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Having a web site on the World Wide Web does not automatically grant you instant traffic without web site promotion. Just like in the offline world, you need to advertise and do some form of promotion to let people know more about your business and the services you offer. Without promotion, potential customers will not notice you and within a short time you will go out of business due to a lack of sales. The same is true in the online world as well, although both have different methods of promotion.There are many types of web site promotion that you can use to attract web traffic to your site. You can devise a strategic Search Engine Marketing (SEM) plan that will draw paid traffic to your site. SEM can include Pay per Click (PPC), AdWords, Banner Exchanges, Banner Advertising and many others which all fall under the category of paid traffic. Another form of promotion known as Social Media Optimization (SMO) is basically the process of optimizing your site so that it can be easily linked to and shared across various social media networks such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, YouTube and many others. This allows you to spread your message even further to parts of the world at a pace so rapid that it beats traditional marketing hands down.You can also use another form of web site promotion known as Search Engine Optimization (SEO). These techniques enable your site to rank highly on the search engine results page ( SERPs). Ultimately, you want your site to be ranked on the first page for keywords that your site is trying to target. This will allow you to attract traffic from organic searches to your site which is free. SEO can be both On Page and Off Page. On Page is where your web page contains the keywords you are trying to promote. Off Page is where links with your keywords point back to your web site. The only cost involved in getting your site to be ranked would be the cost spent on link building. One of the most important factors search engines use to evaluate your site’s ranking is the number of incoming links that are pointed at your site. The more quality incoming links your site has, the higher it will rank on the Search Engine Results Page.There are many other ways you can build links to your sites, including Article Submission, Video Submission, Social Bookmarking, commenting on blogs, creating forum profiles, or creating pages on HubPages.com or Squidoo.com. You could even go a step further by building a complete link wheel for your site. This means that you will not only build your first tier of links to your site but you will also build a second tier of links that are pointed to the first tier links. The whole point of link building is to get the search engines to recognize the importance of your site by the number of popular votes from other sites. This method alone can significantly boost your search engine rankings and help you beat your competition.The only problem with link building is that it takes up a lot of your precious time and can distract you from your main focus on your business. Fortunately, there are various companies out there that specialize in link building and web site promotion. Depending on your budget, you could easily outsource the entire promotion and marketing of your site to a qualified SEO consulting company that will not only save you time but money as well.

