One market leader, the Nasdaq-100 did catch our attention this week however. The Nasdaq index has previously spent 26 consecutive trading days above its 200-day moving average, but in a two day period beginning on Thursday of this week, it crashed through both its 200 and 50 day moving averages, largely on weakness in Apple (NasdaqGS: AAPL) and Microsoft (NasdaqGS: MSFT) which make up approximately 24% of the entire index. Also, going into Friday’s session, we noted call buying in a number of inverse/leveraged ETFs including ProShares UltraShort QQQ (NYSEArca: QID), which reflects a short term bearish sentiment in regards to the equity markets.
We are hard pressed to point to any sizable creation/redemption activity last week that shows the footprints of any large institutional asset shifts, as SPDR S&P 500 (NYSEArca: SPY) took in about $1.3 billion in assets on the week, which compared to historical standards is quite normal and unexciting.
SPDR Gold Shares (NYSEArca: GLD) did attract over $1 billion in assets on reasonably heavy volume, as the ETF closed slightly above its 50-day moving average on Friday after flirting with the level the day before, so it seems apparent that gold ETF investors are using the recent weakness in the metal to add to positions.
On this note, iShares Gold Trust (NYSEArca: IAU) also took in well over $100 million in new assets. In general, we saw outflows in names that fall on the “riskier” end of the equity spectrum, but not huge in notional dollar amounts, in names such as iShares Russell 2000 (NYSEArca: IWM), iShares MSCI EAFE (NYSEArca: EFA), iShares MSCI Germany (NYSEArca: EWG), iShares MSCI Emerging Markets (NYSEArca: EEM), Energy Select Sector SPDR (NYSEArca: XLE) and iShares MSCI South Korea (NYSEArca: EWY), and inflows in more stable names including iShares Barclays 1-3 Year Treasury Bond (NYSEArca: SHY), iShares Dow Jones Select Dividend (NYSEArca: DVY), SPDR S&P 500 (NYSEArca: SPY), SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSEArca: DIA) and iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treasury Bond (NYSEArca: TLT).
Overall, there was much less pivotal creation/redemption activity last week than in previous weeks, which makes it difficult to draw conclusions on where institutional managers are positioning themselves going into year’s end. That said, we will be mindful of flows during this shortened holiday week to see if anything stands out as something out of the ordinary.
SPDR S&P 500
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