PCM Strategy Dial 11-01-2020 Explained Using PCM U.S. Industries Total Return

Michael J. Chapman, CFP^®, CIO

PCM Strategy Dial Explained: (PCM U.S. Industries Total Return)

PCM’s US Industries is composed with up to four ETF’s allocated at the beginning of each month. The strategy invests in a proprietary allocation of ETFs quantitatively selected from among 23 U.S. industry sectors and 2 “inverse” ETFs, the inverse Dow Jones Industrial Average and the inverse S&P 500. The four ETF’s selected are given an equal weight of 25% each. Since there are only two “inverse” ETFs in the basket and given that there are four positons allocated each month, the most “Opportunistic Inverse” the strategy can be is 50% inverse and 50% cash. The most “Opportunistic long” the strategy can be is 100% (four 25% positions in various US Industries). The possible combination of holdings can be broken down as follows:

 Historic Perspective:

Given the fact that we have been in a generally rising market since March of 2009, it is not surprising that the strategy has resulted in a high percentage of the time being “Opportunistic Long” or “Spread Long”. When we review our strategy during the last serious bear market of October 2007 through March of 2009, the strategy first moved into a “Spread Inverse” position in the month of December 2007 and, with only two exceptions, remained “Opportunistic Inverse” or “Spread Inverse” through the end of the bear market in March of 2009.

While allocations in our PCM US Industries ETF strategy tend to be trend following, it has historically reacted quickly to a change in trend direction. During the October 2007 to March 2009 bear market it moved to a “Spread Inverse” allocation on December 01, 2007 and then back to a “Spread Long” allocation on March 01, 2009. We have received various requests to provide a visual tool that may help further explain how our multi-directional strategies work. We believe the “PCM Strategy Dial” will be a helpful tool when discussing our strategies with your clients and prospects. Our “PCM Strategy Dial” will help illustrate in which of the four directional strategy positions our strategies are invested. Additionally, our PCM Strategy Dial will also be available on our website at www.pcminvestment.com.

Superior full-market cycle returns are directly correlated to a reduction or elimination of large drawdowns in any given portfolio or investment strategy. To accomplish this an investment strategy must employ some form of risk management and should have the ability to capture positive returns in both rising and falling markets. Furthermore, it is important to have the ability to participate in all asset classes, all asset sizes and all asset styles across all markets to insure diversification that is truly non-correlated.