After starting the day strong, most equity markets slumped in afternoon trading before finishing the day with a surge. This stretch of positive returns, the sixth in a row for the Dow, came after continued jubilation regarding Federal Reserve monetary policies. “There’s no question the Fed being easy continues to feed this. Easy money is creating massive misallocations everywhere, and that party can continue. As long as you have Ben the bartender manning the tap, anything is possible,” said Peter Boockvar. [click to continue…]
Equity markets finished the day slightly ahead after the Fed decided to hold rates at record lows at its meeting earlier today. The Fed signaled improving conditions with regards to business spending but remained cautious regarding unemployment levels and consumer spending. “The Fed is holding out for clearer signs of improvements in the labor market,” said Anthony Chan, chief economist at JP Morgan’s Private Wealth Management. “Until then, the Fed feels it needs the insurance policy of keeping rates low.” [click to continue…]
Most of what’s written about ETNs is cautionary in nature, focusing on the credit risk inherent in any debt security. And with good reason; the risks of ETN investing are very real. While most exchange-traded notes are issued by major financial institutions with lofty credit ratings, the last few years have taught investors that credit [...]
The surge in popularity of ETFs is often credited with bringing buy-and-hold investors a cost-efficient alternative to traditional actively-managed mutual funds. But ETFs are also responsible for bringing several asset classes previously available only to the largest and most sophisticated individuals and institutions within reach of investors on all levels.
While this “democratization” of investing is [...]
After enjoying a record year in 2010, many in the ETF industry were disappointed when January figures revealed a material decline in total assets, breaking an impressive string of month-over-month expansion. The latest ETF statistics from the National Stock Exchange are out, and February results were more typical of the industry’s recent growth. Total ETF [...]
Equity markets were choppy last week as investors digested a slew of data regarding all facets of the economy. Consumer confidence was sharply lower, while unemployment claims rose and existing home sales sunk, calling into question the strength of a global recovery. Across the Atlantic, investors remained worried about the future of the euro as [...]
U.S. markets remained choppy to finish the week, as the S&P 500 finished the day up slightly. This came after AIG reported an $8.9 billion loss for the quarter and the EU told Greece that its plan to cut spending and raise taxes was not going to be enough to satisfy other members of the [...]
Equity markets sunk to start the last week of February, with most indexes finishing down more than 1%. This came after a sharp decline in consumer confidence, as the widely-followed index fell to 46 from a reading of 56.5 in January. A reading of 55 was expected, indicating that the data release was a major [...]
Equity markets stayed flat but finished in the green on Friday after a weak CPI report gave some investors hope that the Fed will keep rates low for the foreseeable future. Overall prices edged up 0.2% for January but excluding food and energy, prices fell 0.1%, the first monthly decline since December 1982. Energy prices [...]
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 [...]
After posting strong early gains, markets finished the week in the red as weakness in the mining and technology sectors and concerns over Europe weighed on investors. “The pattern has been to sell into the weekend, wait for sovereign risk and sovereign default news in Europe, and if it doesn’t happen, the relief rally begins.” [...]
Chaos gripped Wall Street on Friday, as the likelihood that Ben Bernanke won’t be confirmed to a second term as Fed chairman surged and uncertainty swirled around the financial sector in the wake of Obama’s proposed regulations to curb risk. The technology sector also sunk following Google’s earnings report after the bell on Thursday. Despite [...]
