Weekly Recap: Growing Organically, Being Productive

Equities

world equity markets 2014-04-25.2014-05-02

The Nifty ended the week -1.30% (+0.16% in USD terms)

Major
DAX(DEU) +1.64%
CAC(FRA) +0.33%
UKX(GBR) +2.05%
NKY(JPN) +0.20%
SPX(USA) +1.04%
MINTs
JCI(IDN) -1.20%
INMEX(MEX) +2.12%
NGSEINDX(NGA) -0.84%
XU030(TUR) +5.98%
BRICS
IBOV(BRA) +3.00%
SHCOMP(CHN) -0.50%
NIFTY(IND) -1.30%
INDEXCF(RUS) +1.93%
TOP40(ZAF) +0.37%

Commodities

Energy
Brent Crude Oil -1.12%
Ethanol -6.11%
Heating Oil -2.28%
Natural Gas +1.04%
RBOB Gasoline -4.28%
WTI Crude Oil -0.68%
Metals
Copper -1.60%
Gold 100oz -0.22%
Palladium +0.20%
Platinum +1.14%
Silver 5000oz -2.02%

Currencies

USDEUR:-0.25% USDJPY:+0.05%

MINTs
USDIDR(IDN) -0.35%
USDMXN(MEX) -0.92%
USDNGN(NGA) -0.65%
USDTRY(TUR) -1.34%
BRICS
USDBRL(BRA) -0.99%
USDCNY(CHN) +0.11%
USDINR(IND) -0.76%
USDRUB(RUS) -0.56%
USDZAR(ZAF) -1.69%
Agricultural
Cattle -4.47%
Cocoa -1.53%
Coffee (Arabica) -0.59%
Coffee (Robusta) +1.08%
Corn -2.66%
Cotton +0.95%
Feeder Cattle +2.11%
Lean Hogs -3.17%
Lumber +2.80%
Orange Juice -4.19%
Soybean Meal +0.20%
Soybeans -1.12%
Sugar #11 +1.40%
Wheat +1.03%
White Sugar -1.42%

Nifty Heatmap

CNX NIFTY heatmap 2014-04-25.2014-05-02

Index Returns

index performance 2014-04-25.2014-05-02

Top winners and losers

HINDPETRO +4.55%
GLENMARK +10.30%
UPL +21.53%
JINDALSTEL -13.11%
DLF -8.98%
TATASTEEL -8.63%
DLF’s Vadra moment?

ETFs

PSUBNKBEES -0.18%
BANKBEES -1.36%
JUNIORBEES -1.55%
NIFTYBEES -1.77%
INFRABEES -5.94%
No ETF left behind in the green zone!

Investment Theme Performance

Value worked, momentum worked. Smart-beta? Not so smart. Also, this might be the last month that Velocity would be available. It has been superseded by Momentum 200. While Velocity looked at prices to gauge momentum, the new algorithm uses a probabilistic setup.

Sector Performance

sector performance.2014-04-25.2014-05-02

Yield Curve

yield Curve 2014-04-25.2014-05-02

Thought for the weekend

Organically, value grows bit-by-bit, but often prices move in a more volatile fashion. Try to win by buying stocks that grow value. Winning from speculation is a crapshoot. Avoid it, the odds are against you.

Imagine for a moment that we did not have financial markets. Who would do the best? Those that compounded their economic activities the best — those who were the most productive. The same is true for us today. Focus on companies that are productive, growing organically. That is almost always a good road to profits.

Source: Avoid Easy Money