Stock Market & Assets Review 2018

Well, it was a negative year with almost all assets in the red. It was another year for the King US Dollar.

Equity ETFs (USD)

Almost all the major ETFs ended up in negative territory with the Nasdaq technology (QQQ ETF) losing only 2.4% and the S&P 500 ETF losing 7.51%. Both Brazil and India performed better than the S&P 500.

The US dollar bull ETF (UUP) was one of the best performer up 5.68%, the Cyber security ETF (HACK) up 5.24% and the natural gas ETF being the top performer of the major ETFs, up 18.92%.

From the sector ETFs, only the healthcare and utility ETFs ended up in positive territory. Financial, Energy and Materials took the worst battering.

Top 50 Major ETFs (USD)

 

Symbol	Name	Last	Wtd Alpha	YTD %Chg	1M %Chg	3M %Chg	52W %Chg
QQQ	Nasdaq QQQ Invesco ETF	152.97	-8.7	-1.79%	-9.32%	-17.67%	-2.40%
ONEQ	Nasdaq Composite ETF	258.35	-11.3	-4.71%	-9.70%	-18.14%	-5.30%
EWZ	Brazil Ishares MSCI ETF	38.08	-4.5	-5.86%	-4.35%	12.90%	-5.53%
INDA	India MSCI Ishares ETF	33.36	-5.9	-7.51%	0.57%	2.74%	-6.50%
DIA	Dow Industrials SPDR	230.48	-10.4	-6.83%	-9.20%	-12.83%	-7.11%
SPY	S&P 500 SPDR	247.75	-11.7	-7.16%	-9.77%	-14.78%	-7.51%
RSX	Russia Vaneck ETF	18.75	-15.7	-11.60%	-9.77%	-13.03%	-11.51%
EWT	Taiwan Ishares MSCI ETF	31.71	-16.4	-12.43%	-6.16%	-15.89%	-11.84%
IWM	Russell 2000 Ishares ETF	132.86	-19.6	-12.86%	-12.73%	-21.17%	-13.58%
EPP	Pacific Ex Japan Ishares MSCI ETF	40.79	-17	-14.67%	-6.62%	-10.19%	-14.59%
EWJ	Japan Ishares MSCI ETF	50.78	-18.9	-15.27%	-8.47%	-15.69%	-15.11%
FXI	China Large-Cap Ishares ETF	39.07	-17.8	-15.38%	-7.22%	-8.76%	-15.19%
BKF	BRIC Ishares MSCI ETF	37.58	-18.1	-15.53%	-6.73%	-6.86%	-15.55%
EEM	Emerging Markets Ishares MSCI ETF	39.24	-18.5	-16.72%	-5.40%	-8.57%	-16.33%
EFA	EAFE Ishares MSCI ETF	58.69	-19.7	-16.53%	-7.37%	-13.68%	-16.47%
EWA	Australia Ishares MSCI ETF	19.25	-20	-16.92%	-8.85%	-12.97%	-16.99%
EWU	United Kingdom Ishares MSCI ETF	29.38	-21.2	-17.98%	-8.04%	-13.89%	-17.50%
VGK	Europe ETF FTSE Vanguard	48.4	-21.4	-18.17%	-6.94%	-13.91%	-18.13%
EWY	South Korea Ishares MSCI ETF	59.17	-22.4	-21.03%	-4.35%	-13.33%	-20.89%
EWG	Germany Ishares MSCI ETF	25.23	-26.7	-23.59%	-7.34%	-15.16%	-23.89%
XLF	S&P 500 Financials Sector SPDR	23.59	-19.9	-15.48%	-12.82%	-14.47%	-16.08%
XLE	S&P 500 Energy Sector SPDR	57.05	-27.5	-21.05%	-13.30%	-24.68%	-21.28%
XLI	S&P 500 Industrial Sector SPDR	63.77	-20.2	-15.73%	-11.18%	-18.66%	-15.88%
XLB	S&P 500 Materials Sector SPDR	50.1	-20.3	-17.23%	-7.36%	-13.52%	-17.38%
XLP	S&P 500 Cons Staples Sector SPDR	50.57	-11.5	-11.11%	-9.39%	-6.23%	-11.12%
XLY	S&P 500 Cons Disc Sector SPDR	97.96	-7.1	-0.74%	-9.05%	-16.43%	-1.32%
XLC	S&P 500 Communication Sector SPDR	41.22	-22.18	-17.49%	-8.26%	-15.88%	-17.49%
XLK	S&P 500 Info Tech Sector SPDR	61.4	-10.8	-3.99%	-9.65%	-18.49%	-4.50%
XLV	S&P 500 Healthcare Sector SPDR	85.25	-0.1	3.11%	-8.97%	-10.40%	2.48%
XLU	S&P 500 Utilities Sector SPDR	52.83	0.8	0.28%	-3.59%	0.34%	0.34%
XLRE	S&P 500 Real Estate Sector SPDR	30.94	-5.41	-6.07%	-7.61%	-5.12%	-5.99%
HACK	ISE Cyber Security ETF	33.51	-2.4	5.91%	-7.51%	-16.50%	5.24%
DSI	KLD 400 Social Ishares MSCI ETF	92.24	-10.5	-6.11%	-8.67%	-13.62%	-6.43%
VYM	High Dividend Yield Vanguard ETF	77.32	-12.8	-9.70%	-9.49%	-11.22%	-9.97%
VNQ	Real Estate Vanguard ETF	74.37	-11.3	-10.38%	-8.40%	-7.82%	-10.34%
IGF	Global Infrastructure Ishares ETF	39.35	-14	-12.98%	-4.86%	-6.58%	-13.12%
IWN	Russell 2000 Value Ishares ETF	106.97	-20.9	-14.93%	-13.00%	-19.57%	-15.60%
SOCL	G-X Social Media ETF	27.59	-21.8	-16.27%	-6.28%	-13.51%	-16.87%
XBI	S&P Biotech SPDR	70.09	-26.6	-17.41%	-13.39%	-26.89%	-18.69%
MJ	Alternative Harvest ETF	25.15	-33.25	-22.78%	-15.52%	-37.20%	-21.41%
ROBO	Global Robotics and Automation ETF	32.33	-27.4	-21.76%	-12.74%	-22.75%	-21.98%
IGE	Natural Resources North American Ishares ETF	26.98	-30	-23.87%	-12.64%	-24.74%	-24.04%
BLOK	Transformational Data Sharing Amplify ETF	14.81	-33.07	-26.72%	-12.11%	-26.90%	-26.72%
XHB	S&P Homebuilders SPDR	32.37	-28.9	-26.86%	-9.30%	-15.79%	-27.34%
MOO	Agribusiness ETF Vaneck	56.52	-12.5	-8.25%	-9.18%	-13.97%	-8.34%
GDX	Gold Miners Vaneck ETF	20.6	-8.8	-11.36%	6.51%	11.23%	-11.21%
PIO	Global Water Invesco ETF	22.94	-14.2	-11.90%	-7.05%	-10.63%	-11.87%
FAN	Global Wind Energy First Trust	11.34	-17.1	-14.42%	-6.82%	-8.77%	-13.90%
PBD	Global Clean Energy Invesco ETF	10.26	-24.9	-21.96%	-11.59%	-14.40%	-21.42%