Technology & HR-Leverage one for the other: “Technology and HR are enablers of business. Integration of the two would mean not only harmonious co-existence but also leveraging one for the other. Leveraging of technology for HR would mean digitizing the mundane HR activities and automating the back office and transactional activities related to recruitment, performance management, career planning, and succession planning, training and knowledge management. Leveraging HR for technology implies managing change associated with technology by way of communication, training, hiring, retraining, stakeholder analysis and conscious keeping. Thus they can play complementary roles.”Technology and HR both have one thing common i.e., both these are enablers of business.In recent times, technology has become synonymous with information technology, as hardly any other technological development of the past would have impacted all spectrum of business as information technology has impacted. Irrespective of the kind of business you are in i.e., services or goods, commodity or branded, trading or manufacturing, contemporary or traditional deployment of information technology in one form or the other is a foregone conclusion. To manage and deploy technology in an effective way, all business Organizations would need knowledge workers. Managing of these knowledge workers is the responsibility of HR function. Hence the integration of technology and HR is an absolute must.Having understood technology and HR in the present context we must understand integration in this context. Integration would not only mean harmonious co-existing but would also mean one enhancing and complementing the other i.e., technology is used to enhance effectiveness of HR and HR functions helps in adopting and managing change which technology deployment brings in.Leveraging technology for HRHR management as a function is responsible for deliverables like business strategy execution, administrative efficiency, employee contribution and capacity for change. All these are accomplished through what HR people do i.e., staffing, development, compensation, benefits, communicate organization design, high performing teams and so on. In majority of these areas technology is being deployed.e-RecruitmentRecruitment is one area where all the companies worth their name leverage IT. There are two different models of e-recruitment, which are in vogue. One is recruitment through company’s own sites and the other is hosting your requirement on the other sites e.g., monster .com, jobsdb.com, jobsahead.com, naukri.com, and jobstreet.com and so on so forth. The first models is more popular with the larger companies who have a brand pull for potential employees e.g., G.E., IBM, Oracle, Microsoft, HCL, ICICI, Reliance, Mindtree consulting etc. Other companies prefer to go to the job sites. Some are adopting both.E-recruitment has gone a long way since its start. Now these sites have gone global. Sites like jobsahead.com and monster.com have established global network, which encompasses separate sites for jobs in Australia, Denmark, Belgium, and Canada etc. Job seekers are able to search job by region or country and employers target potential employees in specific countries. For example, 3 Com recently posted a company profile on the Ireland site that highlights the contributions of 3 com’s Irish design team in its global projects.In the early days e-recruitment was plagued with flooding the employers with low-quality bio-data’s. Again technology has come as a savior. Now pre-employment testing like the one introduced by Capital One, a US based financial company, help in filtering the applicants. These tools test online e.g., applicants for call centers. ‘Profile International’ a Texas based provider of employment assessments, has developed tools that allow instant translation of assessment tests between languages. Further developments like video- conference specialized sites, online executives recruitments and combining online and offline methods are leading to more and more companies adopting e-recruitment at least as a secondary recruitment method. Arena Knights Bridge, a US based IT company conducts video based interview of its prospective employees and only short listed employees are met in person. Even Cisco was to launch the same.Employee Self ServiceEmployee self-service is perhaps one utility of IT, which has relieved HR of most of mundane tasks and helped it to improve employee satisfaction. Employee self services is a plethora of small activities, which were earlier carried out by employee through administration wing of HR. These are travel bookings, travel rules information, travel bills, leave rules, leave administration, perk administration, etc. Earlier all these rules and information were in the custody of HR. Every user employee was expected to reach out to HR and get it done. Now with deployment of ESS in most of the companies, employee can request for travel related booking online, fill his/her T.E. bills, apply for leave, log time sheet and see his perks value disbursed and due etc. E.g., in Ballarpur Industries Ltd. leave administration is completely digitized in its corporate office. It is working towards digitizing travel related activities, perks and even compensation management and performance management administration. ‘Digitize or outsource all the mundane and routine focus only on core and value add’ – Vineet Chhabra V.P. -PDC BILT.CommunicationCommunication which is most talked about management tool has always been a gray area in HR management. In large companies with vast geographical spread communicating with all employees had really posed formidable challenge to HR professionals. Technology has again come for rescue. Starting with telephones, faxes, e-mails and maturing into video conferencing, net cast, web cast etc. communication is one area of HR, which has been greatly benefited by technology. Mouse & click companies like Oracle, IBM has an intranet which caters to most of the information needs of its employees. Brick & Morter companies like BILT also have made a foray into deploying intranet for internal communication, which has corporate notice board, media coverage, and knowledge corners.Knowledge ManagementAnother area of HR, which is leveraging technology, is employee development. Programmed learning (PL) i.e. learning at its own pace is one of the most effective ways of adult learning. Use of technology for this purpose can’t be over emphasized. Aptech Online University and ‘The Manage mentor’ are some of the Indian sites, which are in this business knowledge management, which is an integral part of any learning organization, which cannot become a reality without technology. Companies can harness the knowledge of its employees by cataloging and hosting it on the intranet. Talk to ‘Big-5′ or not ‘so big’ consulting companies you will find that main stay of their business is the knowledge repository. Technology has enabled them to retrieve it swiftly. In the competitive environment where speed is the name of game technology driven Knowledge Management constantly provides a strategic advantage.If you look at HR module of ERP solutions like people soft, SAP, Oracle and Ramco they provide you with a comprehensive package which helps in man-power planning, recruitment, performance management, training and development, career planning, succession planning, separation and grievance handling. A transaction happening in all these areas are digitized and form a closed loop ensuring employee database is always updated. E.g. a joining letter of a new employee is system