, expanding original programming, wrestling market share away from big cable companies, expansion into international markets and its overall ubiquity, it's easy to see why investors are willing to pay a premium for this media disruptor. Due to these aforementioned factors, an options strategy may be an effective way to leverage and hedge this high growth stock while mitigating risk. Netflix offers high yielding premiums on a bi-weekly or monthly basis whether one owns the stock or attempting a good entry point. This bodes well for those who are willing to leverage options trading to augment returns and mitigate risk throughout the volatile nature of Netflix’s stock. This could come in the form of covered calls and/or secured puts or a combination of call/put strategy. Netflix’s recent second earnings disappointment highlights the value of an options strategy to mitigate losses and smooth out drastic moves in the stock price. Continue reading "Trading or Investing In Netflix - Options Are Your Friend" →

2016: Current Market Themes

Posted on by The INO.com Team

A year ago almost to the day we began tracking a ‘Macrocosmic’ theme that would eventually see gold bottom and rise vs. stocks and bonds in 2016, joining its bullish status vs. commodities, which had been in place since 2014.

Nominal gold bottomed in December 2015 before silver, commodities and stocks as a counter cyclical environment birthed a new precious metals bull market.  We updated the progress here, here and here in 2016.

But markets, being the product of immeasurable moving parts, are always in motion and you cannot get too hung up on any one theme, ideology or habit.  When the Semiconductor sector began burping up its positive signals for the economy and for stocks, we listened intently and I for one, put my capital where my mouth was and noted as much each week in NFTRH.

Back in April, with the first improvement in the Semiconductor Equipment sector’s bookings, we went on bull alert.  By June 22, we had established a trend in the rising bookings and noted the Details Behind Semiconductor Leadership and the bullish implications that this Canary’s Canary in the coal mine carried. Continue reading "2016: Current Market Themes" →