Returns for week ending 8/5/11

Returns for the past week:
Model portfolio: -4.6%
Actual managed account: -0.7%

NOTE: As noted here last week, the DecisionPoint timing model threw a NEUTRAL signal on 7/29. This proved to be a timely signal, enabling our portfolio to neatly side step last week's waterfall decline.

While the model portfolio shifted to a 50% invested / 50% cash allocation on Monday, as noted here, I moved my managed accounts to 100% cash until the risk vs. reward improves. That accounts for the variance between model returns and actual returns shown above.

Investor sentiment is currently extremely negative (extreme FEAR), pushing stocks to lower prices where return vs. risk is vastly improved. It is useful to think of investor sentiment as a pendulum, swinging from one etreme to another over a period of weeks and months. Once FEAR measures begin to show that FEAR is dissipating, I intend to invest up to 50% of my funds in the model portfolio stocks while awaiting a fresh BUY signal from the DecisionPoint timing model.