Investing Research Articles

A reader requested: “I would love to see a backtest pitting a 10-month simple moving average (SMA) against a 200-day SMA for SPDR S&P 500 (SPY). I assume trading costs would go through the roof on the latter, but do performance gains offset additional costs?” Others asked about a 40-week SMA. To investigate, we use… Keep Reading

Do funds based on Jim Cramer’s stock/market recommendations generate attractive returns? To investigate, we compare performances for Northern Lights Fund Trust IV – Long Cramer Tracker ETF (LJIM) and Northern Lights Fund Trust IV – Inverse Cramer Tracker ETF (SJIM) to that for SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY). The prospectus for LJIM and SJIM… Keep Reading

Conventional wisdom holds that a steep yield curve (wide U.S. Treasuries term spread) is good for stocks, while a flat/inverted curve is bad. Is this wisdom correct and exploitable? To investigate, we consider in-sample tests of the relationships between several yield curve metrics and future U.S. stock market returns and two out-of-sample signal-based tests. Using… Keep Reading

What are current estimates of equity risk premiums (ERP) and risk-free rates around the world? In their April 2023 paper entitled “Survey: Market Risk Premium and Risk-Free Rate used for 80 countries in 2023”, Pablo Fernandez, Diego García de la Garza and Javier Acin summarize results of a March 2023 email survey of international economic… Keep Reading

A subscriber requested evaluation of Investment Advisory Service stock picking ability based on a sample newsletter obtained in mid-April 2023. The offerors state that they follow “a sound, buy-and-hold approach to identifying well-managed, high-quality companies” that “highlights emerging and oft-overlooked stocks with excellent growth potential and reasonable valuations.” The sample newsletter, dated January 2022, includes… Keep Reading

We have updated monthly allocations and performance data for the Simple Asset Class ETF Momentum Strategy (SACEMS) and the Simple Asset Class ETF Value Strategy (SACEVS). We have also updated performance data for the Combined Value-Momentum Strategy. We have updated the Trading Calendar to incorporate data for April 2023.

Below is a weekly summary of our research findings for 4/24/23 through 4/28/23. 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.

The home page, Simple Asset Class ETF Momentum Strategy (SACEMS) and Simple Asset Class ETF Value Strategy (SACEVS) now show preliminary positions for May 2023. SACEMS rankings could change by the close, because rankings are close. SACEVS allocations probably will not change by the close.

A subscriber asked about the performance of a variation of the monthly reformed 50-50  Simple Asset Class ETF Value Strategy (SACEVS) Best Value-Simple Asset Class ETF Momentum Strategy (SACEMS) Equal-Weighted (EW) Top 2 combination that substitutes 100% SACEMS EW Top 2 whenever both: SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) is the selection for SACEVS Best Value at the… Keep Reading

Should individuals who trade zero-days-to-expiration (0DTE) S&P 500 Index options expect to make money? In their March 2023 paper entitled “Retail Traders Love 0DTE Options… But Should They?”, Heiner Beckmeyer, Nicole Branger and Leander Gayda examine performance of retail 0DTE S&P 500 Index option trades. They focus on effects of the introduction of daily expirations… Keep Reading