For many investors, 2011 was an up-and-down year; risky assets came racing out of the gates, but a string of negative developments erased all of the early gains during a chaotic summer. Heading in to 2012, the outlook is mixed; there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the future, as well as some considerable hurdles that could make coming months challenging. Against this uncertain backdrop, we outline 12 ETF ideas that seem to be positioned for success in 2012 [for more ETF ideas, sign up for the free ETFdb newsletter]: [click to continue…]
The last five years have seen a tremendous expansion of the ETF industry, as assets have skyrocketed and the number of products available to U.S.-based investors has multiplied. That same period of time has also been a period of tremendous volatility in global financial markets; the last five years have witnessed an unprecedented financial crisis, [...]
So far, this year has been tough for markets around the globe. Since the downgrade of U.S. credit quality in August, equity markets have become plagued with rampant volatility, discouraging capital inflows and prompting many investors to pull out of the markets entirely. Just when the debt-ceiling drama at home came to an end, euro [...]
Job creation–or the lack thereof–has taken center stage throughout much of the developed world, emerging as one of the most substantial hurdles to economic growth and potential catalysts of a double dip recession. The jobs situation in the U.S. is shaping up to be the central issue in the next presidential election, sticking out as [...]
Last year was a good year for most asset classes, as investor portfolios continued to recover from the recent recession. The difference in performance between many comparable funds was significant, and many of the best performers of 2010 are relatively small funds that maintain considerably smaller asset bases than their more popular competitors. Below, we [...]
As equities have tumbled in recent weeks, markets have succumbed to international issues that have led to increased concern over the health of the global economy. While many were focused in on the crisis in Ireland and the possible bailout of the highly-indebted nation, new geopolitical risks have been emerging in recent days. Earlier this [...]
No matter where investors look in the developed world, the picture isn’t pretty. In the U.S. unemployment remains intolerably high, and uncertainty over the latest round of QE will continue to hang over stock markets. In Europe efforts to control surging deficits have been met with protests and public outrage, complicating the process of reeling [...]
As economies and major indexes tumbled around the world in May, it was once again developed markets that were to blame for the weakness. Lingering concerns over the health of the euro has had a devastating effect on all of the economies in Europe, while the fallout from the Gulf oil seems ready to weigh [...]
The past few years have shown many investors the importance of diversification and its role in proper portfolio construction. More recently, market turmoil in Europe and the “flash crash” in the markets last Thursday rocked virtually every asset class, sending markets plunging around the world. It is somewhat remarkable that events in Greece, a small [...]
As the markets of the U.S. and Western Europe have encountered problem after problem, investors are giving increasingly large weightings to Asian equities. Investors focused on Asia have generally gravitated towards China, India, and South Korea–three markets that have performed well over the last year. But it is another Asian economy that has stolen the [...]
Direxion, one of the leaders in the rapidly-expanding leveraged ETF space, has filed for approval on 36 new ETFs, including two non-leveraged products. The Direxion Auto Shares would seek to match the performance of the Indus Global Auto & Auto Suppliers Index, a benchmark that consists of approximately 30 companies engaged in the manufacturing, maintenance, [...]
