Racing Stocks & Assets – Comparison Charts
One of my favorite tools is a chart showing the price action of several stocks, bonds, funds, indexes,( investments of all sorts. ) I use several different time frames for these comparisons. These comparisons are something I like to call “racing stocks” (where “racing” is a verb). I explain how to pick things to race in the next few paragraphs, or you can jump directly to the races.
But what to put into the race? I have some “standards”, things like indexes, but I also like to look at a list of “what moved” recently for ideas. If something was down hard for 3 months or a year, then went up this week, it is likely at a bottom of some sort. Things up over a year, but not up this week or month may be getting a bit “long in the tooth” and are worth assessing for an exit.
The following 2 tools are great for finding ideas and trends to “race”; but are missing a bit of what the race gives you. The concept of racing stocks and ETFs came about from my frustration with some of the limitations of these tools, though, so they don’t replace the race, they just give you the starting line.
Which frustrations? Lack of time flexibility. No display of relative volatility and “history in context” that a historical line chart gives you. No visibility of patterns, like a drop every options expiration 3rd Friday. Hard to compare a set of specific things in one go, especially ETFs vs stocks vs indexes. Basically, they hide a bit too much information: but that makes them great for a quick “discovery” peek without a lot of brain overload.
Recent Leadership
We can look at what moved the most in the last week or month, and compare that with what went down (and with the leading index like SPY or QQQQ) to look for investable or tradable patterns. This is a place to look for ideas, see what happened that you didn’t notice, and see what idea beat the one you had last week or month. So look at the wining sectors, and “click through” them to see the stocks inside; and make your own racing chart!
So what sectors went up most and least this week? How about this month? The last 3 months (the quarter). It’s worth it to make a chart ‘racing’ both winners and losers. Winners may be candidates for a momentum trade while losers are worth looking for either shorting opportunities or bottom fishing candidates (those who have hit a hard bottom and look like they may be very oversold, looking to bounce up.)
Longer Trends in Direction – Alpha
Another way to look at it comes from barchart.com who calculate “Alpha” which is the tendency for a stock to move up. (“Beta” is the strength of movement compared to the whole market both up and down – so Alpha is the positive bias and Beta is “how bouncy”.)
At market inflections off a bottom you want to look for what is moving up a lot recently. As something has been an alpha leader for a while, it will start to fade. So something with a very high alpha is moving up, but you need to look at the chart and indicators to make sure you do not buy into the bitter end of a run just as it runs out. I find that their alpha calculation is a bit too slow for catching market turns, especially in “fast markets” like crashes and deep inflections. It works well in established slower trends (like the 6 to 7 years between tops and bottoms).
For this reason, you want to look at absolute alpha, but also what stocks have had the most change of alpha in the last month. That is where you find things closer to the start of their run. Click on the name of a sector to get the sorted list of stocks in that sector ranked by rate of movement.
Also, while it take more searching and evaluation, looking at things with very large negative alpha can be good for “bottom fishing” where you are looking for things of value that are being dumped indiscriminately at a hard bottom. While these may take 6 months to turn into investments, they often have a very tradable “dead cat bounce” of about a month duration as the short sellers buy in stock to cover their shorts. Watch for the V off a bottom, but remember it will turn into a W in short order…
I often find that my “picks” show up on the barchart.com “top 100 alpha” stocks, showing that both methods work and produce similar results.
A Colorful Graphic Momentum View
There is a third way to see some of the same information, though much more graphically. That is the “market map” from FinViz. This comes in several flavors and each has several settings you can adjust (including the time span you are looking at). It is a very quick way to find out just what the heck is going on for any given day; but it is harder to avoid an emotional response. For example, the market can open down a bit on a Monday morning (fairly common) and you look at the market map and it is just all red. There WILL be a tendency to think Oh My God the whole thing is tanking! What is missing is that the day isn’t over yet and it could well end the day all green (and the present red might be showing a fractional percent that is not significant.)
