Monthly model updates are in the books and fund score seasonal strategies are up for evaluation later this week

Following Friday’s (7/30) action, our monthly models (Models & Products > Models) underwent evaluation for the seventh time this year. Keep in mind that a “monthly evaluation frequency” does not mean a strategy will make a trade each month, but simply informs us that it could given it is up for review. In fact, more often than not, strategies will not make trades every evaluation period. Nonetheless, to assess the latest changes we filtered our models page (partially depicted below) for strategies that use a monthly update frequency by their respective activity. As a result, we saw our ESG stock models (Top 20 and Top 10) make the most trades at seven and five.

A few notable themes following the latest update include a sector tilt back towards financials and away from energy; we saw several models make this trade. For our latest feature on the energy sector, click here. Also, note that many of our strategies kept overweights in sectors like consumer discretionary, industrials, and technology. On the size and style front, the preference for growth over value prevailed along with sustained favoritism for domestic over international markets.

Although it is unlikely, and perhaps unjustified, for one to implement each of these models in a single portfolio, they can still serve as useful proxies for market sentiment and offer guidance on trends. Additionally, you can consider using the models as “idea generators” for sector ETFs, ESG plays, or even broader market positions. To receive email alerts on model trades, make sure the bell icon is blue. To simply group your favorite models, click the star icon to turn it blue.

Note that we will dive deeper into the FSM (Fund Score Method) model changes later this week in our Fund Score Overviews, following their evaluation tomorrow (8/3) night.