TD Ameritrade Investor Movement Index: IMX Jumps in August to Highest Level in Six Months
September 10 2018 - 12:30PM
Business Wire
Retail investors’ optimism rose as market
indices climbed to all-time highs
As the market reported strong gains in August, the Investor
Movement Index® increased to its highest level since February,
reaching 5.82, TD Ameritrade, Inc.1 announced today. The Investor
Movement Index, or the IMXSM, is a proprietary, behavior-based
index created by TD Ameritrade that aggregates Main Street investor
positions and activity to measure what investors actually were
doing and how they were positioned in the markets.
This press release features multimedia. View
the full release here:
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180910005647/en/
TD Ameritrade August 2018 Investor
Movement Index (Graphic: TD Ameritrade)
August IMX
The August 2018 Investor Movement Index for the four weeks ended
August 31, 2018 reveals:
- Reading: 5.82 (compared to 5.45 in
July)
- Trend direction: positive
- Trend length: 4 months
- Score relative to historic ranges:
Middle
Despite ongoing geopolitical tensions and trade fears, TD
Ameritrade clients appeared optimistic in August by showing an
appetite for greater risk and dialing up their exposure to equity
markets. Retail investors’ confidence in the market was also
reflected in the Cboe Volatility Index (VIX), which did not rise
above 15 during the month. The rise in the August IMX was also
impacted by millennial investors, whose exposure was greater as a
result of buying equities with higher relative volatility such as
Square, Inc. (SQ).
“Clients continued to slowly increase exposure to the market
particularly in technology names such as Facebook, Amazon and
Advanced Micro Devices,” said JJ Kinahan, chief market strategist
at TD Ameritrade. “Interestingly, clients were also still
interested in yield as evidence by Ford and AT&T, as the
10-year yield flounders between 2.8 and 3 percent.”
TD Ameritrade clients were net buyers of popular stocks in the
August IMX period. Top buys include:
- Facebook Inc. (FB), after the stock
declined following a poor earnings report and posting the largest
market cap decrease in the history of the stock market.
- Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN), which reached
$2,000 for the first time ever and received multiple analyst
upgrades.
- AT&T Inc. (T), which announced
multiple investments across the U.S. to increase wireless and wired
networks.
- Ford Motor Company (F), after canceling
plans to import cars from China following tariff concerns.
- Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD),
which reached a 12-year high and more than doubled over the past
four months.
Despite being net buyers, TD Ameritrade clients took profits in
popular names, including:
- Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM) and Cisco Systems
Inc. (CSCO), after reaching 52-week highs.
- Pfizer Inc. (PFE), which beat earnings
and reached a multi-year high.
- Tesla Inc. (TSLA), which made headlines
after company CEO Elon Musk commented that he was contemplating
taking the company private.
- Bank of America Corp. (BAC) and Wells
Fargo & Co. (WFC), after both stocks trended higher over the
past few months on the back of interest rate increases.
August was marked by strong market performance as all three
major market indices posted positive gains during the period. The
Nasdaq Composite was at the top with gains of 4.8 percent, followed
the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500, which were up in
excess of 2 percent. The S&P 500 recorded the longest bull
market on record in August – 3,450 days – surpassing the previous
record from late 1990 to early 2000. With the economy gaining
strength, retail investors look forward to September and the
potential for another rate increase during the September Fed
meeting.
About the IMX
The IMX value is calculated based on a complex proprietary
formula. Each month, TD Ameritrade pulls a sample from its client
base of more than 11 million funded accounts, which includes all
accounts that completed a trade in the past month. The holdings and
positions of this statistically significant sample are evaluated to
calculate individual scores, and the median of those scores
represents the monthly IMX.
For more information on the Investor Movement Index, including
historical IMX data going back to January 2010; to view the full
report from August 2018; or to sign up for future IMX news alerts,
please visit www.tdameritrade.com/IMX. Additionally, TD Ameritrade
clients can chart the IMX using the symbol $IMX in either the
thinkorswim® or TD Ameritrade Mobile Trader platforms.
Inclusion of specific security names in this commentary does not
constitute a recommendation from TD Ameritrade to buy, sell, or
hold.
Past performance of a security, strategy, or index is no
guarantee of future results or investment success.
Historical data should not be used alone when making investment
decisions. Please consult other sources of information and consider
your individual financial position and goals before making an
independent investment decision.
The IMX is not a tradable index. The IMX should not be used as
an indicator or predictor of future client trading volume or
financial performance for TD Ameritrade.
For the latest TD Ameritrade news and information, follow the
company on Twitter, @TDAmeritradePR.
Source: TD Ameritrade Holding Corporation
About TD Ameritrade Holding CorporationTD Ameritrade
provides investing services and education to more than 11 million
client accounts totaling more than $1.2 trillion in assets, and
custodial services to more than 6,000 registered investment
advisors. We are a leader in U.S. retail trading, executing an
average of more than 780,000 trades per day for our clients, more
than a quarter of which come from mobile devices. We have a proud
history of innovation, dating back to our start in 1975, and today
our team of nearly 10,000-strong is committed to carrying it
forward. Together, we are leveraging the latest in cutting edge
technologies and one-on-one client care to transform lives, and
investing, for the better. Learn more by visiting TD Ameritrade’s
newsroom at www.amtd.com, or read our stories at Fresh
Accounts.
1TD Ameritrade, Inc. is a broker-dealer subsidiary of TD
Ameritrade Holding Corporation. Brokerage services provided by
TD Ameritrade, Inc., member FINRA (www.FINRA.org) /SIPC
(www.SIPC.org).
View source
version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180910005647/en/
TD Ameritrade Holding CorporationFor Media:Melissa
Matson, 201-369-5933Corporate
Communicationsmelissa.matson@tdameritrade.com@TDAmeritradePRorFor
Investors:Jeff Goeser, 402-597-8464Investor
Relationsjeffrey.goeser@tdameritrade.com
TD Ameritrade (NASDAQ:AMTD)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2024 to Apr 2024
TD Ameritrade (NASDAQ:AMTD)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2023 to Apr 2024