In recent years, few corners of the investing world have been the subject of as much controversy, misinformation, and confusion as the leveraged ETF space. Last summer these securities received widespread coverage from the financial media, much of it either implying directly or alleging that leveraged ETFs were flawed investment vehicles designed to dupe average investors out of their money. That prolonged debate over the merits of leveraged funds was somewhat frightening–it highlighted the ignorance of some well-respected publications–but the end result seemed to be an increased emphasis on investor education and a clearer understanding of what leveraged ETFs are and are not designed to do. [click to continue…]
For the last several months crude oil prices have generally moved in unison with global equity markets, as the demand outlook for the critical fuel has changed along with macroeconomic prospects. But crude prices got a boost last week from an unexpected source; the rupture of a pipeline outside of Chicago caused a Canadian company [...]
Crude oil has crept gradually higher since the beginning of the year, with spot prices rising from about $35 per barrel in January to nearly $80 in recent weeks. With a sliding dollar and expectations for a strong, sustainable global economic recovery, it seemed like only a matter of time before crude jumped above $100 [...]
Denver-based United States Commodity Funds has launched another exchange-traded commodity product, its first to offer inverse exposure to commodity prices. The United States Short Oil Fund (DNO) began trading this week on the NYSE Arca Exchange. DNO is the sixth product from United States Commodity funds, joining products offering exposure to crude oil (USO), natural [...]
Don Dion, who covers ETFs for TheStreet.com and runs Dion Money Management, recently wrote a three part series highlighting the “10 Most Dangerous ETFs”. Dion notes that as the ETF industry continues to expand beyond “plain vanilla” funds, investors are introduced to products that can face significant liquidity issues, be subject to increased regulatory scrutiny, [...]
