Health care was once considered to be one of the most stable sectors of the U.S. economy, with demands for products and services fluctuating little during various phases of the economic cycle. But recent events in Washington have brought increased scrutiny and volatility, as the Obama administration’s health care reform has investors questioning the future of health care ETFs. Many of the long-term impacts of reform are still unknown. The bill will most certainly have an impact on health care insurance issuers; nearly 30 million new customers could translate into more revenue. But companies will likely also have to accept those who have pre-existing conditions, which could turn out to be a drag on profitability (see An Unlikely Winner From Health Care Reform). [click to continue…]
After sinking early in the week, equity markets finished on a high note with the Dow closing just below 11,000. Commodities have been in focus in recent trading, as oil sank for the week while gold soared as Greece’s credit rating was lowered to BBB-. In other news, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner visited Beijing in [...]
ProShares, a leading provider of leveraged and inverse ETFs, announced the launch on Friday of the first ETFs with leveraged and inverse exposure to the biotechnology sector. The Ultra Nasdaq Biotechnology (BIB) will seek to provide 200% of the return on the NASDAQ Biotechnology Index for a single day. The UltraShort Nasdaq Biotechnology (BIS) will [...]
As the array of ETF product offerings has expanded in recent years, the biotech space has seen significant activity. Currently, there are five biotech ETFs that have accumulated nearly $3.5 billion in aggregate assets. Each of these funds focuses on stocks in the biotechnology industry, and in many cases there is significant overlap between the [...]
As the ETF industry has grown by leaps and bounds in recent years, continued innovation has enabled investors to achieve more granular exposure than ever through exchange-traded products. Diversified ETFs targeting relatively narrow sectors of the domestic and global economy have multiplied, including funds targeting the airline, gaming, insurance, gold mining, timber, and food and [...]
Following a year that saw some of the worst performances in recent memory, many asset classes have bounced back in 2009. But some have performed better than others, and as the year draws to a close we take a look at some of the best-performing ETFs. The year’s top gainers include a few of the [...]
Biotechnology ETFs enjoyed bug jumps at the beginning of this week, thanks primarily to a huge increase in the stock price of a key component of several funds. Human Genome Sciences Inc. (HGSI) has jumped more than 450% over the last week on news that its lupus drug Benlysta showed late-stage success in a clinical [...]
