A week highlighted by the relatively uneventful Federal Reserve meeting saw equity markets head generally higher, as investors cheered the prospect of several more months of low interest rates. After months of heated debate, a vote on health care reform looms over the weekend, and health care funds above-average volumes throughout the week. Below, we offer our picks for the week’s most important and interesting ETF stories from around the Web (sign up for our free ETF newsletter to get ETF analysis and commentary delivered to your inbox): [click to continue…]

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Boeing Co., the Chicago-based aerospace and defense corporation, announced on Friday that it plans to increase production of its 777 and 747 aircraft amidst strengthening demand from the airline industry. “We see 2010 as the year of overall economic recovery within the industry and 2011 a year where airlines return to profitability,” said Randy Tinseth, Boeing’s vice president of marketing. “As a result, we anticipate an increase in demand for airplanes in 2012 and beyond.” [click to continue…]

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Forget About Euro ETFs, British Pound ETFs Are The Real Danger

March 19, 2010

In recent weeks, the future of the euro has been a hot topic among investors, as the current “stress testing” of the common currency system has uncovered some worrisome flaws. The euro has slumped against many of its major rivals as fears about escalating budget crises in Greece, Spain, and Italy have caused investor anxiety. [...]

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Financial ETFs: Seven Ways To Play

March 19, 2010

The financial sector was one of the hardest areas of the economy in 2008 and early 2009, as years of excessive risk taking finally resulted in a meltdown that spurred several unprecedented emergency measures and set off one of the worst recessions in a generation. Since bottoming out last March, however, financials have surged higher, [...]

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ProShares Launches First Inverse China, Real Estate, Materials ETFs

March 18, 2010

ProShares launched three new inverse ETFs on Thursday, bringing the number of single inverse equity and bond ETFs to 14. The new funds are the first to offer single inverse exposure to Chinese equities, real estate, and the basic materials sector. “Our existing double inverse ETFs based on these indexes are popular, but some investors [...]

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Daily ETF Roundup: UNG Slides, IYT Rises

March 18, 2010

U.S. markets finished the day flat as the Dow extended its winning streak to eight sessions and the S&P 500 finished down slightly. The Dow was boosted by strength out of Boeing and DuPont, both of which saw gains after the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said that manufacturing and business activity rose in the [...]

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Brazil ETF (EWZ) In Focus After Central Bank Holds Rates Steady

March 18, 2010

As global economies grapple with the challenge of unwinding massive stimulus plans in an orderly manner, central bank meetings have taken on a new importance. Following a relatively uneventful meeting of the Federal Reserve, Brazil’s central bank took center stage this week, deciding to keep rates steady at a record low of 8.75%. Some investors [...]

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Sugar ETF (SGG) Bounces Back

March 18, 2010

The wild ride for sugar ETF investors is showing no signs of slowing down any time soon. After sugar prices hit 30 year highs in early February, prices in New York have slumped by nearly 40% over the last month. But prices have rebounded sharply in recent trading, reclaiming large chunks of the ground lost [...]

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Handicapping The Active ETF Race

March 18, 2010

To say opinions on the future of active ETFs are mixed would be a major understatement. Nearly two years after PowerShares launched its first line of active ETFs and a year after the much-publicized launch of the Grail American Beacon Large Cap Value ETF (GVT), active ETFs remain stuck in first gear. Investors have expressed [...]

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SEA: The Closest Thing We Have To A Greece ETF

March 18, 2010

Greece’s ongoing budget woes have been one of the major stories of 2010, sending shock waves throughout the euro zone (and global equity markets in general). After months of back-and-forth, some “doomsday” predictions, and even death sentences for the euro zone common currency, recent developments suggest that the risk may finally be abating for the [...]

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Daily ETF Roundup: FXI Rises, VXX Continues Slide

March 17, 2010

After starting the day strong, most equity markets slumped in afternoon trading before finishing the day with a surge. This stretch of positive returns, the sixth in a row for the Dow, came after continued jubilation regarding Federal Reserve monetary policies. “There’s no question the Fed being easy continues to feed this. Easy money is [...]

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Inside The Five Most Expensive ETFs

March 17, 2010

The rise of the ETF industry is often attributed (in large part at least) to a shift in investor preference from pricey active management to low-cost indexing strategies. ETFs burst on to the investment scene by offering fees equivalent to only a fraction of those charged by traditional actively-managed mutual funds, and have continued to [...]

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