The Extreme Movers Message: Eclectic Risk Mix

Risk-on has certainly been the right call exiting last year and entering this one despite the fiscal cliff noise.

"They believed you can't mix rock, country, and rap, and that crossover is dead. I always knew it would work. And it will always work as long as you're really into it and like what you're doing." -- Kid Rock

NEW YORK ( TheStreet) -- It has been a strong start to 2013, with the S&P 500 ( SPY) up nearly 4% thus far in January. Risk-on has certainly been the right call exiting last year and entering this one despite the fiscal cliff noise and continued fears over another collapse in equities.

Our ATAC models used for managing our mutual fund and separate accounts have stayed long stocks since late-November, and there are no near-term signs of intermarket deterioration just yet to warrant concern. This has become less of a risk-on/risk-off environment, and more of a risk rotation one.

Within that risk rotation appears to be an eclectic group of winners and losers. Every week I run a screen on the over 1000 ETFs/ETNs I track to identify those areas of the investable landscape which are exhibiting extreme price behavior relative to their own respective 20 day moving averages. The idea is to see if there is a message happening beneath the surface of the market by looking at the opposite ends of winners and losers spectrum over a rolling 1 month period. Take a look below for the latest results.

The Extreme Winners this week are a mixed bad, with Vietnam ( VNM) on absolute fire since December. Interest rate cuts, rising PMI, and expansion by companies looking for cheaper labor than what China has to offer has resulted in a near parabolic move in the country's equity markets over a short period of time. Turkey ( TUR) has also been in a remarkable uptrend, nearly doubling off of the January 2012 low.

Platinum ( PLTM) has been performing well, in line with outperforming auto stocks as expectations grow for increased demand on the industrial side. On the alternative energy front, Solar ( TAN)and Wind ( PWND) continue to fare nicely on renewed subsidies by the U.S. government and higher Oil prices. Interestingly, Spain ( EWP) and Italy ( EWI) have also started off in a big way emblematic of the risk-on environment we are currently in.

As to the Extreme Losers, quite a few currency pairs relative to the U.S. Dollar ( UUP) are showing up. The Japanese Yen ( FXY)has been the big story, given Prime Minster Abe's big push to reflate the third largest economy in the world.

In trading on Thursday, shares of the iShares MSCI South Africa ETF crossed above their 200 day moving average of $67.70, changing hands as high as $69.37 per share. iShares MSCI South Africa shares are currently trading up about 2.3% on the day.

Investors in iShares MSCI South Africa Index Fund saw new options begin trading this week, for the February 20th expiration. At Stock Options Channel, our YieldBoost formula has looked up and down the EZA options chain for the new February 20th contracts and identified one put and one call contract of particular interest.

Looking today at week-over-week shares outstanding changes among the universe of ETFs covered at ETF Channel, one standout is the iShares MSCI South Africa ETF where we have detected an approximate $24.6 million dollar outflow -- that's a 5.5% decrease week over week (from 7,300,000 to 6,900,000). START SLIDESHOW:Click here to find out which 9 other ETFs experienced notable outflows » The chart below shows the one year price performance of EZA, versus its 200 day moving average: Looking at the chart above, EZA's low point in its 52 week range is $55.31 per share, with $72.77 as the 52 week high point — that compares with a last trade of $60.78.