generated. It will be printed only when all mandatory fields of information are entered. Similarly a transfer order or a separation letter is issued from the system only if that transaction has been carried out in the system.For career planning, success planning, skill and competencies matrix methods are used by most of these systems. They search an employee with the required skills first in the in-house database of employees. Once put in practice in letter & spirit, this system not only enhances business results by matching the right candidate for right job but also improves retention of employees.Processing payroll, churning out time office reports, providing HR-MIS are some other routine activities of HR which have been off-loaded to technology.Leveraging HR for TechnologyAll HR professionals, preaching or practicing, learning or experimenting, teaching or studying have experienced leveraging technology for HR. But most of us come across a situation where we need to leverage HR for technology. Let us understand what do we mean by this.Whenever technology is deployed afresh or upgraded it involves a change. The change may be at the activity level e.g., applying for leave through the intranet or at the mental model level e.g., digitizing the process succession planning which have been HR professionals forte. The people have always registered adopting change. This is one area where HR professionals are to deliver i.e., become change agents and lead the process of technology and change adoption. The resistance to change is directly proportional to speed of change. Now speed of change has increased and hence resistance.Just to take an example, most of ERP implementation in the world have not been able to deliver all the expectations. Some of these have failed to deliver at all. While analyzing the cause of failure it has been observed that 96% of failures are because of people related issues and only 4% are because of technology.It is the people who make the difference; hence HR should exploit its expertise to facilitate the adoption of technology. I would like to put together some of the thoughts on what HR should do for this.At the time of recruitment, stop hiring for skills rather hire for attitude and a learning mind. Skills of today are no longer valid tomorrow. Managing ever changing change is the only criteria for success.Functional or technical skills can be acquired during the job. Hence recruitment in the technology era needs to undergo a paradigm shift i.e., from a skill/competency based it needs to be attitude and learning mind/ ability based interview. That would translate into hiring for skills for future. In IBM every employee has to fill in his/her individual development plan where the employee commits its learning one/two new skills every year thus remaining competitive every time.If we look at the chemistry of resistance to change it is either a skill issue or a will issue. To address the will issue we need to work at a comprehensive solution starting from recruitment (as discussed earlier), reward, compensation and leading to organization culture which promotes change. A living example is 3M, a US based company, where innovation is way of life, where 10% of revenue must come from new products every year. For them change becomes way of life.To address the will issue further organization need to prepare a communication strategy which creates a ‘pull’ for the technology. For example, in Ranbaxy, when they went for SAP implementation they anticipated resistance. To address this they started a house journal, which was aimed at educating the employees on the benefits, which will result from adoption of ERP, SAP. This created a need rather a potential need or a latent need was brought out. Adoption of ERP did not become much of a problem.At times adoption of technologies is perceived as a threat by the employees e.g., automation leading to reduction in workers, office automation leading to retrenchment of clerks etc. HR needs to be associated with the technical adoption right from the beginning till the end. At the selection of technical stage if HR is associated, it can map the skills required and create a pull during implementation and adoption. Post adoption it can release the excess non-re-allocatable employees.To understand this process more clearly we can take example of ERP implementation. ERP is taken as an example as this is one technology adoption which effects employees across the org. irrespective of function and position. Any other automation may have affected only a segment of organisation. ERP implementation in any organization goes through the following stages.1. Selection of package2. Business analysis3. Solution design4. Configuration and customization5. Conference room piloting (CRP)6. Go-live and productionAt each stage HR has to play a role, which will help in mitigating resistance to change.During selection process, the change agent can understand the business benefit ERP would bring. This would help him to draw a comprehensive communication plant aimed at creating a ‘pull’ for the change. The communication plan may use its various weapons from the armory. The obvious examples are Newsletters, Newsflash. In-house journal, addressing by the top management, web cast, open house sessions, meetings formal and informal.During the business analysis phase implementation team is supposed to analyse the existing business processes. At times this leads to surfacing of some data which is not very desirable by the process owners, leading to resistance at this stage, HR has to be again proactive and carry out a detailed stake-holder analysis. Such an analysis should give a lead to potential areas of problem and potential champions of change.Solution design involves defining ‘To-be processes’ i.e., the way business would be carried out in future. At this stage HR has to play the role of catalyst to turn the heat on. The idea is to ensure to make maximum out of an opportunity of package enabled business transformation. HR can play a role by arranging to educate and train the right people on best business practices, just before this phase.During the configuration and customization HR has to keep on beating the drum, the customization of a standard package is a big no-no. Similarly, during the conference room plotting (CRP) it should help in identifying the right persons to be involved in CRP. A thorough testing at this stage would result in lesser pain at the time of going live. This is also time to focus on training of end users, the employees who are going to use the system once implemented. Training- retraining -training to ensure all the prospective users are comfortable with usage of software before the system goes live.During the go-live stage HR has to work over time to keep the motivation levels high. This is the time when management starts losing patience as one glitch after the other keeps appearing and virtually bringing the business to halt. At this stage, HR has to play ‘conscious keeper’ for the top management once into product relocating the surplus is a challenge for which it has to be prepared before it.This examples makes it clear that involvement of HR during the entire life cycle of technology is valuable. ERP is not an isolated case. It is true for any other technology adoption only finer details may vary. Hence HR must play a proactive role rather than being just a silent spectator or mere executers of the wishes of business or chief technology officer in case of technological changes.Having set the case in different perspective, it seems only logical to leverage technology for HR and vice-versa.

