As far as the majority of the ETF industry is concerned, size is everything. Institutions and financial advisors often have minimum AUM requirements for investing; a pre-screen that many ETFs fail due to their smaller size. Even individual investors are quick to write off a fund with low assets, as they assume its low popularity simply means that the fund is not of a high quality. Instead, most go with the biggest fund in the respective asset class, believing size to be the key factor. To put it rather bluntly, most of the aforementioned people and groups can often be wrong. There are a number of smaller products that present much more compelling investment methodologies than their larger counterparts, they just need a little more attention to get going. [click to continue…]
Equity markets continued their trek higher last week as encouraging economic data is a key driver of price action now that Euro zone woes have finally taken a backseat. In light of the positive fundamental improvements on the home front, this week is looking to be fairly uneventful in terms of major data releases aside [...]
The bulls ran will on Wall Street as fairly upbeat commentary from the Fed coupled with better-than-expected retail sales data paved the way higher for stocks across the board. The Nasdaq led the way higher, gaining 1.88% on the day, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average lagged behind, although not by much, inching higher by [...]
After back-and-forth price action throughout most of last week, equity indexes managed to end on a high note as good news from the Greek debt swap deal restored confidence in the debt burdened currency bloc. Bullish euphoria has remained strong on Wall Street thanks to an overwhelming majority of better-than-expected economic data releases in 2012. [...]
After evading the headlines for quite a while, Greek debt woes resurfaced earlier in the week, bringing back the cloud of uncertainty looming over the debt burdened currency bloc. With renewed uncertainties came volatile price action and equity markets went for a ride, bringing a halt to euphoria on Wall Street. Despite this bump in [...]
This past week was chock full of data on the home front, as the U.S. poured on a number of key economic reports with the majority coming in positive. Despite a sell off on Friday, major indexes still covered some ground this week, as Tuesday saw the Dow close above 13,000 for the first time [...]
The bulls and the bears clashed on Wall Street today as investors digested encouraging economic data while profit taking temptations intensified. Back-and-forth trading paved the way for an all around volatile day in the markets as indexes oscillated between multi-year highs and intraday-lows. Although fundamental news were positive, equity benchmarks at home ended the trading [...]
Stocks tacked on gains last week although trading activity on Wall Street was quite muted considering all of the encouraging economic data releases. Indexes ended the week on a high note after a better-than-expected consumer sentiment figure, which bolstered investors’ confidence. The real challenge comes this week however, as investors prepare to digest several key [...]
With more than 1,400 exchange-traded products now available to U.S. investors, odds are that there will be more than one option for most desired exposures. In many cases, the generally similar products targeting a specific asset class or strategy will deliver generally similar returns. But just because two ETFs have names that sound alike or [...]
Equity markets started off the week on a mixed note, soaring higher after the opening bell only to succumb to broad-based profit taking pressures as the trading session drew to a close. On the home front, the Dow Jones Industrial Average led the way higher, gaining 0.12% on the day, although it failed to close above resistance at [...]
Stock markets had a whirlwind of a day as indexes fluctuated between gains and losses amidst the looming Greek debt negotiations, ultimately closing in shallow green territory. On the home front, the Nasdaq charged ahead, gaining 0.41% on the day, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average just barely pulled off a win, settling 0.04% higher on the [...]