With that said, it’s a great tool for a “quick scan” and I like the ability to swap from “today” to “this week” and “the month” on the ETF map to spot trends and counter trends. (The “stock market” map has very limited time granularity of “Now, Year To Date, 1/2 year, Whole Year” and desperately needs a “weekly” and “monthly” for trend spotting early). I also like the ability in the ETF map to see “dollar volume” that shows where the money is going today. You can literally see when hard core traders are shoving buckets of money at a 3x leveraged Financial Short (that is not your typical “go to stock” for Mom and Pop!) So, here are the two links and some points on how I use them:
First, the “Map of the Market” is a map of individual company stock tickers. They are grouped by sector, so if energy is rising fast, that ‘block’ will be green. There may be a ‘stinker’ that is pink or red, and some other stock on a tear lit up bright green.
Second is the “ETF Map” that is a map of only ETFs.
For both of these tools, realize that the graphical area precludes showing all the ETFs and all the stocks that are in the market. There is an unavoidable ‘filter’ on what you see. This can be good (it hides a lot of clutter) but especially when looking at ETFs by Dollar Volume, you are only seeing a small sliver of your actual choices, and one very biased by a few ‘whales’ slinging a large chunk of money at one point in time.
As we look at charts, you may want to have a review of the indicators and what they mean or how to use them.
The Dominant Stock Market Trend
A 10 year chart gives the bull / bear read; the market longer term. I usually only do this for the S&P 500 since most long term trends synchronize, though some, like bonds, can synchronize with an inverse relationship.
Trades Inside the Dominant Trend?
The 1 year chart gives the trade direction while the 10 day chart gives short term timing for entry or exits from a selected trade.
These are done for ever smaller grained areas as desired. Generally, these other markets and sectors ought to be ‘raced’ against the winner of the U.S. Market race (or bonds / currency in a stock bear market). Why? Because you want the winner of the race. If something isn’t beating the S&P 500 (or Treasury Bonds) why buy it? Why have added risk?
Remember to follow good practices in portfolio design and, once you have settled on something to buy, to plan your entry.
So here you can pick a race, and a time scale, and see what’s winning:
The Races
U.S. Stock Markets
10 year,
1 year,
6 months,
10 day
For day trades, you can use a 15 minute chart or an hourly chart with fast indicators. The Slow Stochastic and Momentum are nice for fast trades in flat markets (when DMI / ADX is 25 ish or below on the 1 year daily chart). The Williams %R with DMI +/- can also work nicely if you use a trailing stop loss to exit the trade (that is, the slow indicators in a fast chart get you in a bit late, a good thing, but you need something else like RSI or Slow Stochastic or a trailing stop loss order to get you out early (another good thing…)
10 day hourly trader,
10 day hr with W%R and DMI for fast trades,
10 day 15 minute Rabid Daytrader
SPY S & P 500 - broad market standard of performance DIA Dow Jones 30 "Industrials" (banks, drugs, etc.) QQQQ Nasdaq 100 tech companies MDY Mid-size companies RUT RUSSELL 2000 - small company Index. IWM is the fund
Other Assets? Gold, Metals, Currencies, Land,…
Broad Comparison of Asset Classes
SPY S & P 500 - U.S. Stock market proxy GLD Gold ETF - Dollar value and panic proxy EEM Broad emerging market ETF FXY Japanese Yen ETF - often inverse of stocks. Carry Trade proxy. JJC Copper ETF - industrial growth measure. SHY short term ( 1-3 year ) bonds USO U.S. Oil futures - economic strength proxy / OPEC monitor DBA Agriculture fund SLV Silver ETF - mixed dollar value and industrial uses WOOD holds S & P Global Timber and Forestry proxy
Currencies
FXE Euro GLD Gold metal FXB British Pound FXY Japanese Yen FXF Swiss Franc FXM Mexico FXS Sweden FXC Canada BZF Brazil FXA Australia
The REIT Race for Real Estate Investment Trusts
SPY S & P 500 broad stock market benchmark PSA Public Storage - junk storage units PCL Plum Creek Timber - lumber and trees REIT PEI Pennsylvania Real Estate - Mall REIT BXP Boston Properties - office REIT on BosWash corridor HCN Health Care REIT - extended care, senior care, medical offices HCP Health Care Properties - ex. care, senior living, Dr. offices VTR Ventas - sr. care, nursing homes, hospitals PLD Prologis - logistics
Bonds
5 year,
1 year,
6 months,
10 day
A note on the bond tickers: SHM is a California Muni Bond ticker, since I’m in California and want to know if Muni’s are doing OK. TBT is a “short treasuries ticker” and tells us when we can make money by NOT owning treasuries. Finally, TIP is a Treasury Inflation Protected Securities ticker. This fund holds TIPS and has a yield boost when inflation happens. Short term bonds, like SHY, don’t yield much but don’t bounce around much either. Long term corporate (LQD) or Treasury bonds (TLT) can move a lot with inflation or recession fears. All bonds are NOT “safe and low volatility”… When in doubt, buy TIP. In a panic, buy SHY until you see which way things are moving.