If you are interested in increasing the revenues you derive from your Internet website, you will want to initiate an effective web site promotion campaign. This article is presented to provide you with 7 methods to get more web traffic.Link BuildingLink building is a tried and true method of web site promotion. By having links to your web site placed at other reputable web sites, you will markedly increase traffic to your own location.SEO OptimizationSEO optimization is a sure way of developing effective web site promotion. By using keywords, SEO enriched content and other SEO tactics, you will be able to increase the volume of traffic to your web site as the result of search engine searches.Article SubmissionBy submitting well written and professional articles to various sites on the Net, you will be able to enhance your overall web site promotion efforts. People who read your articles will be drawn to your web site for more information.BloggingMore and more people are blogging as a part of their web site promotion efforts. Blogging is proving to be a very effective and reliable way to get information out to a larger audience about your website and the products or services that you do offer.EmailOpt-in email campaigns can be very effective when it comes to web site promotion. Through email, you can maintain a communication link with people who might be interested in your web site and its products or services.Referral ProgramBy establishing a referral program you will improve the effectiveness of your web site promotion program. Even in this high tech age, word of mouth is vital when it comes to web site promotion.Professional WebsiteFinally, when it comes to web site promotion, you must be absolutely certain that your venue is attractive, professional and easy to use.

The effect of the economic crises over the past few years is by no means dissipating. The public is still reeling from the blow they have had on their credit reputations, and lenders remain as cautious as ever. So, when a bad credit applicant applies for a $10,000 unsecured personal loan, the chances of approval are surely slim.But that is not to say that getting such a large loan without the benefit of any form of security is completely impossible. There are always ways around such difficulties, though it may require making some compromises. Loan approval without collateral is going to cost more.There is always a preference for secured loans, where the lender has some item of value from which to take compensation should the borrower default on the agreement. But unsecured personal loans are on offer to those who meet the set criteria and satisfy the conditions of affordability.Loan Options To Consider CarefullyThe whole idea behind offering unsecured loans is that those who do not have possessions of great value, or even are unwilling to risk something they have of value, can access funds. Normally, such loans are small, between $500 and $5,000, but it is possible to get a $10,000 unsecured personal loan, given the right circumstance.The issue is uncomplicated when the applicant has a good credit history, but there is great scrutiny of applications from bad credit applicants. This is understandable, but it means that choosing the right loan product is important too. For example, since approval without collateral is easier for smaller loan sums, be sure that the amount applied for is realistic. If $7,000 is needed, do not apply for $10,000.Also, consider splitting the unsecured personal loan into two successive loans of $5,000, for example. It may also be worth considering taking out a series of small payday loans, and repaying over a short period – especially when dealing with a financial emergency.Helping FactorsThe chief problem with an unsecured loan is that if the borrower fails to meet their obligation, it is the lender who loses out. This means that convincing the lender their investment is safe is at the core of securing a $10,000 unsecured personal loan.To help in establishing the assurance needed, it may be a good idea to include a consigner in the agreement. The cosigner promises to make the repayments in place of the borrower should the situation dictate. This means payments are guaranteed, and so the risk is less. As a result, granting approval without collateral is less of an issue.Alternatively, seek an unsecured personal loan with a longer repayment term – perhaps 7 years instead of 5, for example. This lowers the size of the monthly repayments, which in turn greatly reduces the likelihood of default.Where To LookWhen it comes to securing a loan deal that is affordable, there are some terms that should be sought. As can be expected, repayments on a $10,000 unsecured personal loan should be low enough to ensure affordability, but interest rates need to be kept low too.By applying to an online lender, the terms of the loan deal should be the most affordable possible. This is because the interest rates charged are typically lower than any traditional lender would charge. Securing approval without collateral is also more probable because they are expert bad credit lenders.However, remember to check the reputation of any likely lenders before agreeing an unsecured personal loan contract. Check the BBB website to find out if they are trustworthy.

