Category: Monthly Updates

Slack Investor remains IN for US, UK, and Australian index shares.

Please forgive the early call … but all markets had an ebullient month … and I am off on a holiday. The great advantage of a monthly system for index funds is that no decisions need be made until early April after analysing the end of March charts.

February 2017 has seen rises, in the 3 markets that Slack Investor follows. I am always glad to be able to raise the stop loss on any of my index funds in a hope to trap any hard fought gains. The US market (SPY) had a rules-based rise in stop loss from 199 to 208 – small … but every little bit counts!

The SPY is 236.74 at the ‘end’ of February – a 140% increase since the initial buy. The Australian, and UK markets were bought much more recently (2016) and have had modest increases of, respectively, 8.6% and 8.5%. All rises are based on end of month prices only – Dividends and transaction costs are not included.

I beseech dear readers to mine further on the Slack investor ASX Index, US Index and UK Index pages for updated details – and a look at the charts. Next monthly index update early in April.

Slack Investor remains IN for US, UK, and Australian index shares.

January 2017 has seen no great plunges, or rises, in the 3 markets that Slack Investor follows. In these crazy times of Trumpenomics, I am naturally nervous – but our stop losses have held for another month.

I am particularly watchful 0f the US market as it is very deep into a bull run. Slack Investor bought in to the US stocks through the ASX listed  SPY – an Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) that emulates the US top 500 companies. The initial investment was at 98.81 in July 2009 on a monthly Directional Movement Index (DMI) BUY signal. The SPY is 227.53 at the end of January – a 130% increase since the initial buy – a staggering annual average performance rate of over 17%!

The Australian, and UK markets were bought much more recently (2016) and have had modest increases of, respectively, 5.7% and 5.6% .

There are plenty of opinions on where the various markets will be heading in 2017, Slack Investor will admit to being in the first category of investors as described by the American financial academic William Bernstein,

“ There are two kinds of investors, be they large or small: those who don’t know where the market is headed, and those who don’t know that they don’t know. Then again, there is a third type of investor –the investment professional, who indeed knows that he or she doesn’t know, but whose livelihood depends upon appearing to know.”

So, Slack Investor tries to follow objective rules that define his stop losses on a monthly basis knowing the markets will do what they do and he can react accordingly. In the mean time, he can relax for another month!

Normally, I would beseech dear readers to mine further on the Slack investor ASX Index, US Index and UK Index pages for updated details – however, due to technical difficulties, these pages, and the Portfolio page, will not be updated this month – they will be updated for the 2017 February monthly update, early in March.

Slack Investor remains IN for US, UK, and Australian index shares.

There has been US elections, past and upcoming European elections and referendums, uncertainty with OPEC and the oil price … Cripes! Lucky we have the old stock proverb

“The market climbs a wall of worry … and slides down on the slope of hope”

What this means to Slack Investor is that sometimes you have to tune out the noise and rely on the fact that stock markets are a great place for the long term investor. According to Fidelity, over 30 years, average annual returns for Australian shares are 9.5% and for Global shares 7.1%.

In the US, for the world of commerce, there seems to be a feeling of optimism about the upcoming Trump presidency (For me it is a little weird … and alarming, putting those last two words together). I am naturally on alert when markets like the US are at an all time high. However, I have my monthly stop loss to protect me and we soldier on for ASX, US and UK-Index stocks. The UK and US are both well above the 10-month moving average (black line on the monthly charts) and of no immediate concern. The ASX index breached the stop loss early in November but as Slack Investor makes decision on the end of month prices – and they finished well above the stop loss (red line) – no action required. See the ASX, US and UK-Index pages for details.

 

Interesting times … Despite the rough month on some of my individual holdings, at the end of October 2016 my index funds strategy remains on hold for each of the ASX, US and UK index positions. Slack Investor remains IN for all index holdings as the end of month prices have not breached their set stop losses … but these are volatile times … stay tuned for next month!

This pre-US election time is bringing on plenty of action in my individual positions though – after a bit of a cruisy period, and being almost 100% invested in stocks, my portfolio is now 12.5% cash … due to selling some holdings that have had some dramatic falls in this jittery ASX market.

I have the feeling that this wild time will not be over till at least the US elections are over.

What is Slack Investors strategy for the coming month? … although the start of November has brought further falls, and the “fear index” is creeping higher on the US Charts. Slack Investor does not want to become a daily trader and respond to the whims of sentiment – However, if the whims become big enough on a monthly basis, action will be taken. He has reviewed all of his individual stock positions and concluded that his remaining holdings are sound companies with good management – and will stay with them … up to a point!

Some of my individual stocks are near their selling prices and I suspect that further selling could occur and my cash position is likely to increase by next month’s monthly report. However, in the meantime, Slack Investor is taking a deep breath and enjoying the lack of decision making until another month. At the end of November, I will be making buy/sell decisions on the monthly data in a rational, but slack, way.

More detail and chart and table updates can be found on the ASX, UK,US index and Portfolio pages.

At the end of September 2016, Slack Investor is embracing the slackness of it all and stays IN for all his ASX, US and UK index positions.

The reason for this lack of action is that none of his preset stop losses have been breached and,  as the Slack Investor has a natural pre-disposition to be in the market earning dividends from investments, he cools his heels for another month … ahhhh the bliss of it all … decisions can be so fatiguing!

More detail and chart and table updates can be found on the ASX, UK and US index pages.

At the end of August 2016, Slack Investor does his favourite thing … Nothing!

Slack Investor remains IN for the US, UK and ASX markets. More detail and chart and table updates on the ASX, UK and US index pages.

Slack Investor remains IN for the US and ASX markets and have just revised the UK index ETF to IN. More detail on the ASX, UK and US index pages.