Life Lessons 101
The results for the best three-month performers in the TSC ETF universe is clearly stacked towards energy and natural resources. This is the only real sector that has yet to entertain the specter of an earnings downgrade in the current slaughterhouse that is the U.S. market. Gasoline and commodity prices maybe driven in some part by speculation, which in turn is being fueled by loose monetary policy. It's likely that a low Fed funds rate is permitting a form of "commodity carry trade" to exist. If the price of oil stays high, earnings for this sector will hold up much better at a time when the earnings from almost every other sector in the economy are likely to come under pressure and revised down. So we may see more of the same dominance of energy and natural resource ETFs going forward -- but how long this can last remains to be seen. The top ETF was not, however, exposed to the oil market, but to coal -- in particular the Market Vectors Coal ETFKOL, which is designed to generate results corresponding to the price and yield of the Stowe Coal Index. For comedy relief we have the HOLDRS B2B Internet ETFBHH in second place, which is like a Model T Ford leading at Daytona. This is an absurd fund for absurd times, and it is the epitome of nondiversification, investing 90.6% of its assets in just one company: Ariba IncorporatedARBA, which provides on-demand spend management solutions. ARBA is rated a SELL by TSC Ratings. The fund also has 10% of its assets in the Internet Capital GroupICGE a provider of software and services to reduce transaction costs between firms. This company is rated a HOLD by TSC Ratings.
| Fund Name | TICKER | TSC Grade | Category | 3 Month Return | 1 Month Return |
| Market Vectors Coal ETF | KOL | U | Sector - Energy/Natural Res | 52.03 | 7.01 |
| HOLDRS B2B Internet | BHH | C- | Growth - Domestic | 45.95 | -10.00 |
| United States 12 Month Oil Fund | USL | U | Sector - Energy/Natural Res | 45.27 | 11.77 |
| PowerShares DB Oil Fund | DBO | C | Sector - Energy/Natural Res | 41.27 | 11.58 |
| PowerShares DB Energy Fund | DBE | C+ | Sector - Energy/Natural Res | 40.05 | 10.00 |
| United States Oil Fund | USO | B- | Sector - Energy/Natural Res | 39.70 | 10.29 |
| iPath S&P GSCI Crude Oil Total Ret | OIL | C | Sector - Energy/Natural Res | 39.27 | 10.20 |
| ELEMENTS RIC Energy Total Return | RJN | U | Sector - Energy/Natural Res | 39.13 | 10.08 |
| ProShares Ultra Oil & Gas | DIG | A- | Sector - Energy/Natural Res | 36.05 | 5.08 |
| SPDR S&P Metals & Mining ETF | XME | B | Equity Income | 35.71 | 8.07 |
| iPath DJ AIG Energy Tot Ret Sub | JJE | U | Sector - Energy/Natural Res | 35.47 | 10.84 |
| First Trust ISE-Revere Natural Gas | FCG | C | Equity Income | 34.09 | 6.91 |
| ProShares Ultra Short Financials | SKF | C | Sector - Financial Services | 33.28 | 41.99 |
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