It could be confidence, or something else entirely – they aren’t “John Q. Public,” as Gordon notes.
Perhaps the Claymore/Sabrient Insider (NFO) fund, which has 15.9% of exposure to financial services, could be worth a look. The fund seeks to correspond to the performance of the Sabrient Insider Sentiment Index.
Despite their performance since mid-summer and the fact that insiders have bought them, most of these funds remain below their long-term trend lines. There’s no sense in trying to call a bottom or make predictions – wait until the trend shows up again in financials.
Meanwhile, KBW Regional Banks (KRE) has been bucking the trend nicely, up 53.2% since July 15 and it’s 3.9% above its 200-day moving average. It’s down 5.2% year-to-date. PowerShares Dynamic Banking (PJB) has also performed well since the market low, up 29.1% since then and up 3.9% year-to-date.