Around The World – Non-U.S. Stock Markets
Emerging Markets
10 year,
1 year,
6 months,
10 day
EWZ Brazil RSX Russia IIF India (also EPI, INP, IFN, ... ) FXI China (FXP is the inverse / short) EEM Emerging Markets basket (EEV is the inverse / short) EWX Emerging Markets Small Capitalizatin EWW Mexico EWO Austria (on doorstep of emerging Europe) GUR Emerging Europe GAF Middle East (ISL is the First Israel Fund)
Inside EWZ compared to the Bovespa and the EWZ basket
These charts race the top 9 holdings of EWZ (About 22% of EWZ is Petrobras. The by the time you reach GGB you are down to 1.8%. Everything below the top 9 is even lower percentages.
EWZ The Brazil ETF - The whole basket XX:BVSP The whole Brazilian BOVESPA market index ABEV Ambev - a beverage company BR:AMBEV the same beverage company in Reals on Bovespa BBD Banco Bradesco ITUB Banco Itau Unibanco SID Companhia Siderurgica Nacion - steel maker VALE Companhia Vale do Rio Doce - miner PBR Petrobras - major oil company GGB Gerdau S.A. - steel maker (GNA is the N. America sub.)
The entire tabular listing of everything inside EWZ
The top 9 holdings inside FXI compared to it:
FXI FTSE / Xinhua China 25 CHL CHINA MOBILE LTD 941 Telecom LFC CHINA LIFE INSURANCE CO-H2628 Financial IDCBF IND & COMM BK OF CHINA - H1398 Financial BACHF BANK OF CHINA LTD - H3988 Financial CEO CNOOC LTD 883 Oil & Gas PTR PETROCHINA CO LTD-H857 Oil & Gas BNKHF BOC HONG KONG HOLDINGS LTD 2388 Financial CHU CHINA UNICOM HONG KONG LTD 762 Telecom CMHHF CHINA MERCHANTS BANK - H3968 Financials
The entire tabular listing of everything inside FXI
Foreign Established Markets (EU & Japan vs. SPY)
10 year,
1 year,
6 months,
10 day
SPY S & P 500 (benchmark) EWD Sweden EWG Germany EWI Italy EWJ Japan EWK Belgium EWL Switzerland EWP Spain EWQ France EWU United Kingdom
The British “Empire” redux.
1 year,
6 months,
10 day hourly
EWU The United Kingdom of Great Britain SPY S & P 500 (Well, we were part once...) EWA Australia EWC Canada EWS Singapoor INP India (via 'notes' rather than stocks directly) EWH Hong Kong EWM Malasia EZA South Africa IRL Ireland (IRELAND is the index, this is a closed end fund.)
