Editor’s note: Most people change jobs several times during their professional career. That often means having to switch a 401k or other type of retirement plan. In those cases, people often have questions about how to best handle their pension rollover. Jackson National has produced a nice booklet that explains the various options and finer points of rollovers. If this is something that might be of help to you, send me an email and I’ll make sure you get a free copy.

The blue chip indices climbed to new highs again this week. The Dow reached another all-time high while the S&P 500 reached a new multi-year high. The Nasdaq , however, still hasn’t been able to eclipse the high it reached in January. The chart below clearly shows that for the past couple of weeks the S&P (blue line)  and the Dow (gold line) have been moving in lock step. The Nasdaq (black line)  has kept pace, but has not been able to equal a surge in early January that propelled it to a higher level.

The smooth brown line under the Nasdaq is a 50-day simple moving average. The Nasdaq is holding above this key support line but so far has been unable to break above resistance. The bottom portion of the chart is a moving average convergence divergence (MACD) of the Nasdaq. While it remains slightly positive, it also shows that momentum for the Nasdaq is currently sideways in a tight range.

This is a six-month chart and you can see that over this time, the Nasdaq significantly outperformed the other two major indices. It has produced a gain of more than 20% while the Dow and the S&P 500 have both returned about 15%. As long as this overall uptrend remains intact, we should soon see the Nasdaq again move to the forefront and lead these three indices higher.

While the U.S. markets have done well over the past six months, international markets have done even better. As is often the case, funds from emerging market countries have led the international rally. Below is a chart showing a fund that we’ve recommended regularly in the past and it is still among the better international exchange traded funds (ETFs). The black line is iShares S&P Latin America 40 Index Fund (ILF). The gold line is the Nasdaq for comparison.

As you can see, over the six-month period of this chart, ILF has gained more than 30%–about half again as much as the Nasdaq. The blue line is a 50-day moving average for ILF and it shows that the fund continues to trend strongly upward. The global market often provides returns that exceed those of U.S. markets. If you don’t already, you should consider keeping a portion of your investment portfolio in international positions.

F.S.

If you would like an investment strategy that attempts to minimize risk but still provides the opportunity for solid growth, check out the Foundation Strategy from Strategis Financial Group.  This actively managed strategy is designed to take advantage of the experience and expertise of some of the nation’s best mutual fund managers. To learn more, call Mark Sumsion or Scott Garbutt at 800-279-3377.

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