Just a few short months ago, oil was approaching $90 a barrel and many were forecasting a run well above the psychologically-important $100 level. However, this optimism proved to be short lived, as equity markets around the world saw shares plunge after trouble in Europe threatened to spill over and contaminate the global economy. With concerns over global economic activity growing, the price of oil has been plunging from its 2010 high and is now closing in on $70/bbl. In fact, the iPath S&P GSCI Crude Oil Total Return Index ETN (OIL), which tracks the price of West Texas crude oil, is down almost 18.2% over the past four weeks, demonstrating just how much faith investors have lost in the global economy’s prospects for growth. [click to continue…]
After news of fraud charges against Goldman Sachs broke last Friday, anxiety built over the weekend and investors watched nervously to see if markets would plummet this week. But markets saw a relatively clam week, with most indexes posting moderate gains despite more trouble in Greece and jumping gas prices. It was another eventful week [...]
Alternative energy remains a fast growing market segment not only in the world of ETFs, but in terms of total investment as well. Since 2005, investment in clean energy increased by 230% to $162 billion in 2009. Echoing similar trends occurring throughout the global economy, emerging markets have stepped up their push to become leaders [...]
Although equity markets generally headed higher in the first quarter of 2010, there were a few funds that were not so lucky and became the early leaders in the Laggard of The Year race. The S&P 500 finished the quarter up close to 6%, but European markets stumbled in the wake of an on-and-off crisis [...]
Markets have been off to a rough start in 2010 with most major benchmarks falling more than 5% year-to-date and sparking fresh fears over a double-dip recession. Relatively few asset classes have gone unscathed as equities, both domestic and international equities have dropped in tandem with commodities. While some see this as a long-overdue downward [...]
The ETF industry has been credited with bringing exotic asset classes and investment strategies within the reach of all levels of investors. But it has also provided a potentially better way to invest in asset classes and industries that have historically exhibited significant volatility. Because the ETF structure provides immediate diversification of holdings at a [...]
Whenever a company prepares for a public offering, executives have been known to spend an inordinate amount of time choosing the combination of letters that will serve as the company’s ticker and often nickname within the investment community. To many, the fixation on selecting the perfect ticker seems like an irrational obsession on par with [...]
After surging out of the gates to start the new year, many ETFs have sharply reversed course, now finding themselves in the red for 2010 as January draws to a close. The S&P 500 SPDR (SPY), which was up nearly 3% after the first six trading sessions, is now down almost 2%. The shift in [...]
It’s been an interesting week in the world of ETFs: gold trading was extremely volatile, and world leaders met in Denmark to discuss climate issues. Here are the ETF Database staff picks of the week’s most important and interesting stories from around the Web:
Over the past two years, the primary focus of world leaders has been the series of economic crises that have threatened to erase years of progress and growth. With all available resources dedicated towards avoiding a prolonged downturn, many social and environmental issues have been moved to the back burner. Now, with a seemingly stable [...]
President Obama is determined to establish the U.S. as “the world’s leading exporter of renewable energy,” but it seems that he may face some stiff competition from a familiar source. According to a recent article in the New York Times, China has established itself as the early leader in the race to become the dominant [...]