The Latin World, Old and New
ILF iShares Latin 40 - 40 large cap latin companies SPY S & P 500 (benchmark, becoming more Latin every day...) ECH Chile (or CH fund) EWW Mexico EWZ Brazil EWP Spain LAQ Latin Equity Fund LDF Latin Discovery Fund CIB Banco Colombia BBD Banco Bradesco
Asian Tigres including Australia
EWA Australia - with a fat dividend EWJ Japan EWS Singapore EPP Asia ex - Japan (with 65% or so Australia) EWH Hong Kong AAXJ All Asia ex- Japan FXI iShares FTSE Xinhua 25 China EWY South Korea FCHI iShares FTSE China 100 EWT Taiwan
The Indias – which fund is what
There are several India funds and choosing one can be a bit of an issue. Here we compare them with the SPY benchmark and the EEM broader Emerging Market.
EPI Wisdom Tree Fund of India with earnings requirement
SPY Benchmark U.S.A. stocks
EEM Benchmark Emerging Market
IIF Morgan Stanley India Fund
INP India, via "notes" - things like options, not actual stocks
IFN The India Fund - Closed End Fund,
can have discount / premium to the stocks in it.
IBN Icici Bank - major India bank, broad involvement.
Spaghetti ala Rorschach
Rorschach Race of Shorts, Stocks, Bonds, and Foreign Markets
Rorschach Race, where I put in a short fund for the S&P 500 (SH) and the larger Russell 2000 broad market (RWM) along with the 1-3 year bond fund (SHY) to see if the shorts or longs are winning, or if sitting on the sidelines works best.
EWJ Japan Fund ( Established asia proxy ) SHY Short term (1-3 year) bonds ( baseline ) SPY S & P 500 ( U.S.A. proxy ) EWZ Brazil ( IMHO the Best Emerging Market ) FXI China ( Riskier emerging proxy ) SH Short (inverse) S & P 500 - are shorts winning or squeezed? RWM Inverse Russell 2000 - are the small stocks different? EPI Wisdom Tree India Fund - Managed emerging market fund EWP Spain - Emerging Europe proxy EWG Germany - Classical Europe proxy
The VIX – volatility index
VIX spaghetti graph vs stocks. VIX, Volatility Index, often moves against the market direction. For options, you want to sell them when volatility is high (and expected to reverse) and buy them when volatility is low (and expected to reverse). Basically, you pay a premium for the volatility, so you want to have that premium coming to you (sell options) when it’s high. So this chart has a set of matched long / short positions with the FXY yen (indicates carry trade activity of whales) and VIX.
VIX Volatility Index - premium paid for options SPY S&P 500 Index SSO Double Long SPY SH Short SPY SDS Double Short SPY QQQQ Nasdaq 100 PSQ Short Nasdaq 100 (QID and QLD are 2x short and long) EEM Emerging Markets EEV 2x Short Emerging Markets
Sectors and Smaller Segments of the Market
If you want more focus than an individual market ETF gives you, it is possible to hop down into a more focused part of the market, a specific sector, such as transportation, retail, banking, etc. There are too many to put entries here for all of them, but some selected ones will be put here. They were selected based on my own interests and what has been useful to me in the past or what looks “hot” now.
Agriculture sector
Agriculture is a bit of a mixed bag. Some funds, some ETFs, some stocks (and some of them are commodity companies while others are industrial goods, like John Deere DE).
