Although Hurricane Irene wasn’t nearly as devastating as some had feared, the storm did knock out power to millions and ground thousands of flights across the Northeast. Yet, the worst of the storm now appears to be over as flights are returning to the skies in major airports in New York, Washington D.C., and Boston, suggesting that the revenues lost to the airline industry could be much less than some had expected [see Three ETFs To Monitor As Hurricane Irene Wreaks Havoc]. In fact, major airline stocks such as Delta, American Airlines, and United-Continental were all up significantly in the first two days of the week, with AMR leading the way higher with a nearly 9% gain. [click to continue…]
The Japanese economy has endured two rough decades after a period of high growth made it seem as though they would quickly surpass the U.S. with ease. Lately, however, the economy has had trouble finding its footing, as the country has tried various techniques to try and jump-start its sputtering economy. Yet this has been easier said [...]
Though most investors will be focused on comments from Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and our U.S. GDP results, there will be another name to remember as we head into the weekend; Irene. Now that we are midway through hurricane season, which lasts from the beginning of June through the end of November, the U.S. has [...]
The summer of 2011 is shaping up a lot like that of 2010. Yet again, fears in the euro-zone have sparked massive sell-offs in global equities, as more countries become at risk of defaulting this year. Worries over the U.S. economy are also a major factor in the market slump, as many analysts have slashed [...]
The past few weeks have seen violent behavior in equity indexes as a slew of negative news and data led to some of the most volatile trading days since the 2008 crash. The problems largely began with the debt debate that took longer than expected, while the solution reached seemed to do little to convince [...]
After a week that has seen some of the steepest sell-offs in recent memory, there are plenty of portfolios drenched in red. Before Thursday’s reprieve, a string of negative developments hammered markets around the globe, sending many equities down by double digits in a matter of a few short days. The recent bout of instability [...]
American equity markets had a day to remember during Monday’s trading session as major benchmarks plunged across the board thanks to Standard & Poor’s downgrade of U.S. sovereign debt. The ratings agency dethroned the world’s largest economy from its AAA rating one notch to AA+, causing a ripple effect throughout the market as investors reassessed [...]
Most investors probably never expected that it would never come to this. With only days remaining until the day the government coffers supposedly go dry, a deal to avoid a default remains elusive (one would suspect the August 2 date is at least 72 hours or so in advance of a hard deadline). The back [...]
Concerns over growth and debt are ravaging many nations in both Europe and the Near East as the sovereign debt crisis continues to wreck havoc on the region. While the issues threaten to take down all of the PIIGS member nations, some emerging markets right outside the euro zone have proved incredibly resilient despite these [...]
The beginning of earnings season last week provided a welcome distraction from the more troubling forums that have been capturing the attention of investors in recent weeks. The latest developments in Europe’s ongoing debt saga and twists and turns in Washington related to the fast-approaching debt ceiling have been steering markets in recent sessions. Those [...]
The last several years have seen no shortage of firsts in the ETF industry. The size of the ETF roster is quickly approaching 1,300 products, thanks in large part to impressive innovation from more than three dozen different issuers. While some of the new launches have been duplicative in nature, the vast majority of the [...]
