A recent survey released by InvestmentNews highlighted the ten ETFs financial advisors researched the most, based on data provided by Morningstar. It’s tough to know exactly what to make of the list, but at the very least it gives some interesting insights into the minds of investors. The list included many of the usual suspects: the S&P 500 (SPY), emerging markets (EEM and VWO), aggregate bond markets (AGG and LQD) and diversified commodity funds (DBC) were all represented. Also making the list were two gold ETFs: the SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) and iShares COMEX Gold Trust (IAU). [click to continue…]
In recent years, investors have begun moving away from traditional active management in favor of more cost-efficient indexing strategies. The result has been a tremendous surge in the popularity of ETFs and a serious threat to actively-managed mutual funds that have dominated the investment industry for decades. As market indexes have transitioned from performance benchmarks to investable baskets of securities, the underlying methodologies have, not surprisingly, been the subject of increased analysis and scrutiny. As many investors now know, the system used to select and weight individual components can have a major impact on bottom line returns. And there are a number of ETF issuers out there who think they’ve come up with superior alternatives to the methodologies used by the vast majority of investors. [click to continue…]
Many investors point to the rise of the ETF industry as a clear shift in preferences away from relatively expensive active management in favor of low-cost indexing. It’s been said that the alpha hunters have evolved into beta grazers. But the benefits of the ETF structure aren’t reserved solely for passive cap-weighted products, and the [...]
As seasoned investors know, any potential investment must be evaluated not on a stand-alone basis but on its contribution to an overall portfolio. In addition to considering the risk and return profile of a particular asset, the relationship between that asset and the other holdings of the investor is of vital importance in the construction [...]
Last year saw more than 100 new ETF launches, ranging from the relatively “plain vanilla” to funds offering more targeted and unique exposure. One of the more interesting product launches came late in the year, when Geary Advisors introduced the first state-specific ETF, the Oklahoma Exchange-Traded Fund (OOK).
In the world of investing, tradition is king, and lengthy histories carry significant weight with an investing public that is surprisingly entrenched in its ways. As creatures of habit, investors are slow to part with familiar strategies and metrics that have lengthy histories. Take the Dow Jones Industrial Average, for example. The “Dow” has several [...]
Emerging markets have been one of the hottest investment trends in recent years, as U.S. investors have begun to question assumptions about the relative risk profiles of advanced and developing economies in the wake of the recent global recession. Government intervention, a risk usually associated with emerging economies, has become common practice in the U.S. [...]
Gold has historically been used in a variety of ways by different investors, but the precious metal is perhaps most commonly embraced as a safe haven investment that smooths out overall portfolio volatility in rocky economic environments. When signs of economic weakness appear, investors tend to sell risky assets such stocks in favor of low-risk [...]
Still scarred by memories of the not-so-distant recession, many investors have been spooked by recent volatility in equity markets, wondering if they should bail on the market before another double dip. But even fresher are the memories of the bull market of 2009, especially for those who regretfully watched from the sidelines as equity markets [...]
Last year saw more than 100 new product launches, ranging from plain vanilla equity and bond funds to ETFs offering exposure to exotic new investment strategies and asset classes previously available only to a limited slice of the investing community. The innovation that has made ETFs a popular alternative to mutual funds seems ready to [...]
Usually the monthly release of ETF trading data from the National Stock Exchange provides a good opportunity for those covering the industry to feed the hype machine just a little more. Big asset growth and cash inflows have become as certain as death and taxes, with each month adding momentum to the runaway freight train [...]
Over the last several years, investors have embraced the benefits of the exchange-traded structure, transforming ETFs from a closet industry to a mainstream investment option that threatens to continually grab market share from traditional actively-managed mutual funds. As the popularity of ETFs has surged, so too has the number of funds available to investors. While [...]