The phrase ‘tailor-made’ ought to be made for personal loans. Personal loans have become relatively easy to acquire in UK. More and more loan providers have come forward to provide personal loans in UK and that too with innovative modifications to include anyone in its circumference.Let us start with the definition of personal loans. Personal loans are loans that are offered by financial institutions for any personal financial reason. The financial institutions offering personal loans in UK include banks, building societies, loan lending companies etc.Like every other loan, a personal loan needs to be paid back. The time decided for the repayment of the loan is called loan term. The amount taken for a personal loan is decisive about many things in the context of personal loans like repayment terms, interest rates along with repayment term.Personal
loans [http://www.chanceforloans.co.uk/secured_personal_loan.html] have been broadly categorized into two types – namely secured personal loans and unsecured personal loans. Secured personal loans are those loans which are given against a security which is usually your home or any personal property like your car. The collateral placed is the security against which the personal loan is supplied in UK. This collateral acts as the security which guarantees for the repayment of loan. In case of non repayment the personal loan, the loan lender can seize your property.Contrary to secured personal loans is unsecured personal loans. Unsecured personal loans in UK are furnished without any collateral being placed. Therefore unsecured personal loans are an ideal choice for tenants in UK. Nevertheless, even homeowners can apply for unsecured personal loans in UK.If unsecured personal loans are open to everyone then why would one get a secured personal loan? Interestingly there is a hitch? Unsecured personal loans come with their very own drawback. The interest rate on unsecured personal loans is higher than secured personal loans. You place no guarantee and consequently the rate of interest is higher. Thus unsecured personal loans are more expensive that secured personal loans. Coming to interest rate you would like to know about APR. It is a much publicized word but little comprehended. APR is the annual percentage rate. It is interest rate charged on your loan. APR is the interest rate of a mortgage including other costs such as the interest, insurance, and certain closing costs.The interest rate on personal loans in UK can be taken under the head of variable interest rate and fixed interest rate depending on your convenience. Fixed interest rate on personal loans will remain the same irrespective of the changes in the interest rate in the loan market. You will keep on paying the same interest rate even if the interest rate in the open market drop.While a variable interest rate keeps on fluctuating. Variable rate personal loans are also called adjustable rate personal loans. Adjustable rate personal loans are beneficial only if you the rate of interest drop. But if they rate of interest rises then your monthly payments will increase way over the payments you would have made. It is a very unpredictable situation.Personal loans are an ideal option if the money is borrowed for less than ten years or for any purchases or repayment of existing debts. Personal loans are very dependent on your personal situation and temperament. If you are open about your circumstances to your loan lender you are likely get a personal loan in UK in accordance to your needs. Loan in simplest terms is loan borrowing. You take money and repay it on the decided time. There is no simpler way to describe on personal loans.