DBA Broad agricultural basket JJG ETF holding grain contracts - corn, soy beans, wheat MOO Ag input fund (holds MOS, MON, POT etc.) COW ETF holding animal contracts - cows, pigs, chickens HOGS Zhongpin - Chinese hog production MON Monsanto - seed producer including GMO MOS Mosaic - fertilizers TNH Terra Nitrogen - high dividend synthetic fertilizer limited partnership POT Potash - fertilizer DE John Deere - Equipment
Broad Use Metals & Miners
FCX Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold - miner GLD Gold metal (ETF - Exchange Traded Fund) BHP BHP Billiton. Giant global miner of everything... VALE Companhia Vale do Rio Doce - Brazil miner JJC Copper metal (ETF - Exchange Traded Fund) GDX Gold miners basket (ETF) RTP Rio Tinto - UK and Australia based miner SCCO Southern Copper - Chile miner SLV Silver metal ETF SQM Sociedad Qufmica & Minera de Chile - Lithium miner
Transports
Transports are a very broad group. Generally divided into sea, rail, truck, and air transports. I will not be putting any airlines in this list, since I do firmly believe in the dictum “Never Own An Airline!”. Trade, maybe, days at most… (Fares are limited by the government, bookings by fickle vacation planners and business cost control rules, wage costs are set by the unions, fuel costs by OPEC, and major capital costs for financing are driven by government actions. Exactly what major aspect of it’s business does an airline actually control? Advertising? Not a formula for success…) Realize that I do not put air cargo in the category of an airline. They set their own rates and are not as subject to the whims of vacation planning. FDX and UPS are covered.
For sea born shipping, it divides into vacation cruise lines (RCL and CCL), tankers for various liquids (mostly fuels – VLCCF, TGP, NAT etc.), “dry bulk” that mostly means coal, iron ore, wheat, fertilizer, etc. where the stocks are largely driven by the Baltic Dry Index, and container ships. The Exchange Traded Fund with ticker SEA was an easy way to get a mix, but no longer trades. When oil spikes up, shipping drops, and when the economy rolls over and dies, dry bulk sinks. Tankers tend to be more stable, and LNG tankers are on 30 year range leases so their income is very stable (TGP for example). Cruise lines vary with the psychology of the middle class (and up) masses…
Broad Shipping comparison
NAT Nordic American Tanker - Burmuda tankers RCL Royal Caribbean Cruise - cruise ships, Florida USA CCL Carnival Cruise - cruise ships, Florida USA EXM Excel Maritime Carriers - Greek dry bulk VLCCF Knightsbridge - Very large crude carrier - Burmuda DSX Dianna Shipping - Greek dry bulk HRZ Horizon - USA container ships NMM Navios Maritime - Greek dry bulk EGLE Eagle Bulk - USA dry bulk
Canadian and U.S. Rail
CP Canadian Pacific CNI Canadian National Railway No Longer Trades: BNI Burlington Northern Santa Fe (bought by BRKA) CSX CSX Corp. GWR Genesee Wyoming KSU Kansas City Southern KSUPR Kansas Southern Preferred NSC Norfork Southern UNP Union Pacific
Air Cargo vs IYT transport ETF
IYT Transportation basket - ETF FWRD Forward Air Corp. - Greenville, Tennessee UPS United Parcel Service - Atlanta, Georgia AAWW Atlas Air Worldwide - Purchase, New York DDMX Dynamex - Dallas, Texas AIRT Air T - Maiden, North Carolina EXPD Expeditors Intl. Seattle, Washingtion FDX Federal Express - Memphis, Tennessee UTIW UTI World Wide - British Virgin Islands TNTTY TNT N.V. - Holland
Precious & Semi-precious Metals, Miners & Short Treasuries
The Paranoia and Hard Assets trade.
