1) The recent surge of fatal accidents involving motorcycles is mainly caused by unsafe riding practices of the bikers. This is because the riders have no basic safety training or education prior to them hitting the road. The answer to the problem is therefore very obvious: provide training to bike riders, requiring them to have training certificates before they are issued licenses. Once they meet an accident, the training school will be jointly liable for the damages, injuries and fatalities caused by their graduates.

2) The lawmakers should pass a law requiring all bikers (motorcycle and bicycle) to wear reflective safety vests when on public roads. This will give them increased visibility and be easier seen by others, especially at night.

3) Tricycles plying the national highways should display an EWD (early warning device) in the front and back of their side cars, to serve as a warning to incoming vehicles.

4) I believe that several hundred lives will be saved by these three actions. I am now calling our congressmen and senators to pass a law to legalize these actions.

O 13º Encontro de Web Design ocorrerá em oito cidades do Brasil durante o ano de 2008. A programação é voltada para designers, programadores, jornalistas, publicitários, empresários, estudantes e quem trabalha ou se interessa por web. Hoje, considerado o maior evento da área, o Encontro tornou-se uma referência: reúne anualmente quase dois mil profissionais com o objetivo de trocar informações sobre o potencial da internet e a importância do design neste meio.

E o mais bacana é que se inscrevendo aqui no site, entre os dias 22 à 24 de Outubro, você paga apenas a metade, ou seja, miseros 30 reais. Vale a pena heim, eu to dentro poi acho que não vou conseguir ir no Intercon08 mesmo. ;]

Today in the market, Friday July 25, 2008:  Well the market was certainly volatile this week and its great that it ended the week with a modest gain.  The S&P500 was up +0.42% and the Nasdaq +1.33%.  This week was filled with news, both good and bad, that caused some wild gyrations.  On that note let’s bid farwell and look forward to smoother sailings.  (Wishful thinking)

RSI’s Themes:  The ETF/CEF picks lean toward world and emerging income plus environmental services.  Areas that certainly need due consecration in one’s portfolio.  The stock picks lean in the direction of the consumer..electronics, coffee, clothing and furniture.  This is very contrary to conventional market wisdom.  We shall see.

ETF/CEF Low Volatility:

• AWF - Alliance Wrld Dlr Govt II
• EMD - Western Asset Emerging Markets Income Fund Inc.
• EVX - Market Vectors Environmental Services

Stocks Medium Volatility:

• ACC - American Campus Communities Inc.
• ATU - Actuant Corp.
• EMR - Emerson Electric Co.
• GMCR - Green Mountain Coffee, Inc.
• HBI - HanesBrands, Inc.
• SVR - Syniverse Holdings Inc.

Stocks High Volatility:

• FBN - Furniture Brands Intl Inc.

Stock Picks New to RSI:

• Furniture Brands International, Inc. designs, manufactures, sources, and retails home furnishings.
• Hanesbrands, Inc., a consumer goods company, engages in the design, manufacture, sourcing, and sale of apparel essentials for men, women, and children in the United States and internationally.
• Emerson Electric Co., a diversified global technology company, engages in designing and supplying product technology and delivering engineering services to industrial and commercial, and consumer markets worldwide.

ETF/CEF Catch a Falling Knife (CFK):

ADRD    BLDRS Developed Markets 100 ADR Index Fund
APF    Mgn Stnly Dean Wtr Asia P
EAD    Evergreen Income Advantage Fund, Inc.
EWD    Sweden iShares
EWG    Germany iShares
EWP    Spain iShares
EWU    United Kingdom iShares
EZA    South Africa iShares
GAF    SPDR S&P Emerging Middle East And Africa
HHH    Internet Holders
IJT    SmCap 600 Growth iShares
ISI    iShares S&P 1500 Index Fund
IVV    S&P 500 iShares
IWB    Russell 1000 iShares
IWV    Russell 3000 iShares
IYY    Total Market iShares
JKJ    iShares Morningstar Small Core Index Fund
ONEQ    Fidelity Nasdaq Composite Index Fund (OneQ)
PBW    Powershares Wilderhill Clean Energy Portfolio
PWB    Powershares Dynamic Large Cap
SCD    LMP Capital and Income Fund Inc.
SSO    Ultra S&P 500 ProShares Fund
TTF    Thai Fund, Inc.
TY    Tri Continental Corp.
VOX    Vanguard Telecommunication Services VIPERs
VTI    Total Market VIPERs
VXF    Vanguard Extended Market VIPERs

So there you have it….have a great weekend, I certainly will.

