It’s baaaaaaaack. After a brief hiatus that saw investors rushing to determine the best ways to battle deflation, inflationary concerns have begun to surface again. The cause of the latest bout of inflationary anxiety is of course the QE2 program recently announced by the Federal Reserve that calls for the purchase of hundreds of billions of dollars in bonds in an effort to push down borrowing costs and kick start the economy. [click to continue…]
Initially, the response from the markets to Ben Bernanke and Company’s historic attempt to revitalize the markets with a second round of QE was rather muted; U.S. markets stayed relatively flat yesterday after the Fed meeting, and volumes were well within a normal range. But overseas investors apparently had much stronger opinions on the ramifications [...]
Global X, one of the fastest-growing U.S. ETF issuers, announced today the latest addition to its product lineup. The company rolled out the Gold Explorers ETF (GLDX), the first pure play fund offering exposure to gold exploration companies. The new fund will offer exposure to this unique segment of the gold mining life cycle by [...]
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 [...]
In recent months anxiety over the viability of the economic recovery has built gradually, with more and more bears seemingly emerging from hibernation with each underwhelming data release. And based on where the smart money seems to be flowing, perhaps there is major cause for concern; some of the most successful investors have established huge [...]
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 [...]
Global X, the ETF issuer that burst on to the scene with China and Brazil sector ETFs, recently filed with the SEC to offer a new ETF that would focus on companies engaged in exploration for gold. The proposed fund would seek to replicate the Solactive Global Gold Explorers Index, a benchmark made up of [...]
Despite a relatively solid earnings season, anxiety continues to run high on Wall Street as elevated unemployment and sagging confidence stand as major obstacles to a continued economic recovery. As equity markets trend sideways and potential pitfalls materialize, many investors have moved slowly towards safe havens, preferring to watch from the sidelines until the storm [...]
Despite global turmoil and continued concern over budget deficits in countries around the world, equity markets soared in July posting double digit gains on the back of solid earnings and easing fears over the situation in Europe. With equity markets jumping again to start August, gold has experienced a bit of a sell of as [...]
The last several years have seen a rapid expansion of the ETF universe, with hundreds of new product launches offering exposure to an increasing number of asset classes, investment strategies, and corners of the globe. The initial success of these new products has been all over the board; some have struggled mightily to gain traction [...]
Equity markets have been slumping as of late, as worries of a sovereign debt crisis in Europe have weighed heavily on global markets and caused many investors to curtail their exposure to euro-denominated assets. The U.S. market seemed to be a viable “euro free” alternative, but a weak job report last week has called into [...]
