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Martin here with a quick update on four of our favorite exchange traded funds (ETFs).
From the first trading day in May through this past Friday, November 5, the Dow is up 4 percent.
That’s actually somewhat better than we expected for U.S. stocks — given the still-somber state of the American economy.
But we don’t feel we missed much by avoiding Dow stocks.
Quite the contrary, we’re very glad we did … because in the same time frame …
• Our gold ETF (GLD) is up 18.2 percent, or more than four times better than the Dow.
• Our favorite ETF that tracks agricultural commodities (DBA) is up 21.8 percent, more than five times better than the Dow.
• The performance of our favorite emerging market ETF — IDX which owns Indonesia’s blue chips — is very similar. It’s up 22.5 percent, or nearly six times better than the Dow.
• And the Chile ETF (ECH) has trumped them all — up 38.6 percent or over NINE times better than the Dow.
All since the beginning of May!
If Wall Street fund managers could perform, say, 1.2 or 1.3 times better than the Dow, they’d be leaping for joy!
But these ETFs are doing far better — beating the Dow by 4.55, 5.45, 5.62, and 9.65 times, respectively.
In other words, for each $10,000 in gains earned by investors in the average Dow stock, these four ETFs have delivered $45,500, $54,500, $56,250, and $96,500, respectively.
This Is No Petty Change.
Nor Is It a One-Time Fluke.
With one exception, these same ETFs have continually delivered similar outperformance going back much further in time.
Take the period since the beginning of 2009, for example …
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Let me start with the exception — the agricultural commodity ETF (DBA). From the first trading day of January 2009 through this past Friday, it’s up just 16 percent, underperforming the Dow by 10.7 percentage points.
But most of these commodities didn’t really start taking off until around the middle of this year. And now, especially in the wake of the Fed $600 billion quantitative easing announcement last week, their rise has accelerated dramatically.
Meanwhile, the other three ETFs leaped ahead of the Dow from the starting gate of 2009 — and never ONCE looked back:
- The gold ETF (GLD) is up 58.2 percent. That’s more than DOUBLE the Dow’s performance.
Thank you, Larry Edelson and Claus Vogt, for reminding our readers so relentlessly — in article after article and video after video — about the vital importance of holding gold!
- The Chile ETF (ECH) has soared 157.8 percent, or almost SIX times better than the Dow.
Thank you, Sean Brodrick, for traveling all the way to Chile last year and making it the focus of your presentation to Money and Markets readers in “Our 11 Startling Forecasts for 2010.”
- The Indonesia ETF (IDX) has greatly trumped all four: It’s up 263.9 percent, or nearly TEN times better than the Dow.
Thank you, Ron Rowland, for introducing this ETF to our readers in your Money and Markets of September 24, 2009 … and AGAIN in your issue of January 7, 2010 (not to mention all the times before and since).
And thank you, Tony Sagami for trekking to Jakarta last year and telling all our readers attending our video gala event (transcript in Money and Markets) that Indonesia would be “one of the three best performing stock markets in 2010.”
Heck! Even including the one underperformer among the four, investors would still have wound up with an average gain of 124 percent since 2009 — 4.64 times better than the Dow during the same period.
Is It Too Risky or Too Late to Get This
Kind of Stupendous Outperformance?
If you had to count exclusively on Mr. Bernanke’s money printing program, perhaps.
Yes, he promises he will pursue it to the bitter end, and he certainly has been going to great lengths in the last few days to justify his actions — editorials, speeches, and more.
And yes, if he stays on this current path, he will probably blow past the $600 billion mark he’s committed to so far.
Still, we don’t think it’s prudent to depend on the madness of any one central banker, no matter how powerful — and bull-headed — he may be.
That’s why our editors like to recommend strictly investments that not only benefit from Fed policy … but are ALSO propelled by sustainable growth in demand — from investors, from strong economies, and from powerful fundamental forces that transcend money printing.
That’s the case for our four favorite ETFs I’ve covered here today.
Good luck and God bless!
Martin
