Two exchange-traded funds that track Sabrient quantitative indexes passed their 3-year anniversaries in late 2009 and received prestigious 4-STAR Morningstar ratings.

The Claymore/Sabrient Insider ETF (NYSE Arca: NFO) and the Claymore/Sabrient Defensive Equity ETF (NYSE Arca: DEF) track the Sabrient Insider Sentiment Index (SBRIN) and Sabrient Defensive Equity Index (SBRDE), respectively.

Although the market is flashing signs of a strong breakout for the New Year, Sabrient’s SectorCast-ETF model continues to flash defensive signals. Given the quantitative model’s reliance on value-based fundamentals, this shouldn’t be surprising after such a lengthy and sustained rally. This week, there are few changes to the sector rankings. Most notable is the continued rise in Energy, which now scores a 62 but hasn’t yet cracked the Top 2.

As the stock market continues to trade at 15-month highs, Sabrient’s SectorCast-ETF model is getting even more defensive, even though we are in a historically bullish time of year. The fundamentals-based quantitative model has a GARP (growth at reasonable price) focus, and this week there are significant changes to the sector rankings.

Just a quick update while I'm on vacation this week.

I’ve been reading prominent market pundits predicting everything from the “Crash of 2010 coming” to “Major surge ahead.” With such divergence of predictions, it seems like a good time to remain conservatively long/short in accordance with Sabrient’s SectorCast-ETF value-oriented model.

Given the recent market weakness, it’s no surprise that Sector Detector’s long/short portfolios have outperformed. This week, Sabrient’s SectorCast-ETF model remains defensive. Of course, the underlying quantitative model isn’t aware that we are entering a time of year that is traditionally bullish. It simply reads the data and tells us which sectors appear to be relatively overvalued.

Last month, I posted that net insider trading transactions had turned positive for the first time since May. Updating this for the week ending November 27, it appears that optimistic insiders again outnumber pessimistic ones.

As the stock market continues to trade near its highs, Sabrient’s SectorCast-ETF model remains defensive, given its GARP (growth at reasonable price) focus. The top and bottom ranked sectors remain the same this week, but there was noticeable movement in the middle. In particular, Information Technology is dropping while Telecommunications rises.