ETFs have become popular tools for constructing long-term portfolios, with more and more investors utilizing these vehicles as tools to accumulate wealth over the long run. While the bulk of ETFs out there have appeal as securities that can potentially appreciate by a significant amount over an extended stretch, it’s important to remember that not all ETFs are designed to contribute meaningful long-term gains to portfolios; some are created with an emphasis on capital reservation and lowering overall volatility.
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With more than 1,400 exchange-traded products now available to U.S. investors, odds are that there will be more than one option for most desired exposures. In many cases, the generally similar products targeting a specific asset class or strategy will deliver generally similar returns. But just because two ETFs have names that sound alike or [...]
And just like that, another star active manager bites the dust. Earlier this month, one of the most respected mutual fund managers in history announced that he was stepping down after a tumultuous stretch that cast a long, red shadow over an otherwise illustrious career. Bill Miller, who has been the manger or co-manager of [...]
As the roster of exchange-traded products has grown to nearly 1,300, many investors find themselves with the luxury of multiple options for establishing a position in a desired asset class. There are, for example, four different pharmaceutical ETFs, three homebuilder funds, and even two choices for playing the automotive industry. Once the ETF universe has [...]
Despite bleeding billions of dollars during the recent chaotic stretch on Wall Street, the S&P 500 SPDR (SPY) is still the largest exchange-traded product in the world; with more than $75 billion in assets, the popular fund is larger than the GDP of many countries. A big chunk of the assets in SPY are held [...]
Over the past year, interest in commodities has skyrocketed as countless commodities from gold to wheat have surged to fresh highs. This trend has put renewed focus on not only physically-backed commodity ETFs, but commodity producing equities as well. At last count, there were 25 ETFs in the Commodity Producers ETFdb Category, with five funds [...]
As investors have grown more comfortable allocating more significant portions of portfolios to emerging markets, the number of ETFs offering exposure to these regions of the world has surged in recent years. Exchange-traded products now exist offering investors exposure to a variety of markets that were once hard-to-access for all but the largest and most [...]
The steady rise in the number of exchange-traded products available to U.S. investors over the last several years has been primarily driven not by duplication, but by innovation. The vast majority of recent ETFs to hit the market have been first-to-market products, offering exposure that wasn’t previously available within the ETF wrapper. Investors can now [...]
As the U.S. ETF industry has grown to nearly 1,000 products and $800 billion in assets, the pace of innovation in the industry has been remarkable. As issuers have rushed to claim their spot in the rapidly-expanding space, most have focused not on duplicating existing products, but rather being first-to-market with a unique type of [...]
One of the interesting developments to come out of the turmoil in global equity markets over the last two years is the surge in interest in the world’s emerging economies. While developed markets continue to be plagued by mounting debt, rising unemployment, and other macroeconomic issues, emerging markets have raced ahead, establishing themselves as the [...]
One of the hottest segments of the ETF industry is the commodity space, which has exploded in recent years as investors have embraced exchange-traded products as a means of reaching an asset class that offers potentially valuable diversification benefits. While most commodity products are physically-backed or futures-based funds, an alternative means of gaining commodity exposure [...]