Today in the market, Monday July 21, 2008:  The stock market gyrated between positive and negative territory before ending slightly down.  The S&P was off -0.05% and the Nasdaq ended down -0.14%.  Oil and materials were up today on hurricane fears and that caused some profit taking after a good last week.

RSI’s Themes:  RSI must like this market since it has picked several ETF/CEFs for a change and they heavily favor the income sector, however a defensive move.  And I should mention five fine stock picks too.  The stock picks run a gambit of industries including a Chinese online community…very interesting.  The CFK list is huge, I forgot to pare it down so you got the full list of 44 names.

ETF/CEF Low Volatility:

• AWF - Alliance Wrld Dlr Govt II
• EMD - Western Asset Emerging Markets Income Fund Inc.
• ESD - Western Asset Emerging Markets Debt Fund Inc.
• EVX - Market Vectors Environmental Services

ETF/CEF Medium Volatility:

Stock Picks New to RSI:

• NetEase.com, Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates an online community in China. It operates in three segments: Online Game Services, Advertising Services, and Wireless Value-added Services and Others. NetEase.com, Inc. was founded in 1997 and is based in Beijing, the People’s Republic of China.

ETF/CEF Catch a Falling Knife (CFK):

• ADRD    BLDRS Developed Markets 100 ADR Index Fund
  ADRU    BLDRS Europe 100 ADR Index Fund
  CH    Chile Fund, Inc.
  CSP    American Strat Inc Pt III
  CVY    Claymore/Zacks Yield Hog
  CWI    SPDR MSCI ACWI
  DDI    WisdomTree Intl Industrial Sector Fund
  DEW    Wisdom Tree Europe High Yielding Equity Fund
  DHY    Dlj High Yield Bond Fund
  DOL    Wisdom Tree International Large Cap Dividend Fund
  DRF    WisdomTree Intl Financial Sector Fund
  DSC    SPDR DJ Wilshire Small Cap ETF
  DTH    Wisdom Tree DIEFA High Yielding Equity Fund
  DWM    Wisdom Tree DIEFA Fund
  EEZ    WisdomTree Earnings Top 100 Fund
  EWD    Sweden iShares
  EWO    Austria iShares
  EWT    Taiwan iShares
  EWY    South Korea iShares
  GRR    Asia Tigers Fund, Inc.
  HIO    Western Asset High Income Opportunity Fund Inc.
  IVV    S&P 500 iShares
  IYR    Real Estate iShares
  JKJ    iShares Morningstar Small Core Index Fund
  KF    Korea Fund, Inc.
  KXI    iShares S&P Global Consumer Staples Sector Index Fund
  LOR    Lazard World Dividend & Income Fund
  NFO    Claymore/Sabrient Insider ETF
  NYC    iShares NYSE Composite Index Fund
  PDP    PowerShares DWA Techincal Leaders Portfolio
  PFL    PIMCO Floating Rate Income Fund
  PHJ    PowerShares High Growth Rate Dividend Acheivers Portfolio
  PID    PowerShares International Dividend Acheivers Portfolio
  PRFZ    PowerShares FTSI RAFI US 1500 Small-Mid Portfolio
  PZI    Powershares Zacks Microcap Index
  SGF    Singapore Fund, Inc.
  SPY    S&P 500 SPDRs
  SSO    Ultra S&P 500 ProShares Fund
  TY    Tri Continental Corp.
  VB    Vanguard Small Cap VIPERs
  VEU    Vanguard FTSE All-World ex-US
  VOE    Vanguard Mid Cap Value ETF
  VTI    Total Market VIPERs
  VXF    Vanguard Extended Market VIPERs

Eu vou….
Bem, conversando com uma amigo meu, fiquei um pouco desestimulado a ir, pois ele disse que o pessoal é 100% Internet Explorer lá… Votz, pessoal deve ser acostumado com hack em css, hehe.

Ai vai as palestras do dia:

Recife - 19 de julho de 2008 - Sábado
# 09:00 - Credenciamento e visita aos estandes
# 10:00 - Abertura
# 10:15 - Palestra 1: Flashback! - Ronaldo Gazel
# 11:30 - Intervalo e visita aos estandes
# 12:00 - Palestra 2: Virtual (15 minutos) - Apresentação em vídeo sobre o Joomla! - Ricardo Accioly - NOIX
# 12:15 - Palestra 3: Saindo da superfície: soluções estratégicas - Irving Suna
# 13:00 - Intervalo para almoço
# 14:30 - Palestra 4: O mundo é plano, a cauda é longa…. e você ainda é o mesmo? - Chico Baldini - W3Haus
# 15:00 - Palestra 5: Comunicação Interativa - Raphael Vasconcelos - AgênciaClick
# 16:00 - Intervalo e visita aos estandes
# 16:30 - Mesa-redonda interativa
# 18:00 - Encerramento

para quem quiser saber mais, visite o site http://www.arteccom.com.br/encontro/.
Eu estarei lá com a camisa do “Projeto RN Software Livre”, aquela pretinha com o caju os leitores do forum que foram e quiserem bater um papo já sabem

Schmeissgeier.net hat einen ausführlichen Artikel über EWD und wie man diese richtig einstellt.