FCX Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold - miner GLD Gold ETF (holds physical gold) SWC Stillwater Mining - platinum group metals miner PAL North American Palladium JJC Copper ETN GDX Gold Miners ETF SCCO Southern Copper - Chile TBT Short U.S. Treasuries ETF SLV Silver ETF JJN Nickel ETN
Industrial Miners & Mining Economies
BHP BHP Billiton - giant global UK / Aussy miner of everything RTP Rio Tinto - Australian miner VALE Vale - Brazillian miner EWZ Brazil basket (ETF) heavy in oil, miners, steels EWA Australia basket (ETF) heavy in miners EWC Canada basket (ETF) heavy in miners and oils SLX Steel ETF CCJ Uranium miner and processor SQM Chili - miner of Lithium (and other stuff) XME Miners and Energy ETF - coal and steel heavy
Copper and copper related
FCX Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold - miner
TCK Teck Resources - Canadian miner with lots of metalurgical coal
SCCO Southern Copper - Chile
CH Chile Fund
JJC Copper ETN (Exchange Traded Notes hold futures contracts
and related instruments)
Aluminum and aluminum refiners
JJU Aluminum ETN AAPR Alcoa Aluminum Preferred AA Alcoa Aluminum ACH Aluminum Corp. of China AWC Alumina Ltd. - Australia KALU Kaiser Aluminum NHYDY Norsk Hydro - Norway CENX Century Aluminum - California ERSO Empire Resources - Pink Sheets nearly penny stock
Uranium and Thorium miners & refiners
NLR Nuclear Energy ETF (basket of stocks, CCJ, USU, EXC, CEG, etc.) CCJ Cameco - Canadian. Major Uranium miner and fabricator URRE Uranium Resources. Miner in Texas URZ Uranerz. Exploration stage miner. Wyoming DNN Dennison Mines. Ontario, Canada. Mixed metals, diamonds, U. USU USEC Inc. Major refiner - centrifuge operator in USA. LTBR Lightbridge. Thorium Fuel Cycle provider. Was: THPW Thorium Power - start up scale novel fuel cycle - penny stock URG UR-Energy, Inc. Miner in Colorado UEC Uranium Energy Corp. Exploration stage miner in Austin, Texas
Semiconductors, broad line
INTC Intel AMD Advance Micro Devices SMH Semiconductor Holders - ETF LSI LSI Logic NSM National Semiconductor ALTR Altera - ASIC and programmable arrays TSM Taiwan Semiconductor - major Taiwan maker TXN Texas Instruments - lots of specialized and cell phone parts RFMD RF Micro Devices - lots of cell phone parts SMTC Semtech - analog and mixed signal
Semiconductors, specialized
CREE LED Lighting, RF Power applications PMCS PMC Sierra - peripheral and network SNDK Sandisk - memory storage devices XLNX Xilinx - PLD programable logic device chips NVDA NVIDIA - display drivers and visualization PXLW Pixel Works - display oriented processors KLAC KLA Tencore - fab gear UTEK Ultratech Stepper - fab gear TER Teradyne - test gear and specialized chips BRCM Broadcom - communications chips
Major Drugs & Biotech
Biotech still look like a trade vehicle not an investment to me.
IBB Biotech ETF PFE Pfizer - traditional major drug maker. New York AZN AstraZeneca. - broad line drug / medical. London MRK Merck - traditional major drug maker TEVA Teva Pharmaceutical - Israel generic drugs ABT Abbot Labs - Health care and pharmaceuticals. Illinois (SGP Schering-Plough - Merged with Merck) JNJ Johnson and Johnson - broad line health care products BMY Bristol-Myers Squibb - broad line drugs New York
Cell Phone Services
PCS MetroPCS - prepaid plans DCM NTT DoCoMo - Tokyo S Sprint Nextel - making a comeback LEAP Leap Wireless. Low end prepay Cricket brand TKC Turkcell - Turkey VZ Verizon - US top end carrier AMX America Movil - Mexico CEL Cellcom Israel DT Deutsche Telecom - Germany VOD Vodaphone - London with global exposure
Why no AT&T? I’ve had them as a service provider, a couple of times against my will. They do an “ok” job, but ‘have issues’. One is that they are not very nice (some of that pushy monopoly attitude still seeps out). Another is that in the early days of cell phones they were prevented from doing them. By the time they were allowed in, they needed to do a ‘roll up’ of other providers. That left them with the most strange mix of technologies you can imagine. 4 different systems at one point (GSM, CDMA, TDMA, Analog, and maybe some PCS; I could never figure it all out but you needed a ‘quad mode’ phone to effectively roam…) A baby bell has mergered them now (SBC Communications – another annoying company – and taken the name), so who knows how long it will take to sort out. I’ll look at them every decade or so to see if they have it together yet…
There are dozens of other cell phone companies. You can find lots of odd trades and strange niche players left over from the lottery that started the industry. If your favorite isn’t here, just to ‘roll your own’ race…
Credit Card companies
V and MA are just transaction processors, no credit risk. DFS, COF, and AXP carry balances and have a default risk.
