The Financial Select Sector SPDR (NYSE: XLF) has rallied over 40% from its low on March 6 through to last Thursday’s higher opening. The price action last week has triggered a half-day buy signal, which means that it should make at least a three-wave move to the upside.

This week’s movement is Part 1 of the Elliott Wave Theory.

When the Wave 2 pullback begins, it should trade below its recent high for nine trading hours or more before Wave 3 takes it up to new recovery highs. The daily chart is also set up to give buy signals, but that could not occur until today (Monday) at the earliest.

For more, take a look at the chart below…

As you can see, the 50-day moving average

Sin Stocks & Consumer Staples

That's the recipe for success in this downturn, according to a panel of investment pros put together by Forbes to review portfolio strategies in these troubling times. The story takes a look at a range of investments, including exchange-traded funds.

You can read the story here. 

XLF Gets Hammered In Market's Reaction To Geithner

This Barron's update notes that the Financial Select Sector SPDR (NYSE: XLF) got hammered on Tuesday as investors gave a big thumbs-down to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. 

The article also mentions a column by a Dow Jones Newswires  writer about the speech. Not to toot one's own horn, but you might also be interested in our own Paul Amery's take on the whole affair. He's managing editor of IndexUniverse's European site and his views from the other side of the pond are quite revealing. 

You can read the Barron's

Options Traders Optimistic About Financials 

A new story at Barron's Web site looks at how bullish options traders seem to be these days on the Financial Select Sector SPDR (NYSE: XLF). 

"Traders are buying March and June XLF calls that will increase in value if the financial sector trades higher in the first and second quarters of 2009," wrote the site's Steven Sears, who adds that the Fed's move to lower interest rates to historic lows has apparently increased their interest in XLF options.

You can read the story here.

Pair Of ProShares Lead In Weekly Redemptions

An interesting piece now on the Forbes Web site written by TrimTabs' Charles Biderman notes that two ProShares were among the leading ETFs in the past week in terms of redemptions.

While the ETF flow figures with Biderman's observations are at the bottom, it might also be interesting to note earlier in the piece his finding

November wasn't so bad for some of the biggest ETFs.

The picture was relatively bright for the performance of the ten-largest exchange-traded funds in November. After the two-month market rout of September and October, even among volatile conditions, seven of the 10 largest ETFs had positive performance in November, according to Morningstar data through Nov. 26. At end of day Friday, the S&P had posted its best week since 1974, so the numbers should improve even a little more once the last day of the month is added, at least for the majority of equit yportfolios among the Top Ten.

Leading the way among equity ETFs was the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index (NYSE Arca: EEM), up 12.70% for the month.The Thanksgiving week was also kind to EEM, when the ETF surged 10.24%, through Wednesday the 26th. 

The best performer overall was the SPDR Gold Shares (NYSE Arca: GLD) up