The saying “never judge a book by its cover” is certainly applicable to a wide range of situations. That includes the business of investing; for advisors and individuals who use ETFs, the old adage can be very relevant, valuable advice. There are now more than 1,300 exchange-traded products now available to U.S. investors, and that number will only climb higher in coming months and years. For the vast majority of those funds, the product name provides a pretty good description of the underlying assets and investment objectives. The S&P 500 SPDR (SPY) invests in the stocks of the S&P 500 Index. The Gold SPDR (GLD) invests in gold bars [see also 25 Things Every Financial Advisor Should Know About ETFs].
But in some cases the name of an ETF only tells a part of the story, and a look under the hood can reveal that the actual exposure achieved can vary from what investors might be expecting [for more ETF insights, sign up for the free ETFdb newsletter]: [click to continue…]
The rapid expansion of the ETF industry has been one of the most important developments of the last several decades to financial professionals; as the lineup of exchange-traded products has surged past 1,300, financial advisors now have more tools in their toolkits than ever before to help construct client portfolios. With these new financial products [...]
Equity markets have taken investors for a wild ride over the past three months with chaotic trading dominating virtually every nook and corner of Wall Street. Amidst the volatility, investors have been seeking out refuge and fleeing to “safer” asset classes; although rational, this approach inevitability overlooks certain corners of the market that may in [...]
[This article is a free preview of the special ETF research report Dividend ETFs In Focus: Finding The Best Yield . ETFdb Pro members can read the entire report here; sign up for a free 7-day trial to get your copy] Dividend investing is one of the oldest and most popular strategies amongst retail and institutional equity investors on Wall [...]
The impressive pace of expansion in the ETF industry over the last several years has been well documented; continuous product development has resulted in the launch of more than 250 so far in 2011, and there are now more than 1,300 names in the ETF lineup. But while the depth of the ETF space has [...]
September was one of the worst months in years for global equity markets. Volatility swept throughout every corner of the financial markets as escalating Euro zone debt woes worried investors of an impending crisis. Investor confidence has been slowly eroding given the concerning global economic outlook, prompting many to pull out of the markets all [...]
A new ETFdb Portfolio offering a broad-based approach to fixed income exposure is now available to ETFdb Pro members. The Better-Than-AGG ETFdb Portfolio is designed to give investors exposure to every corner of the global bond market, tapping into segments that are often overlooked despite meaningful return enhancement and diversification benefits.
In recent years, ETFs have become increasing popular tools for accessing the fixed income corner of the market. The space initially grew much more slowly than equity ETFs, but investors have gradually become more comfortable with the combination of fixed income exposure and the exchange-traded structure. Innovation in the bond ETF space has been impressive [...]
The ETF industry continues to expand at an impressive rate, with dozens of new products debuting every month and the size of the lineup quickly approaching the 1,300 mark. While each new month generally brings a number of new product launches, it also beings some important milestones for ETFs that have debuted in the past. [...]
Interest in fixed income ETFs has skyrocketed in recent years, as investors have embraced the exchange-traded structure as an efficient means of establishing exposure to a core asset class. Though inflows in recent years have accelerated, the growth of this corner of the ETF market lagged behind the equity space, in part because some of [...]
Schwab was a latecomer to the ETF industry, launching its first products years after companies such as iShares and Vanguard had established themselves as pioneers in the space. But Chuck has been aggressive in playing catch-up, introducing commission-free ETF trading (a move many others have since replicated) and rock bottom expense ratios to attract cost [...]
