SPDN: An Inexpensive Way To Profit When The S&P 500 Falls

Summary
SPDN is not the largest or oldest way to short the S&P 500, but it’s a solid choice.
This ETF uses a variety of financial instruments to target a return opposite that of the S&P 500 Index.
SPDN’s 0.49% Expense Ratio is nearly half that of the larger, longer-tenured -1x Inverse S&P 500 ETF.
Details aside, the potential continuation of the equity bear market makes single-inverse ETFs an investment segment investor should be familiar with.
We rate SPDN a Strong Buy because we believe the risks of a continued bear market greatly outweigh the possibility of a quick return to a bull market.
Put a gear stick into R position, (Reverse).
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By Rob Isbitts

Summary
The S&P 500 is in a bear market, and we don’t see a quick-fix. Many investors assume the only way to navigate a potentially long-term bear market is to hide in cash, day-trade or “just hang in there” while the bear takes their retirement nest egg.

The Direxion Daily S&P 500® Bear 1X ETF (NYSEARCA:SPDN) is one of a class of single-inverse ETFs that allow investors to profit from down moves in the stock market.

SPDN is an unleveraged, liquid, low-cost way to either try to hedge an equity portfolio, profit from a decline in the S&P 500, or both. We rate it a Strong Buy, given our concern about the intermediate-term outlook for the global equity market.

Strategy
SPDN keeps it simple. If the S&P 500 goes up by X%, it should go down by X%. The opposite is also expected.

Proprietary ETF Grades
Offense/Defense: Defense

Segment: Inverse Equity

Sub-Segment: Inverse S&P 500

Correlation (vs. S&P 500): Very High (inverse)

Expected Volatility (vs. S&P 500): Similar (but opposite)

Holding Analysis
SPDN does not rely on shorting individual stocks in the S&P 500. Instead, the managers typically use a combination of futures, swaps and other derivative instruments to create a portfolio that consistently aims to deliver the opposite of what the S&P 500 does.

Strengths
SPDN is a fairly “no-frills” way to do what many investors probably wished they could do during the first 9 months of 2022 and in past bear markets: find something that goes up when the “market” goes down. After all, bonds are not the answer they used to be, commodities like gold have, shall we say, lost their luster. And moving to cash creates the issue of making two correct timing decisions, when to get in and when to get out. SPDN and its single-inverse ETF brethren offer a liquid tool to use in a variety of ways, depending on what a particular investor wants to achieve.

Weaknesses
The weakness of any inverse ETF is that it does the opposite of what the market does, when the market goes up. So, even in bear markets when the broader market trend is down, sharp bear market rallies (or any rallies for that matter) in the S&P 500 will cause SPDN to drop as much as the market goes up.

Opportunities
While inverse ETFs have a reputation in some circles as nothing more than day-trading vehicles, our own experience with them is, pardon the pun, exactly the opposite! We encourage investors to try to better-understand single inverse ETFs like SPDN. While traders tend to gravitate to leveraged inverse ETFs (which actually are day-trading tools), we believe that in an extended bear market, SPDN and its ilk could be a game-saver for many portfolios.

Threats
SPDN and most other single inverse ETFs are vulnerable to a sustained rise in the price of the index it aims to deliver the inverse of. But that threat of loss in a rising market means that when an investor considers SPDN, they should also have a game plan for how and when they will deploy this unique portfolio weapon.

Proprietary Technical Ratings
Short-Term Rating (next 3 months): Strong Buy

Long-Term Rating (next 12 months): Buy

Conclusions
ETF Quality Opinion
SPDN does what it aims to do, and has done so for over 6 years now. For a while, it was largely-ignored, given the existence of a similar ETF that has been around much longer. But the more tenured SPDN has become, the more attractive it looks as an alternative.

ETF Investment Opinion

SPDN is rated Strong Buy because the S&P 500 continues to look as vulnerable to further decline. And, while the market bottomed in mid-June, rallied, then waffled since that time, our proprietary macro market indicators all point to much greater risk of a major decline from this level than a fast return to bull market glory. Thus, SPDN is at best a way to exploit and attack the bear, and at worst a hedge on an otherwise equity-laden portfolio.

US Markets in green on Friday; Dow 30 up over 345 points, Nasdaq Composite, S&P 500 up nearly 1%

US Markets were trading in the green on Friday with Dow 30 trading at 30,678.80, up by 1.14%. While S&P 500 was trading at 3,701.66, up by 0.98% and Nasdaq Composite 10,690.60 was also up by 0.71 per cent

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US Markets in green on Friday; Dow 30 up over 345 points, Nasdaq Composite, S&P 500 up nearly 1%
Earlier today, Indian stock markets ended the week on a winning note. It was the sixth straight gains for equity markets. Source: Reuters
US Markets were trading in the green on Friday with Dow 30 trading at 30,678.80, up by 345.25 points or1.14 per cent. While S&P 500 was trading at 3,701.66, up by 35.88 points or 0.98 per cent and Nasdaq Composite 10,690.60 was also up 75.75 points or 0.71 per cent. A Reuters report said that today’s strength was on the back of a report which said the Federal Reserve will likely debate on signaling plans for a smaller interest rate hike in December, reversing declines set off by social media firms after Snap Inc’s ad warning.

