CARS...A Market Barometer?...9.24.13

Here's an interesting little model that may be useful in determining the pulse of the economy and consumer attitudes.  The markets are a reflection of corporate profits, both current and anticipated, and car sales, rec vehicle sales and car rentals play an important role in defining spending habits.  Next to a home, vehicle costs are typically the next largest capital expenditure for most households...hence the current view.
We'll use the SPY as our benchmark and then look across a variety of the largest players:

We then apply the T11 platform and in this case use a top 5 sort.....why?...because as you will see from the variables array some of these have been stunningly successful over the past 2 years.  We also see greater volatility in all these issues relative to SPY and the current short interest on several of these is just plain scary.

Given the volatility profile of this portfolio the money management stops are crucial and, as suggested by the weakening equity curve above (blue line), the stops panel is currently in CASH.