There are many reasons why consumers choose to go through the auto loan refinance process, but many often fail to fully understand the process of refinancing a vehicle and pursue it just because they want to get a lower monthly payment.It may be the case that current tough economic times have got you in a tough spot leaving you unable to afford your current payment, or you simply want to lower your monthly payment so you have more money to spend on other bills or monthly expenses. Then an auto loan refinance can help you achieve a lower monthly payment.Current interest rates are at all new low levels due to the swing in recent market conditions, so now may be the perfect opportunity for you if you are considering an auto loan refinance.Auto Loan Refinance DefinedAn auto refinance loan is a loan that aims to pay off an existing loan more effectively by providing a lower interest rate, reducing the monthly loan premium that the borrower is responsible for, and reducing the overall costs that the borrower ends up paying above and beyond the initial value of the loan.Borrowers can refinance their vehicles by going through their current lender for the new loan, or they can research other lenders to see who has the best terms based on current market conditions.Should You Refinance Your Auto?Before you jump into the process of refinancing your vehicle, it might be a good idea to assess your particular situation in order to identify whether or not refinancing is the right decision for you. The decision you make will depend on what your goals are from a borrowing standpoint.You should consider refinancing if:You would like to get a lower interest rate in order to reduce overall interest costs on your loan. As mentioned before, interest rates are at all new lows. This means that a new loan with the same terms will cost less when all is said and done because of the lower interest rates. If your current loan has a 6% interest rate, and you now qualify for a 3% loan with the same terms, you will save dramatically on interest costs when your loan is finally paid off if you refinance instead of sticking with your current loan.You might also consider an auto loan refinance if you want to reduce your monthly payment. Your monthly payment can be reduced if you are able to get a new loan with a lower interest rate, you extend the payoff period of the loan, or you get a lower interest rate and extend the period of the loan. Keep in mind that simply extending the period of the loan with all other factors remaining the same may increase your total interest cost in the long run.How To Refinance Your CarThere are a number of options that you can choose from in order to refinance your current auto loan. The first and perhaps the simplest option would be to contact your current lender to see if they can offer you a better rate on your current loan or if they can simply extend the payoff period of your loan. Going through your current lender would save costs associated with lien transfer fees and would save you the hassle of having to find a new lender.If you’d rather not stick with your current lender, then you can shop around to find another lender who is willing to offer you the best rates and terms on your new loan. The quickest and easiest way to find a qualified lender with better loan rates is by searching on the internet. There are numerous online lender comparison tools designed to get you in front of multiple lenders in order to compare the different rates and terms that they have available.Once you locate your lender of choice, then all you have to do is apply for the refinance loan with them. They will normally check your credit score and if you are approved for the auto loan refinance, your new lender will pay off your current loan and your title will be transferred to them.Calculating The Cost Of Auto Loan RefinanceThe quickest and easiest way of determining how much it will cost to refinance your current auto loan is to use a refinance auto loan calculator. You simply input the total amount of the loan, the interest rate, the number of months it will take to pay off the loan, and any down payment that you will be making. The end result is the total cost of the new loan that you will be taking on based on the new refinance auto loan rates. You can use the loan calculator to perform the same calculation for your current loan in order to determine whether or not refinancing is more cost effective.Advantages and Disadvantages Of Refinancing Your VehicleThere are many advantages and disadvantages of refinancing a vehicle. In order to make the decision on whether or not refinancing makes sense for you, you have to consider the advantages and disadvantages and whether or not they apply in your particular situation.AdvantagesLower Interest Rate – One of the biggest benefits of refinancing that consumers aim to take advantage of during certain economic conditions is lower interest rates. Lower interest rates on loans help save the borrower money in the long run. This is due to the fact that lower interest rates result in lower overall interest costs on the loan.Reduce Monthly Payment – Another important advantage of the auto loan refinance is that it can help you reduce your monthly payment. Borrowers can reduce their monthly payment either by extending the term of the loan or by getting a lower interest rate.Stress Relief – Often times borrowers enjoy lower stress levels when they are able to refinance and get a lower monthly payment. If you have seen a drop in income, have more bills to pay, or simply need more money for other expenses each month, refinancing can help give you the financial relief that you need.DisadvantagesThe auto loan refinance can also have disadvantages that you might want to consider before going through the process.Increase Interest Cost – If you refinance simply to extend the term of your loan and get a lower monthly payment, the auto loan refinance will most likely end up costing more in the long run due to higher interest costs. This would be true if you refinanced with a loan that has the same interest rate and a longer payoff period.