Ausdrucken!

Aiko Schulz beschreibt auf seiner Seite rc-modellkunstflug.de wie man sein Kunstflugmodell sauber einfliegt, bzw. einstellt. Zum besseren Verständnis sind auch nette Bildchen vorhanden, die die Verbesserungen gut dokumentieren.

Hier gehts zum Artikel.

Today in the market, Tuesday February 19, 2008: The markets started the holiday shortened week nicely higher on good news from Walmart. However, oil traded above $100/barrel and that started the inflation fears rolling.  This news put a damper on market enthusiasm and the various indices ended mixed for the day. 

RSI’s Themes: On the ETF/CEF front RSI has firmly landed on the side of consumer staples.  Several of the stock picks reflect this theme along with energy and the price of oil.

ETF/CEF Low Volatility:

• VDC - Vanguard Consumer Staples VIPERs
• XLP - Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR

ETF/CEF Medium Volatility:

• EWG - Germany iShares

I should point out that there were several health care ETFs in the mix but were not selected due to Hurst Channel failure.  They all had the characteristic of topping and rolling over, not a good sign. they are still in contention.  I suspect that RSI is afraid of the impending Hilliary Care beating down this sector.  We shall see.

Stocks Medium Volatility:

• APD - Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.
• MICC - Millicom Intl Cellular S.A.
• TOT - Total Fina Elf S.A.
• WFR - MEMC Electronic Materials

Stocks High Volatility:

• GHM - Graham Corp.
• IHS - IHS Inc.
• JEC - Jacobs Engineering Group Inc.
• VIVO - Meridian Bioscience Inc.

Here the stock selection is tilted to the industrial products and energy.  There are some good names here. And the new stocks:

TOTAL S.A., a French based company, operates as an integrated oil and gas company worldwide.

MEMC Electronic Materials, Inc. produces wafers for the semiconductor industry worldwide.

Graham Corporation engages in the design, manufacture, and sale of vacuum and heat transfer equipment used in the chemical, petrochemical, petroleum refining, and power generating industries worldwide.

Catch a Falling Knife:

BBH - Biotech Holders
EWD - Sweden iShares
EWL - Switzerland iShares
EWO - Austria iShares
KIE - SPDR KBW Insurance Index ETF
PPH - Pharma Holders

Interesting that these fallen hero ETFs have a European and health theme.  Kind of going along with earlier comments above on the future of health care.

Recapping this past weeks RSI picks shows the move into the U.S. markets and energy.  So look at the matrix of results:

U.S. Market:

IJJ - MidCap 400 Value iShares

IWM - Russell 2000 iShares

IWR - Russell Mid-Cap iShares

IWS - Russell Mid-Cap Value iShares

MVV - Ultra MidCap 400 ProShares Fund

SSO - Ultra S&P 500 ProShares Fund

VB - Vanguard Small Cap VIPERs

Energy:

AAV - Advantage Energy Income Fund

BGR - Blackrock Global Energy and Resources Trust

PGH - Pengrowth Energy Trust

PWE - Penn West Energy Trust

PXJ - PowerShares Dynamic Oil & Gas Services Portfolio

International:

EWD - Sweden iShares

EWU - United Kingdom iShares

DLS - Wisdom Tree International Small Cap Dividend Fund

Financials:

IAI - iShares Dow Jones U.S. Broker-Dealers

KIE - SPDR KBW Insurance Index ETF

Tech & Pharma & Other:

DNP - Duff & Phelps Utility Income

IGN - Network iShares S&P/GSTI Index Fund

PJP - PowerShares Dynamic Pharmaceuticals Portfolio

The U.S. market picks are certainly strong in the mid-cap sector plus two ultra funds.  Likewise the energy picks are strong in the energy trust area.  RSI isn’t done with its “Foreign Affair” and still favors Europe.

As we start the last quarter of 2007, use this list to evaluate your portfolio to position your investments to take advantage of these trends.  If you are a bit more risk adverse, look at the energy trusts and their high yields.  If you are a risk taker, look at the ultra funds. If you are light on energy also consider PXJ.