 

Fixed Income ETFs (USD)

The very little known Citigroup Global Markets Velocity Shares ETF (ULBR) was the top performer with a 12.42% return. 

Then, oddly, the 10 year treasury bull (DTYL) and the 10 year treasury bear (DTYS) had positive returns with 5.7% and 3.66% return. Some municipal bond ETFs returned 2% over the year. Almost everything else had negative returns.

Commodity ETFs (USD)

Commodity ETFs took a battering with the Chinese Rare Earth Metals (REMX) losing over 54% with mining and energy ETFs losing around 20%.

The gold ETF was the best performer, but still in a bear market, losing 1.46% in 2018.

Real Estate ETFs (USD)

The U.S. real estate ETF, VNQ ETF lost over 10% in 2018.

Top Currency ETFs

The US Dollar was once again king with the Ruble losing the most -20.75% against the Dollar with the Brazilian Real and African Rand losing nearly as much ground.

Most of Brexit has already been baked in, with the Pound only losing 1% against the EUR over 2018.

The Aussie Dollar lost around 10% against both the Japanese Yen and the US Dollar as a result of the China-US trade war.
 

Symbol	Name	Last	YTD Chg	YTD %Chg
^USDRUB	U.S. Dollar/Russian Ruble	69.673	11.971	20.75%
^USDBRL	U.S. Dollar/Brazilian Real	3.87975	0.56877	17.18%
^USDZAR	U.S. Dollar/South African Rand	14.36979	2.09731	17.09%
^USDSEK	U.S. Dollar/Swedish Krona	8.94243	0.8544	10.56%
^USDINR	U.S. Dollar/Indian Rupee	69.7079	5.8682	9.19%
^USDCAD	U.S. Dollar/Canadian Dollar	1.36121	0.10511	8.37%
^USDPLN	U.S. Dollar/Polish Zloty	3.7513	0.2816	8.12%
^USDNOK	U.S. Dollar/Norwegian Krone	8.67595	0.49608	6.06%
^USDCNY	U.S. Dollar/Chinese Yuan	6.8775	0.3744	5.76%
^USDCZK	U.S. Dollar/Czech Koruna	22.4334	1.191	5.61%
^USDKRW	U.S. Dollar/Korean Won	1113.52	47.25	4.43%
^EURSEK	Euro Fx/Swedish Krona	10.24338	0.43116	4.39%
^EURCAD	Euro Fx/Canadian Dollar	1.55915	0.05131	3.40%
^USDSGD	U.S. Dollar/Singapore Dollar	1.3615	0.0272	2.04%
^EURGBP	Euro Fx/British Pound	0.89693	0.00982	1.11%
^USDCHF	U.S. Dollar/Swiss Franc	0.98341	0.00957	0.98%
^EURNOK	Euro Fx/Norwegian Krone	9.93837	0.09582	0.97%
^USDHKD	U.S. Dollar/Hong Kong Dollar	7.832	0.0191	0.24%
^USDMXN	U.S. Dollar/Mexican Peso	19.6566	0.0125	0.06%
^USDJPY	U.S. Dollar/Japanese Yen	109.946	-2.716	-2.41%
^CHFJPY	Swiss Franc/Japanese Yen	111.814	-3.626	-3.14%
^GBPCHF	British Pound/Swiss Franc	1.25587	-0.05785	-4.40%
^EURUSD	Euro Fx/U.S. Dollar	1.14542	-0.05402	-4.50%
^NZDUSD	New Zealand Dollar/U.S. Dollar	0.6713	-0.03735	-5.27%
^GBPUSD	British Pound/U.S. Dollar	1.27696	-0.07237	-5.36%
^CADCHF	Canadian Dollar/Swiss Franc	0.7223	-0.0518	-6.69%
^EURJPY	Euro Fx/Japanese Yen	125.978	-9.03	-6.69%
^NZDJPY	New Zealand Dollar/Japanese Yen	73.812	-6.085	-7.62%
^AUDUSD	Australian Dollar/U.S. Dollar	0.70592	-0.0736	-9.44%
^CADJPY	Canadian Dollar/Japanese Yen	80.772	-8.751	-9.78%
^AUDJPY	Australian Dollar/Japanese Yen	77.627	-10.217	-11.63%

GBP ETFs

All the long-only hedged GBP ETFs on the London Stock Exchange ended up in negative territory. Only ETFs in USD & EUR ended up in positive territory.

The iShares Core FTSE 100 ETF lost 9.0% and the FTSE 250 ETF lost 13.4%.

The iShares Physical Palladium ETC GBP was the best performing unleveraged GBP ETF which was up over 25%.
The L&G Cyber Security UCITS ETF GBP made over 14%. After that, it is slim pickings. Most GBP ETFs lost ground in 2018.

