May 2006 Model Signals

There were no changes to signals from Northlake’s Market Cap or Style models for May, which continue to flash Mid Cap and Value. Consequently, the positions used to implement these signals are also unchanged: S&P 400 Mid Cap (MDY) and Russell 1000 Value (IWD) and Russell 2000 Value (IWN). The default position of $3 in […]

April Model Signals

I am a little delayed getting up the monthly update on the Northlake’s Market Cap and Style models because I wanted to check with Ned Davis Research (NDR), the firm that processes the models, about this month’s readings. For just the second time ever, in monthly readings going back to 1981, the “score” of both […]

March 2006 Model Signals

There were no changes to Northlake’s Market Cap or style models for March. Client portfolios remain long mid caps and value, which I execute using the exchange trade funds representing the S&P 400 Mid Cap (MDY), the Russell 1000 Value (IWD), and the Russell 2000 Value (IWN). Clients continue to own $3 in IWD for […]

February Model Signals

For February, Northlake’s Market Cap model continued to flash a Mid Cap signal as has been the case for every month beginning in September 2005. As a reminder, this model measures ten factors which I group as economic, interest rate, and stock market indicators. Each indicator has historically had predictive value for the relative performance […]

Interesting Datapoint Favoring Growth

Ned Davis Research has an interesting tidbit today in favor of the recent shift in client portfolios from value to growth. As noted in this chart, investors within Fidelity’s mutual fund complex currently have fewer dollars invested in growth funds than anytime since 1992. This seems like a good contrary indicator especially in light of […]

January 2006 Model Signals

I received fresh signals from Northlake’s Market Cap and Style models yesterday that resulted in swapping all value exposure to growth at the open of trading. There were no changes to the Market Cap reading which remains at Mid Cap. The shift to growth occurred after three consecutive months of value signals, a period during […]

December Model Signals

There were no changes to the signals from Northlakes Market Cap and Style models for December. The signals remain mid cap and value, respectively. Therefore, clients continue to own the S&P 400 (MDY), and the Russell 1000 Value (IWD) and the Russell 2000 Value (IWN). The market cap model has been drifting very slightly toward […]

NY Times Article Provides Support For Northlake’s ETF Strategy

Over the weekend, the New York Times ran an article about a new study of investment strategies. The article supported Northlake’s ETF rotation strategy by endorsing a strategy of monthly rotation among actively managed mutual funds based on four separate macroeconomic factors. This article caught my eye because after more than two years of developing […]

November Model Signals

The November signals from the market cap and style models Northlake uses to allocate ETF-dedicated funds were unchanged from October. Consequently, no trades were done for November and client portfolios continue to own Mid Cap and Value. Specifically, clients own the S&P 400 Mid Cap (MDY) for market cap exposure, while style exposure is split […]

Swapping Some Small Cap For Large Cap

Although I rarely make a trade intra-month in Northlake’s model driven ETF investments, last Wednesday morning I moved half of the small cap value exposure to large cap value. This resulted in a swap of the Russell 2000 Value ETF (IWN) into the Russell 1000 Value ETF (IWD)….