And throw in the energy and international sectors too. RSI has come up with almost all the Midcap ETFs including the ultra ETF in this space.  So here they are: 

BGR - Blackrock Global Energy and Resources Trust

DLS - Wisdom Tree International Small Cap Dividend Fund

EWD - Sweden iShares

EWU - United Kingdom iShares

IGN - Network iShares S&P/GSTI Index Fund

IJJ - MidCap 400 Value iShares

IWM - Russell 2000 iShares

IWR - Russell Mid-Cap iShares

IWS - Russell Mid-Cap Value iShares

MVV - Ultra MidCap 400 ProShares Fund  **

PXJ - PowerShares Dynamic Oil & Gas Services Portfolio **

SSO - Ultra S&P 500 ProShares Fund  **

VB - Vanguard Small Cap VIPERs

You will notice that beside the midcaps there are some small cap and energy funds all rolled into this bunch.  And another ultra ETF, SSO.  This fund, plus the midcap ultra fund, MVV and the energy services fund PXJ all represent “Gold Star” funds because of their outstanding technical characteristics.  I will monitor these three funds.

Additional information …  several funds on this trade less than 100k shares/day.  Please use caution when executing orders to buy these funds.  A good measure is the bid/ask spread during the trading day.  In case the b/s spread is large and you still want to buy the fund, enter a limit order at a reasonable price.  When selling you have the same problem which can be exacerbated by a large b/a spread.  Ditto for getting a good sell stop execution fill.  With that said I have found that you can dance around these limitations and harvested some good profits from thinly traded stocks and funds.

** Gold Star Funds

Looking at the results of RSI’s recommendations over the past week provides some interesting insights. The strong vote goes to foreign funds, especially Europe and Asia. Interesting no specific Latin America? Next group is the materials and oil & gas. The last group is the general U.S. markets. Okay, so here it is:

• Foreign
  • Europe
    • TKF - Turkish Investment Fund
    • CEE - Central European Eqty Fund
    • EWD - Sweden iShares
    • FEZ - streetTRACKS Dow Jones Euro STOXX 50
  • Asia
    • EWM - Malaysia iShares
    • EWS - Singapore iShares
    • EWY - South Korea iShares
  • Other
    • MSF - Mgn Stnly Dean Wtr Emg Mk
• Resources
  • Materials
    • IYM - Basic Materials iShares
    • XME - SPDR S&P Metals & Mining Index
    • XLB - Materials Select Sector SPDR
  • Energy
    • PXE - Powershares Dynamic Energy Exploration & Production
    • AAV - Advantage Energy Income Fund
    • PXJ - PowerShares Dynamic Oil & Gas Services
• U.S. Market
• General
• DDM - Ultra Dow 30 ProShares
• EFV - iShares MSCI Value
• RSP - Rydex S&P Equal Weight
• Other
  • IHF - iShares Dow Jones U.S. Healthcare Providers
  • DJP - Barclays Bank PLC IPath Exchange

So this list can represent a shopping list for the investor. I’m using it to fill any gaps in my portfolio. I ask myself if I have these areas covered and if not here are some candidates to chose from and fill the gaps.

Well the markets seem to be happy with the affairs of GM and Countrywide, but RSI seems to translate this into more overseas funds.  These funds are ripe for a big bounce?  Only my guess. Okay then, here are today’s picks:

CEE - Central European Eqty Fund
EWM - Malaysia iShares
MSF - Mgn Stnly Dean Wtr Emg Mk
XME - SPDR S&P Metals & Mining Index
EWD - Sweden iShares
TKF - Turkish Invt Fund, Inc.

Please do your homework.  Some of these funds are ETFs and some are CEFs, some trade on light volume and some have a large following.  Please do your due diligence and a dose of caution.  The Turkish fund was up huge today (4.0%).  Should you chase it?  I would wait for a pullback.

If you watch CNBC or read the financial press, you would certainly be steered to U.S. large cap company stocks or corresponding mutual funds.  The expectation is that they will do well going forward in the current market environment.  RSI evaluates the 300 plus ETFs and CEFs and smells out opportunities overseas (plus metals and mining).  We are talking major disconnect here.  To quote a famous line from the movie Apocalypse Now, “God, I love the smell of napalm in the morning.”

Welcome to RSI-ETF bog number one.  I have a lot of ground to cover, I cannot do it all in one session, so I will have to spread it out over several entries.

