Stocks ended higher on Friday, led by gains in bank shares, as the S&P 500 index bounced back from its second-worst decline of the year.
The gains were not enough to push stocks into positive territory for the week, however.
Bank shares, among the worst hit on Thursday, rose after Moody's Investors Service announced credit downgrades for 15 of the world's largest banks. The downgrades had been expected, but some were less severe than feared, which helped boost those shares on Friday.
The benchmark S&P index had slipped 2.2 percent on Thursday, its biggest drop since June 1, on signs of a global slowdown in manufacturing growth. For the week, the Dow lost 0.9 percent and the S&P 500 fell 0.6 percent. But the Nasdaq was up 0.7 percent. (commentary & photo courtesy of Reuters)
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RSI has been very busy the past week. On Monday the position in EFZ hit its stop loss level and was sold. Later RSI issued buy signals for:
SPDR Barclays Capital Convertible Bond ETF (CWB)
PowerShares Preferred (PGX)I also added to the PIMCO Total Return Exchange-Traded Fund (BOND) position.
CWB, as its name implies, invests in convertible bonds and it is an income play. It yields 3.48% payable in monthly installments. It has good technicals, that is if it holds above the rising red line on the chart below.
Similarly, PGX invests in preferred shares and it currently pays 6.49% yield monthly. Its technicals appear to be stronger than CWB, although it is riding at the upper end of the rising green trendline. Both of these two picks represent good “risk off” choices.
Catch you next weekend.