Source: Comex

Nasdaq Top Gainers and Losers

Source: Nasdaq

Earlier today, Indian stock markets ended the week on a winning note. It was the sixth straight gains for equity markets. The BSE Sensex ended at 59,307.15, up by 104.25 points or 0.18 per cent from the Thursday closing level. Meanwhile, the Nifty50 index closed at 17,590.00, higher by 26.05 points or 0.15 per cent. In the 30-share Sensex, 13 stocks gained while the remaining 17 ended on the losing side. In the 50-stock Nifty50, 21 stocks advanced while 29 declined.

Understanding Food Nutrition Labels And Nutritional Benefits Packaging Claims

For the best nutritional health and benefits from the foods that you eat, it is important to become educated about their nutrients and properties. This is necessary for you to understand how to create the best anti-inflammatory and properly balanced diet – and to be able to understand and evaluate nutrition labels and any health claims made on the packaging of the foods.So, we have 2 issues to consider:(1) misconceptions about the way different foods you eat might affect you nutritionally(2) possibly misleading nutritional value from things not picked up on the nutrition label, or from the way a company might market its productsEating Fat Does Not Make You FatOne of the biggest misconceptions about food and nutritional health is with regards to fats – and that all fats are bad, or you need to stop eating fats because they will make you fat This is just not the case any more than categorically saying that protein or carbohydrates make you fat – you become overweight from any food if you are eating too many more calories than you are using, and you become fat from the way your body and cells store the foods that you eat.Fats are both necessary for metabolism and other functions, and can be very beneficial as natural anti-inflammatories. The problem comes from the kind of fats you eat; there are good fats and bad fats. The fats in your diet that are most often discussed are the omega-3 and omega-6 essential fatty acids.If you are typical of most Westerners, you are eating 15 to as much as 30 times more omega-6 than omega-3 in your diet. This is something that is very nutritionally unhealthy, because the imbalance is highly inflammatory – and yes, eating too much of these fats are going to lead to being overweight and increased fat content.And do note that eating fats does not cause increased amounts of insulin, which is a primary cause for fat storage – making eating the same amount of sugars like high-fructose corn syrup which does cause more insulin to be produced, a far big problem for fat cells to be stored.Misleading Nutritional Claims On Labels And Food PackagesThere are many situations where a food nutrition label is misleading, and the same goes with different nutritional claims that may be used [intentionally] when marketing and promoting a product – below are a few examples of this:(1) Products labeled as being sugar-free and having no calories, but it contains carbohydrates. This is something that I saw when looking at a no calorie sports drink. I wouldn’t drink it anyway because it was sweetened with Splenda, which is also when I saw that it had 4 grams of carbohydrate per serving.It may not have calories from sugar, but carbohydrates have 4 calories per gram, or 16 calories per serving. Not that big of a deal, until you drink 4 bottles because you like the taste better than water, which is 8 servings – and now you have 128 of extra ‘empty’ calories that you weren’t aware of.(2) Product claims that it is ‘extra’ nutritionally healthy because it has omega-3 added. This seems to be the claim de jour these days, and seems to have become even more prevalent than probiotics being added to everything.If you have been working to balance your omega-6:omega-3 intake and adopting a nutritionally health anti-inflammatory diet, you know that there are different types of omega-3 fats. And you know that the primary nutritional health benefits come from omega-3 DHA EPA, because these are such strong natural anti-inflammatories – and that the best source for this is the oil from cold water fish or green lipped mussels.However, the omega-3 being added is typically omega-3 ALA from a plant source, and this has virtually no anti-inflammatory properties. And the product could be a breakfast cereal that is using this ‘omega-3 added for extra nutrition’ marketing claim to get you buy it for your kids – saying nothing that one of the highest quantity ingredients is high fructose corn syrup that you definitely don’t want your kids eating.Not only is this a product that isn’t additionally healthy because it omega-3 has been added, it is very unhealthy because this is the worst sugar for fat storage, and a primary cause for child obesity.(3) Product claims that it is ‘extra’ nutritionally healthy because it has probiotics added. I mentioned this one above, and a great example of this misleading claim is Dannon paying a large false advertising lawsuit settlement fee, because they claimed that the probiotics added to their Activia and DanActive yogurt made it far better for digestive health than ‘regular’ yogurt.Probiotics added to yogurt and nutritional health benefits are always an issue, because there are no requirements or standards for what has to be added to call it a probiotic food. An additional problem comes from the probiotics being added to a pasteurized food, because for the probiotics to be beneficial they must be live cultures, and the heat used in pasteurization is going to kill most [all] of them.And since this is another product that may be using this nutritional claim to market to your children, the yogurt also has more sugar added to it to make it taste better – and as discussed previously, the sugar is going to offset any of the health benefits with an unhealthy problem.There are many other examples of these kinds of problems. And the best way to avoid then is through learning more about nutritional health benefits in foods, so you will not be making dietary decisions based on misconceptions – and especially so you will be able to understand the foods nutrition labels better, and also see through the different marketing claims that just aren’t going to provide their supposed health benefits.