There was no change to the Franklin International Equity Rotation Model this week.

While the broader international equity space has done quite well this year, South Korea has arguably been the brightest spot in the group. The emerging market nation has benefitted significantly from companies in the memory and semiconductor chip space, with Samsung and SK Hynix being among the largest beneficiaries of the AI buildout. Overall, the region’s stock market has doubled since the start of the year, with most South Korea funds doing the same. Those hoping to gain exposure to the region could look towards the Franklin FTSE South Korea ETF (FLKR), which holds a near-perfect fund score of 5.99. The fund has been a holding in the Franklin International Equity Rotation Model since November of last year, with the fund doubling since then. FLKR returned to a buy signal this week and has traded in a positive trend for over a year. The fund also demonstrates relative strength versus domestic equities, sitting on an RS buy signal and in a column of Xs against the S&P 500 Equal Weight Index (SPXEWI). Recent upward action has left the fund in heavily overbought territory, with FLKR trading above the top of its ten-week trading band. Those without current exposure could dollar cost average in or wait for some pullback or consolidation. Lastly, FLKR offers a solid yield of 2.45%.

This section of the report categorizes select Franklin ETFs by their respective broad group. Along with each group, you can view the Average Group Score, which is an average of the scores of all funds represented in that particular group. Those Franklin ETFs that meet or exceed the Average Group Score will be highlighted in green in order to easily view those ETFs that have superior strength within their respective group. You want to focus on those ETFs that exhibit superior strength when looking to add new exposure to a particular group.

The distribution curve places each ETF on a bell curve according to their respective degrees of overbought or oversold status using a 10-week distribution. ETFs that are statistically oversold will appear on the left-hand side of the bell curve, while those that have become statistically overbought will appear on the right-hand side of the bell curve. Perhaps the most useful attribute of this feature is that it displays the entire universe on the curve at one time to give us a general picture of whether the Franklin ETF universe is generally overbought on a near-term basis, or generally oversold. Our best opportunities are to buy strong relative strength ETFs that have regressed back toward mean conditions based on market weakness, or have become oversold based upon extreme market weakness. Weekly Distribution is a short-term gauge that is most helpful in timing entry and exit points, while the longer-term information of trend and relative strength is a more controlling factor in the decision of whether to buy or sell.

Legend:

• UPPERCASE indicates that the RS chart is on a buy signal.
• lowercase indicates that the RS chart is in a sell signal.
• GREEN lettering indicates the ETFs trend chart is on a buy signal.
• RED lettering indicates the ETF is on a sell signal.
• Box Color indicates the Sector Status Rating. Green = Favored, Yellow = Average, and Red = Unfavored.

The Franklin LibertyShares International Model is designed to identify major country and regional themes in the international marketplace through the use of the Point & Figure relative strength tools. For more information on the portfolio construction and back testing, see the model info file on the models page.  (Note: The Franklin LibertyShares ETF Models will be updated Thursday mornings by 9:30 am EST) 

Weekly Changes: 

* - Dates prior to 09/01/2018, which is when the Franklin LibertyShares ETF Model became available on the NDW Research Platform, are representative of when the position was added to the backtested model.