With the baseball All-Star break upon us, it is worth remembering that it is great to be a professional baseball player. Not just because they make a lot of money, but also because, for the position players, baseball is one of just a few professions where someone can be proficient 30% of the time (a .300 batting average) and be considered great or excellent.
No doubt, it is hard to hit a baseball. Even harder to do it in 56 consecutive games as the great Joe DiMaggio did. In the financial markets, one ETF is working an impressive batting average/hitting streak of its own. With Monday’s modest close higher, the PowerShares QQQ (NasdaqGS: QQQ) has closed higher in 14 straight sessions, good for the Nasdaq 100 tracking ETF’s best streak since a 19-day run in 2000. [QQQ on Longest Winning Streak Since 2000]
QQQ was able to eke out another higher close despite new the Nasdaq 100’s new addition, Tesla (NasdaqGM: TSLA), closing lower and Apple (NasdaqGM: AAPL), the index’s largest component, barely finishing higher. [QQQ: Tesla in, Oracle out]
With $36.3 billion in assets under management,QQQ is one of the largest U.S. ETFs of any type, so it is reasonable to expect folks will pay attention to a 14-day winning streak. However, there are some other ETFs with impressive, recent batting averages.
PowerShares High Yield Equity Dividend Achievers Portfolio (NYSEArca: PEY)
In the previous 16 trading days, including Monday, dating back to June 20, the PowerShares High Yield Equity Dividend Achievers Portfolio has closed higher 12 times. Of the four days when PEY did not close up, it was flat twice. So in 14 of of the past 16 days, PEY was either higher or unchanged 87.5% of the time. That is a hall of fame average. PEY, which has a 30-day SEC yield of 3.64%, hit a new 52-week high on strong volume Monday.
First Trust NASDAQ Technology Dividend Index Fund (NasdaqGS: TDIV)
Not surprising that with QQQ on a roll, another tech ETF makes the list. The First Trust NASDAQ Technology Dividend Index Fund has managed higher closes in 11 of the past 16 sessions and with Monday’s gains, TDIV is on a six-day winning streak. In the past five sessions, TDIV has gained 3.2%.