The stock market continues its steady climb on low volatility, but a recent spike of trading activity in a defensive, consumer staples ETF is catching the attention of some analysts.
First Trust Consumer Staples AlaphaDEX ETF (NYSEArca: FXG) normally trades with an average volume of 206,668 shares but the volume jumped to 960,518 Friday.
For the week ended March 2, FXG experienced a 600% surge in trading volume, its largest move ever, writes David Gillie for The Street. To put this in perspective, the only other weekly move like this occurred just before a major August sell off in 2011. [Sector Rotation Favors Riskier ETFs]
The fund is based on an “enhanced” index, which screens for growth factors, and value factors, like book-to-value price, cash flow to price and return on assets. FXG includes food-related companies, alcohol producers and tobacco companies.
Technical traders will notice that the fund has broken out of an ascending wedge pattern to the upside. Gillie notes that a breakout to the upside will be a bullish signal.