Equity markets posted mixed results on Thursday as earnings worries in the morning translated into selling pressures on Wall Street, although euphoria returned to the markets after a better-than-expected employment report. The Nasdaq led the way higher in green territory on the home front, while stocks overseas faced headwinds as European banks came under pressure yet again. Gold inched higher for the fourth consecutive day this week, settling near $1,620 an ounce.
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Vanguard, the Pennsylvania-based provider of ETFs and mutual funds known for its low management expenses, has further enhanced the cost efficiency on its lineup of sector-specific ETFs. The company announced that the expense ratios on a handful of its sector funds have been cut to 0.19%, making them slightly cheaper than the popular lineup of [...]
For most investors, 2011 was a frustrating year; after some strong early gains seemingly pointed to a continuation of the recovery that took root in 2010, the appearance of some major obstacles sent many major indexes back towards negative territory. The impressive late December rally closed the year on a high note, but there is [...]
As the calendars prepare to flip forward, it appears as if 2011 will go down as a record-breaking year for the ETF industry on the product development front. More than 300 new ETPs began trading this year, shattering the previous record set in 2010. But despite the record size of the ETF lineup, it appears [...]
This past year was the most active ever for the exchange traded industry in terms of product development; the launch of more than 300 new products shattered the record set in 2010. And innovation continues to run high in the industry; the creativity of issuers is still impressive, as many of the ETFs that have [...]
Growth and evolution have been recurring themes in the exchange-traded universe in 2011, as investors are now faced with a diverse product lineup of over 1,400 ETPs. More than 300 of those are new additions in 2011, a year that broke the previous record for extent of product development. And while many of the new [...]
The ETF industry has been praised for the many advantages that it offers investors. Exchange traded products are liquid, transparent, and cover a broad range of investment classes to help round out portfolios. On top of all of these advantages lies the cost factor; one of the founding principles of ETPs was to maintain cost [...]
Last week shaped out to be yet another range-bound trading frenzy, dominated by fear induced selling in the early part of the week, and ending with a modest rally on Friday as investors cheered on the developments at the summit in Brussels. Gold drifted lower towards $1,700 an ounce amidst the uncertain backdrop. The precious [...]
U.S. ETF assets declined slightly in November according to the latest data from the National Stock Exchange, as the rapidly-growing industry experienced net outflows amidst a general flight from both domestic and international equities. The industry finished last month with $1.06 trillion in net assets, down about 2% from the previous month but up 12% [...]
Last week’s hopeful surge in the markets were quickly overshadowed this week with worse-than-expected news from overseas, contributing to the never-ending cycle of the European debt crisis. Major stock indexes remained unchanged earlier in the week then dropped during Thursday’s trading session as investors digested the latest euro-zone developments. The European Central Bank announced its [...]
The latest addition to the fast-growing ETF lineup is a fund from State Street that will offer exposure to investment grade debt that adjusts interest payouts based on prevailing market conditions. The SPDR Barclays Capital Investment Grade Floating Rate ETF (FLRN) is linked to an index that consists of investment grade debt with a floating [...]
