Investing Research Articles

A subscriber asked about an update of “Simplest Asset Class ETF Momentum Strategy?”, which each month holds SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) or iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond (TLT) depending on which has the higher total return over the last three months, including a direct comparison to a portfolio that each month allocates 50%… Keep Reading

In response to “Tech Premium Boost for Simplest Asset Class Momentum Strategy?”, a subscriber asked about testing the combination of Vanguard Growth Index Fund (VUG) and Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund (BND) in the “Simplest Asset Class ETF Momentum Strategy?”, which each month holds SPDR S&P 500 (SPY) or iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treasury… Keep Reading

“Simplest Asset Class ETF Momentum Strategy Update” updates performance of a strategy that each month holds SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) or iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond (TLT) depending on which has the higher total return over the last three months, including a direct comparison to a portfolio that each month allocates 50% to Simple Asset Class ETF Value… Keep Reading

In response to “Tech Equity Premium?”, a subscriber asked about substituting Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) for SPDR S&P 500 (SPY) in the “Simplest Asset Class ETF Momentum Strategy?”, which each month holds SPY or iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treasury Bond (TLT) depending on which has the higher total return over the last three months. To investigate, we… Keep Reading

Does adding international equity exposure and an escape to “cash” enhance performance of a relative momentum strategy that switches between stock and U.S. Treasury bond exchange-traded funds (ETF)? In his February 2018 paper entitled “Simple and Effective Market Timing with Tactical Asset Allocation Part 2 – Choices”, Lewis Glenn updates and considers two extensions to… Keep Reading

A subscriber asked for an extended test of a very simple momentum strategy that each month holds Vanguard 500 Index Fund Investor Shares (VFINX) or Vanguard Long-Term Treasury Fund Investor Shares VUSTX according to which of these funds has the highest total return over the last three months. To investigate, based on the way mutual… Keep Reading

Is relative momentum an effective way to switch between stocks and bonds? In his May 2014 paper entitled “Simple and Effective Market Timing with Tactical Asset Allocation”, Lewis Glenn compares the performances of two tactical asset allocation strategies: SPY-TLT:  simple relative momentum strategy that each month holds SPDR S&P 500 (SPY) or iShares Barclays 20+ Year… Keep Reading

Below is a weekly summary of our research findings for 6/19/23 through 6/23/23. These summaries give you a quick snapshot of our content the past week so that you can quickly decide what’s relevant to your investing needs. Subscribers: To receive these weekly digests via email, click here to sign up for our mailing list.

A subscriber suggested review of a Follow the Leader (FTL) strategy that, in simplest form, each month holds iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (EEM) when prior-month SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) return is positive and iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT) when prior-month SPY return is negative. To investigate, we run this simplest… Keep Reading

…evidence from limited tests suggests that ETF pair trading based on relative returns/volatilities may outperform simple passive benchmarks.