Turkish equity markets, which have been among the world’s top performers over the last year, hit some major turbulence on Tuesday as revelations of arrests over a recent coup plot and ongoing trouble in neighbor and longtime rival Greece spooked investors. The news sent the iShares MSCI Turkey ETF (TUR) plunging more than 5% on the day. According to various sources, including the BBC and the Canadian Press, prosecutors interrogated 51 Turkish Military commanders on Tuesday about alleged plans to destabilize the country by blowing up mosques and provoking Greece into shooting down a Turkish plane over the Aegean Sea in order to trigger a coup and topple the government. This event brought up memories of the forced resignation of the Turkish Prime Minister in 1997, the fourth overthrow or forced resignation since 1960, and left investors to wonder how far the emerging market has really progressed and whether EU membership is attainable at any point in the near future. [click to continue…]
Equity markets sunk to start the last week of February, with most indexes finishing down more than 1%. This came after a sharp decline in consumer confidence, as the widely-followed index fell to 46 from a reading of 56.5 in January. A reading of 55 was expected, indicating that the data release was a major [...]
Fixed income investments are a crucial component of any well diversified portfolio. Depending on investor age and time until retirement, most financial professionals recommend that at least half of your portfolio to be in fixed income securities, mostly low risk government bonds and high quality corporate securities. Yet, with yields hovering around zero and choppy [...]
Since the economic recovery began, many investors have looked to Asia to drive growth and stimulate global demand. China has grabbed most of the headlines, as tremendous growth in the world’s most populous nation has essentially pulled this emerging market into a tie with Japan as the world’s second-largest economy. In recent weeks, uncertainty over [...]
As seasoned investors know, any potential investment must be evaluated not on a stand-alone basis but on its contribution to an overall portfolio. In addition to considering the risk and return profile of a particular asset, the relationship between that asset and the other holdings of the investor is of vital importance in the construction [...]
Anxiety over the economic recovery returned to Wall Street Monday, as concerns over the Fed’s action plan and the pullback of stimulus plans around the globe caused a slight dip in equity markets. The energy sector dragged on broader benchmarks, led by Schlumberger’s decline following news of its $11 billion takeover offer for Smith International. [...]
Volatility is nothing new to the iPath Dow Jones-UBS Sugar Total Return ETN (SGG), but the big price swings seen over the last three weeks have been truly impressive. After losing as much as 7% in trading Monday, SGG has dropped a whopping 15% this month after adding 11% in January. The sugar ETF’s extreme [...]
Credit Suisse, one of the world’s largest financial services providers, announced Monday the launch of the Credit Suisse Long/Short Liquid Index (Net) ETN (CSLS), a product designed to correlate to the performance of the Credit Suisse Tremont Long/Short Equity Hedge Fund Index. But the new ETN achieves hedge fund-like exposure in a unique manner. The [...]
Last Friday, the U.S. Labor Department reported that the consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.2% in January and climbed by 2.6% over the past 12 months. But after stripping out volatile food and energy prices, prices actually fell by 0.1% in January, marking the first time since 1982 that “core CPI” has declined. While the [...]
Markets trended upwards last week as investors were encouraged by lower than expected CPI numbers, which led some to believe that the Fed will hold off on raising rates for the time being. Although earnings season is winding down, there are several key companies that will be reporting this week including Target, FirstSolar, and Home [...]
Equity markets stayed flat but finished in the green on Friday after a weak CPI report gave some investors hope that the Fed will keep rates low for the foreseeable future. Overall prices edged up 0.2% for January but excluding food and energy, prices fell 0.1%, the first monthly decline since December 1982. Energy prices [...]