MA MasterCard - card processor V Visa - card processor DFS Discover Card - issuer and processor COF Capital One Financial - card issuer AXP American Express - issuer and processor of higher end cards
Entertainment, media, theme parks, TV networks
DTV Direct TV - satellite TV CBS CBS Television network DWA Dreamworks Animation - movie maker GE General Electric - also owns NBC as a tiny little part DIS Disney - also owns ESPN and ABC DISH Dish Network - satellite TV CCT Comcast - cable TV CVC Cablevision Systems - cable TV NWS News Corp - owns Fox Network NWSA News Corp. Class A
Auto Makers
FPRA Ford Preferred (also FPRS) GM Government Motors HMC Honda Motor Corp TM Toyoto Motors F Ford - "The Big One" TTM Tata Motors - India (owns Jaguar and Range Rover) DIA Daimler Benz FUJHY Fuji Heavy - also makes Subaru HOG Harley Davidson Motorcycles NSANY Nissan
Tire Manufacturers
GT Goodyear Tires SPY Benchmark US market BRDCY Bridgestone / Firestone - Japan CTB Cooper Tires CTTAY Continental Tires - Germany TWI Titan International AMTY AmeriTyre
TWI makes tires and rims for large earth movers and farm equipment. AMTY is a small specialty company making flat free bike and small equipment tires (urethane foam). CTB Cooper Tires tends to be more volatile than GT Goodyear; so I’d expect it to rise faster in a recovery.
The Platinum and Precious Metals miners
PAL North American Paladium HLPRB Hecla Mining preferred HL Hecla Mining AQPTY Aquarius Platinum - pink sheets SWC Stillwater Mining - platinum miner SLW Silver Wheaton - Canada "silver streaming" wholesaler?
Synthetic oils, tar sands, and algae oils companies, a speculative group.
SYNM Syntroleum USO U.S. Oil - futures contract fund RTK Rentech SYMX Synthesis Energy Company PSUD PetroSun Energy - penny stock in oil services and Algae OOIL Origin Oil - Algae based oil system SSL SASOL - South African Synthetic Oil Company SU Suncor - Canadian Tar Sands IMO Imperial Oil - Canadian Tar Sands
Energy Companies
PBR Petrobras - Brazil (IMHO the worlds best oil company today) XOM Exxon Mobil XLE Energy / Oil basket ETF CVX Chevron Texaco BTU Peabody Coal COP Conoco Phillips - involved with Lukoil and has lots of N. gas. VLO Valero - refiner MRO Marathon Oil - refiner PCZ PetroCanada - merged with Suncor SU Suncor - Canadian Oil and Oil Sands BP British Petroleum
Retail
HOTT Hot Topic WMT WalMart XRT Retail basket ETF HD Home Depot M Macy's COST Costco BBY Best Buy JCP JC Penny LTD The Limited (Victoria's Secret) TIF Tiffany's
Apparel Retail – where women go shopping
HOTT Hot Topic CHS Chico's FAS ROST Ross Stores FINL Finish Line CTRN Citi Trends CWTR Coldwater Creek BEBE Bebe Stores CHRS Charming Shops WTSLA Wet Seal
Insurance Companies
GNW Genworth Financial HIG Hartford Insurance Group BRKA Berkshire Hathaway Class A (BRKB is 1/30 of a BRKA) PRU Prudential MET Met Life LFC China LIfe Insurance Company
Insurance has taken a beating thanks to the “mark to market” accounting rule put in place in 2007. Some look like decent deals with BRKA / BRKB having held up well.
