Despite September being historically the worst month of the year for the S&P 500 Index, every index ETF followed regularly in this strategy note provided positive returns between the August 29 close and the September 26 close.

Among domestic strategy index ETFs, QQQM (Invesco Nasdaq-100 Index ETF) led the way with a 4.5% gain, followed by VUG (Vanguard US Equity Growth ETF) at 3.9%, VPU (Vanguard Utilities ETF) at 3%, and IWM (iShares Russell 2000 Small Cap ETF) at 2.6%, tying with SPLG (SPDR S&P 500 ETF) which also gained 2.6%.

The laggard among domestic strategy indexes this month was MDY (S&P 400 MidCap Index Trust) with only 0.3%, while US Value Stocks, represented by VTV (Vanguard US Value Equity Index ETF), also underperformed with a modest 1.8% return. Developed foreign markets, as tracked by EFA (iShares MSCI EAFE ETF), gained 1.5%, trailing the stronger US growth and technology sectors.

Two ETFs outpaced QQQM. The first was EEM (iShares Emerging Markets Index ETF), up a robust 5.7% month-to-date. Beating all of our equity index ETFs was the SPDR Gold Mini-Trust (GLDM), which soared 9%. This margin of nearly 640 basis points over QQQM further cements GLDM’s year-to-date, decade-to-date, and even century-to-date performance edge over S&P 500 index ETFs.

As mentioned last week and still true now, current all-time high levels for the spot price of gold do not deter us from considering it no more overvalued than equities in today’s “hedged risk-on” market environment. Less volatile but attractively valued stocks recently upgraded by our models include Travelers (TRV) and Allstate (ALL).

Current ValuEngine reports on all covered stocks and ETFs can be viewed at HERE

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www.ValuEngine.com (Valuengine, Inc) is a stock valuation and forecasting service founded by Ivy League finance academics. VE utilizes the most advanced quantitative techniques and analysis available to analyze over 4,200 US stocks, 700 US ETfs, and 1,000 Canadian stocks. Fair market valuations, forecasted target prices, and buy/hold/sell recommendations are updated DAILY.

www.ValuEngineCapital.com (ValuEngine Capital Management, LLC) is a Registered Investment Advisory firm that trades a variety of different portfolios based upon the ValuEngine.com research models. Each portfolio has a different risk/return profile, so clients can be placed in strategies that fit their specific investment needs.