Middle East ETF

Comparison of a few Middle East ETF's for opportunity investing:

MES - Market vector gulf states - general multi country in middle east
GULF - focusing on dividend stocks in middle east

Main countries both focus on: Qatar, UAE, Kuwait, (19% Egypt in GULF)

GULF looks more diversified among more countries than MES but focuses bit more on financials/telecom than MES (both ~70%)

Probably consider MES more. Currently down ~10% from peak due to middle east revolution issues right now.


http://seekingalpha.com/article/200114-comparing-middle-east-etfs-gulf-vs-mes

Analysis Of Short Term Treasury ETF to Park CASH

List of good ETF's to park money for short term (~1 month) while waiting for opportunities.

Criteria: Some yield (above the low interest rates available from money markets), low volatility, high liquid, low bid/ask spread.

Barclays iShares US Treasury Bond ETFs
iShares Lehman Short Treasury Bond Fund (SHV)
iShares Lehman 1-3 Year Treasury Bond Fund (SHY)
iShares Lehman 3-7 Year Treasury Bond Fund (IEI)
iShares Lehman 7-10 Year Treasury Bond Fund (IEF)
iShares Lehman 10-20 Year Treasury Bond Fund (TLH)
iShares Lehman 20+ Year Treasury Bond Fund (TLT)

State Street SPDR US Treasury Bond ETFs
SPDR Lehman 1-3 Month T-Bill ETF (BIL)
SPDR Lehman Intermediate Term Treasury ETF (ITE)
SPDR Lehman Long Term Treasury ETF (TLO)

Vanguard Government Bond Index ETFs
Vanguard Short-Term Government Bond Index Fund (VGSH)
Vanguard Intermediate-Term Government Bond Index Fund (VGIT)
Vanguard Long-Term Government Bond Index Fund (VGLT)

Inflation Protected Bond [TIPS] ETFs
iShares Lehman TIPS Bond Fund (TIP)
SPDR Barclays TIPS ETF (IPE)

Analysis TBD

Stocks to Consider Buying

Some stocks to buy?

NVDA
F - looks like almost hitting bottom soon?
CRM - long term growth?
HPQ

QCOM/ARMH if prices drop some more

Shorting Gold?

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/when-will-gold-hit-a-new-high-2011-02-24

Hm...a short term shorting of GLD may be in order? Put options for Mar doesn't look that pricey...may be worth a shot!

Preferred ETFs

iShares currently offers the S&P U.S. Preferred Stock Index Fund (NYSE:PFF), which has more than $6 billion in assets. PowerShares offers two preferred stock ETFs (NYSE:PGF) and (NYSE:PGX) with aggregate assets of about $3 billion, while State Street’s PSK has about $100 million [see ETF Roundup: One Trillion And Counting].

Fusion IQ Technical Video

Interesting short vid to watch on where market may go...

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2011/01/fusion-iq-technical-overview/

Back into market?

The indicators indicating a turndown have sorta leveled out and climbed back again into the green.

Still very risky, market is way overbought but...sometimes you gotta flow with the momentum?

Problem is there's nothing good to buy with such an overbought market...

Some possibilities: LTD, VZ (a bit late, early this week was better), C

Nothing convincing however.