Here are the funds with the percent sold for each: some 3% of the iShares MSCI Brazil Index (NYSE: EWZ); another 1.7% of the SPDR S&P Emerging Middle East & Africa ETF (NYSE: GAF); about 6.8% of the Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSE: GDX); another 2.7% of Templeton Global Income Fund (NYSE: GIM); roughly 1.7% of the Market Vectors Agribusiness ETF (NYSE: MOO); another 1.6% of the PowerShares Dynamic Oil & Gas Services ETF (NYSE: PXJ); and 3.3% of the Templeton Dragon Fund (NYSE: TDF).
June 8 was a risk-reduction day. It is not customary to sell core holdings. In the fall of 2008 and early winter of 2009, we purchased most of our high beta stocks. Back then, we did not have a strong fundamental basis for adding Nasdaq 100 exposure through the PowerShares QQQ (Nasdaq: QQQQ).
We do now, which justifies the selling of core assets. Technology and health care stocks have low external debts as well as high export growth, which historically have produced equity stars during recoveries from financial-crisis-led recessions.
John Serrapere works on research and consulting projects through Arrow Insights. He welcomes comments and suggestions for future columns at [email protected].