Summary
SPDN is not the largest or oldest way to short the S&P 500, but it’s a solid choice.
This ETF uses a variety of financial instruments to target a return opposite that of the S&P 500 Index.
SPDN’s 0.49% Expense Ratio is nearly half that of the larger, longer-tenured -1x Inverse S&P 500 ETF.
Details aside, the potential continuation of the equity bear market makes single-inverse ETFs an investment segment investor should be familiar with.
We rate SPDN a Strong Buy because we believe the risks of a continued bear market greatly outweigh the possibility of a quick return to a bull market.
Put a gear stick into R position, (Reverse).
Birdlkportfolio

By Rob Isbitts

Summary
The S&P 500 is in a bear market, and we don’t see a quick-fix. Many investors assume the only way to navigate a potentially long-term bear market is to hide in cash, day-trade or “just hang in there” while the bear takes their retirement nest egg.

The Direxion Daily S&P 500® Bear 1X ETF (NYSEARCA:SPDN) is one of a class of single-inverse ETFs that allow investors to profit from down moves in the stock market.

SPDN is an unleveraged, liquid, low-cost way to either try to hedge an equity portfolio, profit from a decline in the S&P 500, or both. We rate it a Strong Buy, given our concern about the intermediate-term outlook for the global equity market.

Strategy
SPDN keeps it simple. If the S&P 500 goes up by X%, it should go down by X%. The opposite is also expected.

Proprietary ETF Grades
Offense/Defense: Defense

Segment: Inverse Equity

Sub-Segment: Inverse S&P 500

Correlation (vs. S&P 500): Very High (inverse)

Expected Volatility (vs. S&P 500): Similar (but opposite)

Holding Analysis
SPDN does not rely on shorting individual stocks in the S&P 500. Instead, the managers typically use a combination of futures, swaps and other derivative instruments to create a portfolio that consistently aims to deliver the opposite of what the S&P 500 does.

Strengths
SPDN is a fairly “no-frills” way to do what many investors probably wished they could do during the first 9 months of 2022 and in past bear markets: find something that goes up when the “market” goes down. After all, bonds are not the answer they used to be, commodities like gold have, shall we say, lost their luster. And moving to cash creates the issue of making two correct timing decisions, when to get in and when to get out. SPDN and its single-inverse ETF brethren offer a liquid tool to use in a variety of ways, depending on what a particular investor wants to achieve.

Weaknesses
The weakness of any inverse ETF is that it does the opposite of what the market does, when the market goes up. So, even in bear markets when the broader market trend is down, sharp bear market rallies (or any rallies for that matter) in the S&P 500 will cause SPDN to drop as much as the market goes up.

Opportunities
While inverse ETFs have a reputation in some circles as nothing more than day-trading vehicles, our own experience with them is, pardon the pun, exactly the opposite! We encourage investors to try to better-understand single inverse ETFs like SPDN. While traders tend to gravitate to leveraged inverse ETFs (which actually are day-trading tools), we believe that in an extended bear market, SPDN and its ilk could be a game-saver for many portfolios.

Threats
SPDN and most other single inverse ETFs are vulnerable to a sustained rise in the price of the index it aims to deliver the inverse of. But that threat of loss in a rising market means that when an investor considers SPDN, they should also have a game plan for how and when they will deploy this unique portfolio weapon.

Proprietary Technical Ratings
Short-Term Rating (next 3 months): Strong Buy

Long-Term Rating (next 12 months): Buy

Conclusions
ETF Quality Opinion
SPDN does what it aims to do, and has done so for over 6 years now. For a while, it was largely-ignored, given the existence of a similar ETF that has been around much longer. But the more tenured SPDN has become, the more attractive it looks as an alternative.

ETF Investment Opinion

SPDN is rated Strong Buy because the S&P 500 continues to look as vulnerable to further decline. And, while the market bottomed in mid-June, rallied, then waffled since that time, our proprietary macro market indicators all point to much greater risk of a major decline from this level than a fast return to bull market glory. Thus, SPDN is at best a way to exploit and attack the bear, and at worst a hedge on an otherwise equity-laden portfolio.