The phrase Rocket Science as it applies to the financial/investing world gained popularity in the 1980s into the 1990s.  It signified the use of more exotic techniques to assist the investor/trader in making superior trades.  Since these techniques were not readily available to the average investor there was an air of mystery and excitement about them.  Some of the methods included neural networks, genetic algorithms, chaos theory, fuzzy logic, and similar exotics.  Since my background was with the NASA space program solving operational problems I was immediately attracted to this field.  I’ll talk more about this in the future but for now let me jump to the exciting area of Exchange Traded Funds (ETF).  When I use the acronym RSI I am referring to my application of advanced techniques to this process.

ETFs are mutual funds that trade like stocks.  There are lots of sites on the web that will give you a good education on ETFs.  If you are not knowledgeable with ETFs and CEFs please educate yourself, since I will be dealing with these investment vehicles.  I have applied RSI technology to the endeavor of trading ETFs.  And I’ll start off with relating my methodology to the here and now.  For the week ending July 7, 2007 I have uncovered the following ETFs as potential buy candidates in alphabetical order:

• ASA -ASA Limited

• CEE -Central Europe & Russia Fund

• CSQ -Calamos Strategic Total Return Fund

• DFE -WisdomTree Europe Small Cap Dividend Fund

• ETG -Eaton Vance Tax-Advantaged Global Dividend income Fund

• EWD -iShares MSCI Sweden Index Fund

• EWL -iShares MSCI Switzerland Index Fund

• EWP -iShares MSCI Spain Index Fund

• IJR - iShares S&P Small Cap 600 Index Fund

• IYC -iShares Dow Jones U.S. Consumer Services Sector Index Fund

• MXF -Mexico Fund

• TRF - Templeton Russia & East European Fund

• XLY-Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR Fund

Wow, that is a pretty full list and I have observed that strong weeks produce fat lists of candidates.  Sometimes RSI pumps out a lot of names per week and other times it is rather meager depending how the markets do for the week.  If you peruse this list you will notice that these funds are not all ETFs. In the universe of investments I analyze I have included some Closed End Funds (CEF).  Do your homework and discover the difference between ETFs and CEFs.  A great site to evaluate these is www.etfconnect.com.  Discover the yield, premium/discount, expense ratio and other fund particulars.  Also go to http://finance.yahoo.com find out more about these funds and look at the three-month average daily volume. Is this fund liquid enough for you?  Please do your due diligence before ever committing money to any investment.  You will discover that EWL, the ETF that tracks the Switzerland index, has an average daily volume of only 143,604 shares.  For some investors this might be too illiquid for their investment size.  For others it might be acceptable.  Also you will find that ETG is a closed end fund that trades at a 7.46% discount to its underlining securities, yields 6.08% in dividends, and has an expense ratio of 1.10%.  Investors who are looking for yield and global exposure might be interested in this fund.  Let me stress the fact that individual investors, and for that matter traders, need to assess these results on the basis of their individual investment objectives and risk tolerance.

One of the fascinating aspects of the results of RSI number crunching is to look at what the implicit message the market is telling.  The themes this week are Europe [CEE, ETG, EWD, EWL, TRF], consumer services & discretionary [IYC, XLY] (not consumer staples) and precious metals [ASA] (gold and silver ETFs [SLV, GDX,] were high in the ranking, but didn’t make the final cut).  I will be commenting on emerging themes in future blogs.

Last but not least is the sell strategy; that too is an individual decision.  For a trader it means setting a tight stop for both a stop loss point and then after achieving a price objective.  For a longer term investor it is different.  I prefer to set a stop loss and then monitor the progress of the fund price.  I continue to move my stop level up to a level where if it fails that price would be good reason to exit that position.  I know that sounds vague but I’ll expand on selling techniques in future blogs.

I promise to disclose more of the techniques utilized in RSI.  It gets a bit involved and it will take a bit more time and blog space.  

Now for full disclosure … I presently hold EWP -iShares MSCI Spain Index Fund and EWP -iShares MSCI Spain Index Fund in my IRA account.  If and when my wife holds one of the mentioned funds in her account I will also disclose this fact.  Also I am currently not a Registered Investment Advisor, however in 1999 I was one and had my brokerage licenses Series 7 and Series 65, both of which are not current.  In future blogs I will give more of my background such as my role in putting US astronauts into space and on the moon, building my first personal computer in 1974, my investing history and experience, starting RSI newsletter in 1993, being written up in Barons in June 1993, and much more.  But this begs the question, should you trust my recommendations?  The answer is you should be a skeptic when it comes to investing your money and the advice you get from others, especially on the Internet …  I am.  You must do your homework and decide for yourself.  I hope you find my blog enlightening, educational and occasional entertaining.  Until next time  …