The 9.0 magnitude earthquake that struck Japan on March 11th has caused widespread destruction in the northern part of the island nation, leaving thousands dead and hundreds of thousands homeless. The quake ripped through buildings and created a tsunami that reached more than 30 feet high in some places, laying waste to coastal regions that would have otherwise been relatively unscathed by the actual quake. In recent days attention on the aftermath of the temblor has focused on the Fukushima nuclear power plant, which due to flooding and quake damage has been pushed to the brink of a full-scale meltdown that could have severe and long-lasting ramifications that reach far beyond Japan. [click to continue…]
The attention of investors shifted from the Middle East to Japan late last week, as the natural devastation caused by a massive earthquake trumped the manmade chaos that has been playing out in Libya, Saudi Arabia, and elsewhere in the oil-rich region. With rescue efforts intensifying in the north of Japan after a magnitude 8.9 [...]
As investors have grown uneasy over the prospects for global growth and the odds of a double dip recession have seemingly shortened, many safe haven investments have seen sudden uptick in interest. Investors have been snapping up Treasuries and other investment grade bonds as risk appetite has waned, looking to protect themselves against future volatility [...]
With ongoing weakness in Europe pushing the euro to double digit losses against major rival currencies this year, many investors have sought out safe havens such as the U.S. dollar to ride out the storm. The presence of general economic uncertainty has sent the greenback sharply higher against virtually every major currency year-to-date. However, a [...]
The first half of 2010 was a very interesting period for currency ETFs, which look to remain in focus as the second half of the year gets underway and attention turns to central bank rate hikes. One of the biggest news stories from the first half of the year in the world of finance was [...]
As ETFs have transitioned from a closet industry to a mainstream investment vehicle, a growing number of investors has become familiar with the exchange-traded structure and the nuances of of the industry. Most advisors now recognize the “super tickers”–SPY, GLD, EEM, etc.–and have a good feel for the size and scope of the industry. But [...]
With just two and a half months in the books, 2010 has already been an odd year from an investment perspective. A small European nation that accounts for just a fraction of global GDP has become a major driver of stock and bond markets around the globe, capable of setting off both buying and selling [...]
As interest in ETF investing has surged in recent years, issuers have rushed to expand their product lines into every corner of the investable universe. The first generation of ETF products consisted mostly of equity funds designed to track well-known benchmarks, and while the vast majority of ETF assets remains in these “plain vanilla” funds, [...]
WisdomTree, the ETF issuer specializing in dividend and earnings weighted funds, announced a change to the Japan Total Dividend Fund (DXJ) beginning April 1. DXJ will still follow the same equities and maintain an expense ratio of 0.48% but will also seek to neutralize the affects of the volatile currency market and limit the impact [...]
In a generally strong global economic recovery, Japan has been one of the weakest links, struggling to gain any sort of traction while battling deflation and ineffective policies from a government elected with hope for great changes. An already tough road back to sustainable economic growth got even tougher on Tuesday when Standard & Poor’s [...]
Investors in the Japanese markets had been hoping that the flip of the calendar to 2010 would bring new hope for the country’s stalled economy, following a bitterly disappointing 2009 that saw Japan lag global economies by a considerable margin. But only two days in to the year, health problems of the finance minister have [...]
