More than one year after the market bottom, most equity ETFs have seen a big rebound, but few have been able to match the meteoric rise of the Market Vectors Indonesia ETF (IDX), which is up more than 200% since last March. In fact, only two non-leveraged ETFs have outperformed IDX over the time period: coal (KOL) and preferred stock (PGF) (see our full list of top performing ETFs over the past year). With IDX up close to 10% already in 2010, some investors are wondering if the Indonesian economy can continue to surge ahead or if a bubble has begun to form. [click to continue…]
March 9, 2009 is a date etched into the memories of many investors. After months of unprecedented volatility, depressing statistical releases, and countless false bottoms, that’s the day most equity markets finally hit their lows. It also marked the beginning of an impressive rally that saw most major indexes climb steadily for the remainder of the year, reclaiming big chunks of the ground lost during the downturn. While the “great rally of ‘09″ boosted most asset classes (and their related ETFs), some performed far better than others. [click to continue…]
Markets trended higher in the holiday shortened week, as the S&P 500 flirted with and then crossed the 1,100 mark. The dollar strengthened throughout the week as debt clouds continue to hang over the euro zone and after the Fed raised the discount rate to 75 basis points. Below, we offer our picks for the [...]
Investing in emerging and frontier markets can often help investors to diversify equity holdings and provide exposure to growth opportunities not available in advanced economies. But with any opportunity for big gains often comes significant risk, including the potential for political instability, currency revaluation, and government intervention in the private sector. There’s also the issue [...]
After watching their portfolios take devastating blows in 2008, many investors hoped that a new year would bring a reversal of fortune and a recovery of lost assets. After the first two months of the year tested resolve, things finally took a turn for the better in March, and long climb upwards began. Most equity [...]
New York-based Van Eck launched on Wednesday the Market Vectors Poland ETF (PLND), a fund that will track the 26-company Market Vectors Poland Index. PLND will trade on the NYSE Arca Exchange and charge an expense ratio of 76 basis points. Unlike most single-country international ETFs, which tend to be dominated by holdings in multi-national [...]
Consecutive earthquakes shook the Southeast Asian nation of Indonesia on Wednesday, causing massive damage and more than 500 deaths. A 7.6-magnitude earthquake originated in the sea off Sumatra Island, and apparently bore down on Padang town. Early Thursday morning, another earthquake hit the same region, causing additional damage but no casualties. The first earthquake came [...]
Earlier this year, India conducted one of the world’s largest exercises in democracy when more than 710 million citizens headed to the polls to complete general elections. Following the announcement of the results, several India ETFs (such as PIN, INP, and EPI) surged more than 20% in a single session on news that the Indian National [...]
Emerging markets have led the way for a global market rally in recent months, with many broad ETFs (such as ADRE and EEM) rising more than 40% since bottoming out in March. While nearly all emerging markets are in the black for 2009, no market has experienced a more rapid recovery than Indonesia. After tumbling by [...]
