As most investors are painfully aware at this point, Europe is not in the best of fiscal shape at present. The continent is in the midst of a prolonged debt crisis that is now threatening the continued existence of the euro, and has transformed the region into a form of portfolio Kryptonite; most investors won’t go anywhere near it. Much of the attention has focused on the handful of countries that maintain massive debt burdens that continue to grow, such as Ireland, Spain, and Italy. As the likelihood that these countries will be able to repay their debts deteriorates, their stocks markets have been beaten down as international investors have fled to calmer markets [see Euro Free Europe ETFdb Portfolio]. And unfortunately, the debt crisis is hardly an isolated incident; a number of European economies, including several fairly large components, are struggling mightily to stay afloat. [click to continue…]
This past week was one of the most volatile in recent memory as traders digested news of an S&P downgrade of American debt and continued uncertainty in the euro zone. Markets oscillated by more than 4% on most days with sharp changes in the final hour of trading being pretty much the norm throughout the week for [...]
As the ETF industry has continued to expand, now with 1,300+ products to choose from, investors now have more ways than ever to make a play on their favorite market, sector, or region. One of the biggest advantages of ETFs over their mutual fund counterparts is their abundant liquidity; they can be traded intraday just [...]
Yesterday saw the Dow hit a bump in the road, as major indexes endured a relatively flat day, ending the DJIA’s winning streak. Perhaps the rough day came from a patch of unfavorable earnings from industry leaders like Cisco, or from the report that the Fed’s budget deficit grew another $50 billion during the month [...]
As the investment picture has become more clouded over the past few months thanks to mounting obstacles throughout the developed world, many investors have looked to those “experts” with a history of navigating through challenging environments. One increasingly popular economist who has seen his stock soar in the past few years is Nouriel Roubini, a [...]
Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero’s bold declaration that the European debt crisis is over may have gone a bit too far, but most investors agree that the outlook for the beleaguered continent has improved considerably in recent weeks. Many of the European countries least impacted by the crisis are making changes and implementing [...]
Bethesda, Maryland-based AdvisorShares announced today the launch of the Mars Hill Global Relative Value ETF (GRV), the second ETF product from the company. The new ETF will be actively-managed; instead of seeking to replicate the performance of a particular benchmark, GRV will attempt to generate consistent positive returns in excess of the average annual return [...]
One of the greatest spectacles in sports kicks off in South Africa over the weekend, with 32 countries gathering to compete in the final stages of the World Cup. Even the economists of the world have taken an interest in the upcoming matches; ABN Amro recently released a note predicting that the world economy would [...]
European ETFs have been in focus over the past month as debt issues in Greece and other Southern European countries have threatened the stability of the common currency system. With the passage of a nearly $1 trillion bailout plan, many thought that the sovereign debt crisis would be contained, at least in the short-term. However, [...]
With taxes due in just a few hours, many Americans are scrambling to fill out 2009 returns. A lot has been made over the long-term tax impact of health care legislation, bailout packages, and a host of other government initiatives. Currently, marginal tax rates can approach (and sometimes exceed) 39% for many American corporations when [...]
France, one of Europe’s largest economies, reported disappointing employment figures this week, calling into question the sustainability of the recovery in one of Europe’s few stable markets. The French job market sharply worsened, as the unemployment rate spiked to 9.9% (9.6% without French overseas dependencies included), the worst level since 1999. In order to rectify [...]
