Vanguard continued its blitz of new ETF products this week, rolling out an international counterpart to its ultra-popular real estate ETF (VNQ). The Vanguard Global ex-U.S. Real Estate Index Fund began trading on Monday; the new fund is available in four different share classes, including ETF shares (VNQI). The fund will seek to replicate the [...]
As one of the primary causes of the recent financial crisis and economic downturn, real estate has been hit hard since 2008, with a variety of REITs struggling to find financing for new projects, tenants for old buildings, and the cash to pay for operations. While many names in this sector have plunged, others have [...]
The impact of the recent global economic slowdown was first felt by consumers around the world who were forced to cut back on purchases in order to endure the recession. While some consumer segments such as the wealthy, have begun to spend again, the events of the last two years have also had a profound, [...]
With many equity markets plunging around the globe, investors are flocking towards safe-haven investments. This flight to quality has left many investors piling into U.S. Treasury bonds and the U.S. dollar in general. This has helped to sink commodity prices and send T-Bill yields lower decreasing the desirability of each substantially as asset classes to [...]
A number of statistical bulletins released in recent weeks have served as an excellent illustration of the ever-widening cap between the world’s emerging and developed economies. While the U.S. and Europe struggle to stay afloat and eke out positive GDP growth, the concern in China is very different. Beijing has been concerned in recent months [...]
After more than almost 14 months of a relatively stable recovery effort, many equity ETFs have climbed to within shouting distance of their pre-recession highs, as consumers have regained their swagger and companies are once again delivering solid earnings reports. Even the sectors that were closest to the economic implosion in late 2008 are showing [...]
Historically, no portfolio was complete without a material allocation to real estate. Consistently high real returns and low correlations to stocks and bonds made it easy to overlook the out-of-whack fundamentals that ultimately led to an unprecedented collapse. But when real estate markets got a reality check in late 2008, many investors swore off the [...]
Today is the last day of trading for the two exchange-traded products from MacroShares, following an announcement from the company that the MacroShares Major Metro Housing Up Trust (UMM) and MacroShares Major Metro Housing Down Trust (DMM) had reached an early termination trigger by failing to accumulate at least $50 million in assets. The registration [...]
Allstate Corp., the largest publicly-traded insurer of homes and automobiles in the U.S., announced this week that it is making some major shifts in its investment portfolio that now exceeds $100 billion. The Northbrook, Illinois-based company announced that it is reducing its exposure to commercial real estate and municipal bonds in favor of corporate debt.
Once considered a vital “return enhancer” in almost every portfolio, real estate as an asset class has fallen out of favor with investors following its spectacular collapse during (and role in causing) the recent global economic downturn. Real estate was historically embraced because of its potential for delivering excess returns in bull property markets and [...]
