Broad equity markets got off to a rocky start this week as investors struggled to digest the latest news from overseas. Last week, Standard and Poor’s announced their downgrade of nine euro-zone countries, stripping the coveted triple-A ratings from France and Austria. Although this news was somewhat expected, markets struggled to find a definitive direction until the end of this week. The volatile swings flattened out by Friday’s trading session with the Dow Jones even managing to clear the red with blue chip gains pushing the index slightly higher. In the commodities space, natural gas hit its decade low while silver rose to its highest level in six weeks. The euro-zone drama will likely take center stage again next week as investors wait to hear the outcome of Greece’s debt negotiations [see also German Bond ETF: Plenty Of Risk, Not Much Return].
After several issuers rolled out a slew of new launches last week, the ETF industry slowed down its pace with only three new products hitting the markets. Investors were introduced to a new emerging Asia Pacific ETF that focuses on small caps, and a pair of low volatility ETFs from PowerShares. [click to continue…]
Several investing trends popped up in a back-and-forth 2011, as advisors sought to tweak client portfolios to take advantage of new opportunities and adapt to a macroeconomic environment that featured a number of sudden and unexpected shifts along with a significant amount of volatility. One significant trend was a rush towards dividend-paying stocks, securities that [...]
This time last year, investors were generally thrilled with the performances of their portfolios, which had continued to bounce back nicely from the devastating recession that hit in 2008. Unfortunately, few are feeling the same sense of accomplishment as 2011 draws to a close; this year has been frustrating in that a few large, swift [...]
Investors had plenty to celebrate this holiday weekend, as the S&P 500 pushed back into positive territory for 2011 after the index’s three-day winning streak. Despite the announcement of several dreary and unimpressive U.S. economic reports, stock markets continued to gain steam throughout the week, finishing off strong at the end of Friday’s trading session. Investors also [...]
Investors had high hopes for the week after last Friday’s positive developments at the summit in Brussels. Unfortunately, bullish sentiment quickly wore off as European debt woes resurfaced, sparking a wave of fear seeing as how policymakers overseas have yet to decide on a comprehensive plan to ensure stability. Choppy trading was a dominant theme [...]
On Tuesday December 13, ETFdb.com will offer a free 1-hour webinar covering the basics of alternative weighting methodologies, including the potential advantages and drawbacks to each. This online presentation is designed for financial advisors and active investors interested in learning more about the potential drawbacks linked to many popular ETFs–and the alternatives that now exist [...]
The Low Volatility ETFdb Portfolio is now available to ETFdb Pro members and with a free 7-day trial of the Pro subscription. This new portfolio, one of more than 30 all-ETF model portfolios available at ETFdb.com. The new portfolio consists of a traditional asset allocation strategy, but makes use of innovative exchange-traded products that allow [...]
The ETF industry has grown by leaps and bounds over the last five years and innovation across products has brought forth a multitude of previously inaccessible investment strategies to mainstream investors. Aside from the vast expansion in the exchange-traded product universe, the last five years have been nothing short of a roller coaster ride. Global [...]
ETF Database has introduced another new resource to its lineup of analytical tools designed to help financial advisors and individual investors navigate through the rapidly-increasing universe of exchange-traded products: ETF Scorecards that provide relevant, timely, and unbiased analysis of more than 1,300 ETPs. The ETF Scorecards are in-depth, customized analyst reports that highlight the noteworthy [...]
ETF Database maintains a suite of analytical resources designed to help financial advisors and investors navigate through the rapidly-expanding ETF universe and perform meaningful analysis of products that meet a specified investment criteria. For those who haven’t yet become familiar with the lineup of free analytical ETF resources, below we provide an overview of the [...]
Yesterday’s strong markets were only temporary, as today aimed to erase Tuesday’s forward progress in a number of asset classes. Markets began the day relatively flat, only to crash upon hearing the Fed’s plans for “Operation Twist”, which seems to have done little to convince investors that the economy can turn around in the near [...]
