Stats Point To Buying Opportunity for SPY and QQQ

The major U.S. indices finished the first quarter mixed with the S&P 500 up less than one percent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average loses less than one percent. The increase of daily volatility took investors on a wild ride that end with little change. Looking ahead to April, a plethora of factors are expected to impact the market and keep the daily trading range above average. Next week first quarter earnings will start to be reported. Expectations have come down dramatically as a drop in oil prices, a strong U.S. Dollar, and a severe winter will all have impacts on earnings. That being said, all hope is not lost for the bulls as factors mentioned above could provide a great buying opportunity for U.S. equities in the coming week. Since 2006 the Dow has been up every April, nine consecutive years with an average gain of 3.1 percent. April has also been the best performing month out of the year for the Dow since 1950. Additionally, during the pre-election year (2015) the month of April has been a top performer since 1950; with an average gain of 4.2 percent. The beginning of the month has typically been flat to down with equities gaining momentum in the second half of the month. The early weakness can be attributed to investors selling positions in order to meet tax bills in late March early April as well as rebalancing portfolios that may not have gotten of to a great start in the new year. If these half-century old statistics hold true for 2015, early April could provide a great buying opportunity for equities and afford investors with the discount prices they need to battle through the volatility that shook the market in the first quarter. To capitalize on the movement in the broad market through an ETF, two broad-based options are the PowerShares QQQ ETF

and SPDRs S&P 500 ETF

. QQQ was one of the first technology ETFs ever available on the market that consists of 100 of the largest non-financial companies listed on the NASDAQ stock market. The ETF is distributed across seven sectors with information technology at 56 percent and consumer discretionary at 19 percent being the most heavily weighted. The top individual holdings are Apple Inc.

at 14.5 percent, Microsoft Corp

making up 6.7 percent, and Google Inc.

coming in at 3.7 percent. QQQ is up 17 percent over the last 12 months and is up 8 percent over the last six months. The expense ratio is 0.20 percent. SPY is made up of 500 holdings and is designed to provide performance similar to the S&P 500 index. The ETF is distributed across ten sectors with information technology at 20 percent and financials at 16 percent being the most heavily weighted sectors. The top holdings include AAPL at 4 percent, Exxon Mobil Corporation

with a 2 percent holding, and MSFT coming in at 1.8 percent. The ETF is up 9 percent over the last 12 months and up 6 percent over the last six months. SPY has an expense ratio of 0.095 percent.