What Worked In The First Half of 2016

Finally if you want to know what really worked in the first six months of the year then look no further than to ETFs that are structured for dividends or dividend growth.   One of our investment strategies is based around the concept of income appreciation and total return so these ETFs did well for us in the first half.  If it payed cash and the yield was decent then investors wanted it.

Just as a reminder you can double-click on these charts in order to make them larger.

Collectively these ETFs we've pictured above showed on average 10.72% for the first six months of this year.  Their performance has continued with the recent market rally.  I would note that part of these gains can be attributed to a poor showing in 2015.  This group averaged flattish price returns last year when investors were concerned that the Federal Reserve would raise interest rates in 2016.  They've rallied as rate increases have been taken off the table and bond yields have collapsed.    This group could see the possibility that price advances could stall if investors become convinced we are going to see higher interest rates at some point.  However, I'd note you would still receive the dividends.  Also this group is extremely overbought right now across all timeframes by our work.  Probability suggests the possibility of consolidation for these names at some point.

*Long ETFs related to certain of these indices in client & personal accounts.    Please note positions can change at anytime without notice.

Performance charts are from Stockcharts.com. 

As I stated above our next post will be next Monday.