EUR ETFs (Xetra Exchange)

Apart from a little know volatility ETF, the Market Access DAXglobal Russia UCITS ETF was the best performer, up 11.0% with the Market Access DAXglobal BRIC UCITS ETF up 5.8%.

Most of the better performers were actually just USD ETFs listed in EUR.

The SPDR MSCI Europe Utilits UCITS ETF was the best pure European play and it was up only 2.6%.

The popular iShares Core Euro Stoxx 50 ETF EUR lost over 10%.

Investing in UK Property 2018

As of October 2018 the average house price in the UK is £231,095, and the index stands at 121.2. Property prices have fallen by 0.2% compared to the previous month, and risen by 2.7% compared to the previous year.

http://landregistry.data.gov.uk/app/ukhpi

Remember that you also have to pay mortgage interest, capital gains taxes, inheritance tax, stamp duty, income tax, estate agent fees and maintenance fees on top.

Investing in US Property 2018

The average prices of single-family houses with mortgages guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the United States rose 0.3 percent month-over-month in October of 2018, following a 0.2 percent gain in September and matching market expectations. Year-on-year, house prices increased 5.7%.

Best ETFs 2019

Right now, the US Dollar bull ETF (UUP), Palladium, Gold and volatility ETFs have the strongest technical indicators, but one of the safest ways is to invest with our conservative ETF strategy which has beaten the S&P500 over time or invest in our adventurous strategy if you can tolerate a longer investment horizon of five to ten years.

Our ETF Strategies

Conservative  -6.66%
Balanced  -13.77%
Adventurous -10.58%

AOA ETF -10.40%

Our conservative strategy beat the stock/bond mix AOA ETF and the S&P500 ETF (SPY ETF) with the other strategies set to beat AOA over longer time frames.

The returns above also net of any fees we have taken, i.e. this is the return on your money you would have achieved.

Compare this with investing via a financial adviser, where their fees are often 1% per or more as well as platform fees of 1% per or more. If investing via an offshore insurance company, often you are also locked into a 10 year contract. There are 0% set up fees, 0% exit fees with The Money Pouch.

Our algorithms use a momentum strategy to gauge what is happening in the market. They won't always make money over short periods of time. The idea is to make money over 5 - 10 year periods of steady investing with reinvestment of dividends, so it almost doesn't matter when you start investing as long as your investment horizon is long enough and it suits your risk appetite.

In bear markets, or strategies turn to US treasuries, gold or cash, however, think of it as a slowly turning super yacht steadily across the ocean, rather than a zippy little speedboat trying to chop through the waves. Investing is difficult in choppy markets, you have to slowly ride out the waves.

We will be fine tuning the algorithms over the next year for better returns.

If you want to set up an account, please complete the application form here to set up a free account.


You can also watch the video below to learn how to set up an automated trading account in just 10 minutes!

https://player.vimeo.com/video/282798523