ETF Watch: Fortitude, Not Fashion Wins Out

Solid research and sound investment principals are what will earn investors returns in the months and years ahead. Investing in the midst of the market's current volatility requires more prudence and long-term thinking than trend-chasing.

Investors should show strong conviction before moving into a fund, a sector or an individual stock because mere sector-rotation strategies will no longer hold up as they used to this year.

We can see from TheStreet.com Ratings' most recent exchange-traded funds upgrades list below that there are some ETFs in once-out-of-favor sectors that are suddenly back in fashion -- sectors like banking, which is as good as dead with or without a bailout, the U.S. dollar, which until recently was trading at some of its worst levels in recent memory, and pharmaceuticals, which has been unloved for ages. ...