Homebuilders
PHM Pulte Homes CTX Centex XHB Homebuilders basket ETF TOL Toll Brothers LEN Lennar BZH Beazer GFA Gafisa - Brazil MTH Meritage HOV Hovnanian
Major banks
Both non-U.S. and U.S. Money Center Banks
BCH Banco de Chile BNPQY BNP Peribas - Banque National du Paris XLF Finance basket ETF ITUB Banco Itau - Brazil ANZBY Australia New Zealand Bank UBS UBS Ag - Swiss BBD Banco Bradesco BMO Bank of Montreal - Canada AIB Anglo Irish Bank STD Banco Santander - Spain JPM JP Morgan Chase Wamu ... C Citi Group WFC Wells Fargo BAC BancAmerica BACPRD BancAmerica Preferred (one of a dozen) BACPRI BancAmerica Preferred (one of a dozen...)
Employment agencies and temp help
MAN Manpower JOBS 51Jobs - China AHS AMN Healthcare Services - Drs., Nurses, etc. DHX Dice Holdings - computer guys KELYA Kelly Services KFRC KForce KFY Korn Ferry Intl. MWW Monster Worldwide RHI Robert Half
Canadian vs US Coal Majors.
ACI Arch Coal ANR Alpha Natural Resources BTU Peabody Coal (Very Very big!) CNX Consol Energy TCK Teck Resources ( merged FCL ) MEE Massey Energy VA PCX Patriot Coal MO PVG Penn Virgina GP Holdings PA PVR Penn VA Resources Partners PA plus gas
Small U.S. Based Coal
6 months without EEE compared to BTU
Small US Coal producers. (EEE has some kind of partnership in a carbon offset trading scheme, but no earnings. My take is that coal is flat in the U.S.A. but Quatloo Betting on Carbon Cap and Tirade is a hot area ;-)
ARLP Alliance Resource Partners LP (OK coal) EEE Evergreen Energy (Old KFx coal upgrading) ICO International Coal Group WV. JRCC James River Coal VA KOL Coal ETF NCOC National Coal TN NRP Natrual Resources partners TX WLB Westmoreland Coal CO plus generation WLBPR Westmoreland Coal Preferred WLT Walter Industries FL met coal + mortgages + coke + gas + fibers +...
China Coal compared to BTU – Peabody Coal in the USA
CCOZF China Coal Energy penny stock CHGY China Energy * PUDA Puda Coal metallurgical coal SCLXD Sino Clean Energy SGZH Songzai Intl Hldg * YZC Yanzhou Coal * * larger companies
Commodities Exchange Traded Funds & Notes
Metals, broad look at all types
3 year,
1 year,
6 months,
10 day
DBB Base Metals basket GLD Gold JJU Aluminum JJN Nickel JJC Copper JJP Precious Metals basket LD Lead JJT Tin SLV Silver PTM Platinum
Agriculture & “Softs” Commodities.
3 years, weekly,
1 year,
6 months,
10 day
DBA Agricultural commodity basket. JO Coffee FUE Biofuels WOOD Timber and lumber. "CUT" has more volume. COW Livestock JJG Grains BAL Cotton FUD Food ag and livestock futures ETN basket SGG Sugar NIB Cocoa
Energy Commodities
USO U.S. Oil UNG U.S. Natural Gas UHN U.S. Heating Oil UGA Unleaded Gasoline KOL Coal NLR Nuclear Basket - miners & fabricators of fuel CA:U Uranium Metal on the Canadian market
Disclaimers, Disclosures, and Holdings
These charts are from “Bigcharts.com” and I recommend visiting their site. the charts are free and their service works well. My only relationship is as a satisfied user.
Musings from the Chiefio 
Do you take donations or is this free like some of the penny stock pick site I know that take donations?
There is a “buy me a beer” panel on the right edge of the page if you would like to contribute something. Otherwise it’s all just free.
I just wanted to drop you a line and let you know that I really have enjoyed your well-written articles. I have bookmarked this site and will definitely be checking back for new posts.
New to me;
the ‘ceridian index of diesel fuel purchases;
http://www.ceridianindex.com/
More of an FA than a TA chart, but nice to have some data without the dang adjustment of the past…
RR