Despite continued uncertainty over the health of global markets and skyrocketing crude prices, equity markets managed to post relatively strong performances during the last week. These gains were largely the result of broad improvement across the market but especially positive outlooks in the technology, materials, and consumer goods sectors. The few losers over the past week came in the financial and utilities sectors, as banks feared the Fed’s refusal over dividend increases and utility companies continued to sell-off modestly thanks to fears over higher regulation costs in the months and years ahead. Geopolitical concerns remained elevated, as the bombing campaign increased in Libya, pushing oil to new heights on fears of a continued conflict in the North Africa nation. Meanwhile, in Japan, citizens had hoped that the worst of the nuclear disaster was behind them, but new reports suggested that radioactive materials were continuing to leak from the impacted zone and that Tokyo tap water had trace amounts of the materials. [click to continue…]
After surging in the early part of the week, U.S. equity markets slumped back after weak data to finish slightly in the red, further clouding the American economic outlook heading into the key election season in November. The main catalyst for this week’s slump was a sharp rise in new unemployment claims which hit the [...]
The impact of the recent global economic slowdown was first felt by consumers around the world who were forced to cut back on purchases in order to endure the recession. While some consumer segments such as the wealthy, have begun to spend again, the events of the last two years have also had a profound, [...]
With the Chinese economy continuing to expand at an impressive rate, many investors are looking to allocate greater percentages of their portfolios to this increasingly important market. More and more investors are turning to ETFs as a means of accessing Chinese equities. By far the most popular fund in the China Equities ETFdb Category is [...]
October was another busy month for the ETF industry, with the launch of several new funds, including a handful that will compete directly with well-established ETFs and some that seek to address potential regulatory issues facing traditional commodity products. Highlights from the month included:
The Halter USX China Index, the benchmark underlying the PowerShares Golden Dragon Halter USX China Fund (PGJ), is expanding its holdings by adding another 20 equities. The Index is also removing China INSOnline Corp, bringing the total number of stocks to 139. The benchmark, which consists of U.S. listed companies that do a majority of [...]
Global X Funds, the New York-based ETF provider that was the first to offer funds focusing on Colombia and the Nordic region, has filed for approval with the SEC to launch six new ETFs that focus on various sectors of the Chinese economy. The proposed funds include:
There can be little debate that China’s economy has made tremendous progress over the last decade, implementing market reforms that have brought the world’s most populous nation closer to “developed” status. But there are many areas of China’s economy that remain far behind those of western Europe and the U.S. The slow development of China’s [...]
Claymore certainly doesn’t seem to be resting on its laurels following last week’s announcement that Guggenheim Partners has agreed to buy the firm, including its line of about 35 ETFs with nearly $2 billion in assets. The Lisle, Illinois-based firm has filed with the SEC for approval of the Claymore/AlphaShares China All-Cap ETF. The proposed [...]
With swine flu news coming and going from the headlines in recent months, many investors have kept a close eye on pharmaceutical ETFs, anticipating that a global health scare could have a significant impact on the performance of funds holding various domestic and international health companies. This week president Obama, who has dedicated the first five [...]
As the Chinese economy has surged over the last decade, investors unafraid to reach beyond their borders and embrace international equity investments have been handsomely rewarded. As a result of easing economic barriers and sound economic policies, China has now passed Germany for the number three spot on the list of the world’s largest economies. [...]
