Us Defensives

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I'm pretty convinced that QE3 will be announced in the not too distant future, so I'm hoping that the next few weeks might provide a buying opportunity. Since I'm guessing that US securities will be far more sensitive to any related moves, and since I'm generally of a defensive nature, I'm looking at building a watchlist to keep an eye on.

My UK watchlist comprises supermarkets, pharma and utilities, so I'm looking for something similar in the US.

Does anyone have any interesting suggestions that I could keep an eye on?

Thanks.

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xlp, xlu, xlv (etf's for consumer staples, utilities and healthcare...avoids single compnay risk...if you research into them you may also find out their individual holdings if you want single company risk)

"]http://stockcharts.com/freecharts/perf.html?[sECT]

Great stuff, thanks HAM - I'll have a good look into those.

I've also just been looking at JNJ - as I'm probably looking to hold for a little while I'm also interested in good dividend payers; looks like they go ex-div on 26th May, so if it drops to about $63 after that I might well have a little stab at it.

[bpw]

I agree there will have to be a QE 3 and at that point the markets will know the US economy is smoke and mirrors. For example, 40% of US Federal and State spending is funded by debt. What happens when that stops? And how does the US make up the difference in revenue - higher taxes? Its a huge mess and there is no good outcome.

I suspect the game is to bolster the dollar for a few months, aided by the debt problems in the EU periphery (UKPIGS) and then announce QE3 which then results in a fall in the dollar. Note the markets will probably rise on the back of the fiat money printing.

Does anyone else follow the wave theorists (Elliot and Gilani, etc.). It seems like they are worth watching since the markets are clearly driven by Macro and not micro-economics.