If the second half of 2011 was characterized by rampant stock market volatility and looming uncertainty, the atmosphere on Wall Street could be described as the exact opposite thus far in 2012. Economic data releases on the home front have taken center stage in recent months as better-than-expected results from the labor and housing markets have helped to restore confidence back in the recovery. Underneath the growing euphoria, however, lies an ugly truth; monetary stimulus from the Federal Reserve has been a major driver of equity market appreciation, which could point to troublesome times ahead as the latest quantitative easing program nears an end [see also Doomsday Special: 7 Hard Assets You Can Hold In Your Hand].
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On February 1st of this year, Facebook made its long-awaited initial public offering. Investors and the general public have been swirling about an IPO for years, as many have speculated its time frame and when the public would actually be able to get their hands on the stock. The secrecy and rumors were comparable to [...]
As most investors are painfully aware at this point, Europe is not in the best of fiscal shape at present. The continent is in the midst of a prolonged debt crisis that is now threatening the continued existence of the euro, and has transformed the region into a form of portfolio Kryptonite; most investors won’t [...]
Investors’ confidence has taken a serious beating over the past few months as debt drama on both sides of the Atlantic ocean has paved the way for volatile price action across financial markets. Despite better-than-expected economic data releases on the home front, Euro zone debt woes have definitively taken center stage; sentiment on Wall Street [...]
Van Eck has begun the process of converting six HOLDRS products offered by Merrill Lynch into traditional ETFs that will be included under the Market Vectors lineup, offering investors an opportunity to exchange their receipts in HOLDRS trusts for shares in the new ETFs. The exchange requires affirmative action on the part of investors, meaning [...]
It’s no secret that the euro-zone has been the center of market turmoil for the past few weeks as well as a lingering issue for the past year. The thorn in investors’ side comes from a slew of fiscal issues that have already led to one unsuccessful bailout, prompting another austerity package that has yet to be put in [...]
As the ETF world has rapidly developed, a number of issuers have begun to explore niche markets with hyper-targeted exposure for investors looking for unique allocations. Such innovation has brought products dedicated to smartphones, cloud computing, fertilizer, and even the fishing industry. At first, investors may write some of these newer options off as silly [...]
Although many emerging markets still have excellent growth prospects, they have been hammered in recent weeks thanks to a ‘risk off’ trade in equities. Broad funds targeting this space, such as VWO or EEM, have fallen sharply in this time period, declining by nearly 16.8% in the past quarter alone. While this may sound bad, [...]
With three quarters of 2011 officially in the books, it is now safe to say that the year has not played out as many investors had hoped it might. After coming flying out of the gates–most major benchmarks were solidly in positive territory after the first quarter–a perfect storm of negative developments has conspired to [...]
The new quarter started on a down note across the board, as more fears over Greece and concerns over a hard landing in China weighed on markets. The losses were pretty significant in most sectors although the worst of it was contained to the financial and basic materials corners of the market. Beyond these two [...]
Investing in developed markets has been an extremely tough task as of late thanks to sluggish growth and debt woes in a variety of countries. In light of this, perceived ‘safe haven’ countries saw a great deal of inflows in this environment, leading to huge gains for markets such as Switzerland and other highly-rated nations. Yet, with [...]
