Inflation has been a particularly frustrating topic in recent months. Despite widespread predictions for a surge in CPI in the wake of unprecedented injections of liquidity into global financial markets, upward pressure on prices has not yet materialized–at least not in many developed markets. The prospect of what seems to be an inevitable outcome has prompted many to take measures to protect their portfolios, increasing allocations to asset classes expected to generally perform well when inflationary pressures spike. Countless investors have been wrong in their calls on inflation, ranging from Wall Street titans such as Morgan Stanley to smaller money managers and individuals. [click to continue…]
Innovation has always been a hallmark of the ETF industry, as recent years have seen issuers get creative in efforts to expand the universe of assets available and refine the mechanisms through which such exposure is offered. Some of the latest initiatives have focused in on the commodity space, where issuers are scrambling to come [...]
Perhaps no corner of the ETF market has exploded as rapidly as the precious metals space, as the democratization of an asset class previously off limits to many investors has resulted in billions of dollars in cash inflows. The SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) is now the second-largest ETF by total assets, with more than $53 [...]
Economic growth in the U.S. in recent years has been virtually non-existent, prompting more and more investors to turn to emerging markets, whose economies–as well as overall populations–are growing at an exponential rate. With the majority of growth occurring overseas, ETF issuers were soon to follow, now offering a wealth of funds to track these [...]
With the housing market cratering, consumer confidence sagging, and catalysts for real economic growth nowhere to be found, many investors have quietly become pessimistic over the outlook for the U.S. economy. And then there’s the camp that has been much more vocal with forecasts of doom and gloom, a group that includes the always entertaining [...]
Commodities have been one of the hottest corners of the ETF market, exploding on to the scene in recent years as investors have rushed to gain access to a suddenly democratized asset class that has been shown to add valuable diversification benefits to traditional stock-and-bond portfolios [see Rethinking Commodity ETFs]. But some investors have been [...]
There is no denying that the ETF boom is in full swing, as billions of dollars continue to flow into the industry every month despite a difficult economic environment. As individual investors and advisors alike become more informed on the nuances and potential benefits of ETFs, usage has surged. Part of the impressive surge in [...]
Analysts covering the U.S. mining industry no doubt spend a great deal of their time monitoring activity in resource rich South America and searching through the latest bulletins out of Beijing for hints on the strength of China’s raw materials appetite. But the future of the industry may depend on an escalating conflict in a [...]
The timing of perhaps the most significant policy shift in China’s recent history was interesting for a number of reasons. Beijing’s announcement that the Chinese currency would be afforded increased flexibility came in the middle of the weekend, just days ahead of a G-20 summit in Toronto at which China’s currency policy was expected to [...]
As most investors are well aware, some sectors of the global economy tend to carry more risk and exhibit more volatility than others. At one end of the spectrum are utilities and consumer staples, two industries that tend to weather downturns relatively well but lag behind riskier sectors during bull markets. At the other end [...]
After a stellar start to the year, global equity markets hit a rocky stretch after a closer look at Europe’s fiscal health uncovered cause for significant anxiety. Although equities have recovered somewhat from their recent plunge, pessimism runs rampant on Wall Street as the bears are coming out of the woodwork. The confidence that investors [...]
