As expected, the Fed kept the short-term interest rates steady at 1-1.25% in its two-day FOMC meeting concluded yesterday and laid out the timing of reverse quantitative easing (QE), starting next month.

One sector of the market that is essentially absent from the list of aristocrats is the banks. Any dividends they were paying were essentially wiped out during the financial crisis.

There was little to no anticipation leading up to the FOMC meeting that concluded yesterday. This lack of attention was apparently for good reason, as the Federal Reserve revealed nothing of any significance in its post-meeting press release.

The downtrend in the benchmark U.S. Treasury yields since mid-March thanks to a dovish Fed rate hike outlook and geopolitical risks is a concern for the banking sector.

The financial sector has been on a stellar ride this year having gained 5.6% thanks to the dual tailwinds of the Fed’s rate policy and Trump presidency. We discuss some strong reasons for investing in financial ETFs now.

The Quality factor completed a six-week climb to the top of the factor rankings, knocking Value down to sixth place in the process. Financials and Technology sit atop the sector rankings, as Telecom falls to the bottom.

Action is strongest in the global categories, and volatility in the Latin America ETF is now a positive contributor. Sector and factor movements are subdued, while the leadership provided by Financials and High Beta remains intact.

"You cannot invest in an index" is the standard disclosure that accompanies any index returns when used as a performance benchmark. Therefore, I try to avoid the use of indexes whenever possible.

Real estate stocks have distinguished themselves from financials to the extent that the former group now has its own Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS) sector.

The operating backdrop of the U.S. banking sector has lately turned favorable despite concerns over the financial health of Deutsche Bank and Wells Fargo.

Actively managed ETFs saw inflows of $261 million and now have total assets of $27.5 billion, a nice 19.8% increase since the beginning of the year.

In this week’s video, you'll discover which sectors will help you anticipate which way the market will move in October. Also, the markets have some very clear lines of support which you should treat with great respect.

While most of the major U.S. benchmarks found it difficult to finish in the positive territory in August, it was the financial sector that outperformed other broader S&P 500 sectors.

The ETF industry takes advantage of market incompetence by fund managers who lack the ability to properly stock pick assets in this portfolio class. All ETFs are complete garbage.

At this time probability weighted risk exceeds probability weighted gains potential; and given that, those in or near retirement should emphasize capital preservation more than capital growth in the short-run for now.

We have highlighted three ETFs and stocks that are expected to see smooth trading in the next couple of months and lead the market higher if the December Fed rate hike possibility increases.