The last few weeks have been a rocky stretch for the financial sector in the U.S., with another massive bankruptcy filing coming as negative sentiment towards big financial institutions is reaching new heights. After a stellar month in October, a wave of risk aversion in November has dealt a blow to the financial sector, with steep losses piling up amidst ongoing Euro zone worries [see Euro Free Europe ETFdb Portfolio].
The largest and most popular ETFs in the Financials ETFdb Category are generally dominated by U.S. banks and financial institutions. But beyond those funds, there are a number of choices for investors looking to tap into the financial sector of international markets, believing this asset class may deliver some degree of insulation from the risk factors impacting U.S. banks in the current environment: [click to continue…]
Sector rotation techniques have been around for decades, a relatively simple strategy often used by investors seeking to capitalize on short-term mispricings in order to generate alpha. In its most basic form, sector rotation involves segmenting the equity universe by industry, and moving into and out of various sectors depending on relative attractiveness from a [...]
Now that the financial crisis appears to finally be subsiding, many regulators and economists have shifted their focus away from containment and towards prevention, seeking to ensure that a similar meltdown does not devastate markets again. Over the weekend, regulators finally hammered out a plan to force banks to limit risk and keep more adequate [...]
PowerShares seems ready to continue the expansion of its product lineup, recently filing for approval on four new funds. Each of the proposed ETFs would seek to replicate indexes maintained by KBW, which is already behind several ETFs offered by State Street. The funds detailed in the recent SEC filing include:
The financial sector was one of the hardest areas of the economy in 2008 and early 2009, as years of excessive risk taking finally resulted in a meltdown that spurred several unprecedented emergency measures and set off one of the worst recessions in a generation. Since bottoming out last March, however, financials have surged higher, [...]
After adding more than 100 new funds and taking in nearly $120 billion in cash in 2009, it seemed that the ETF industry would be hard-pressed to match that impressive pace in 2010. But an action-packed January that saw more than a dozen new funds, setting a pace that would shatter last year’s expansion. The [...]
iShares, the San Francisco-based issuer behind nearly 200 ETFs, announced today the launch of five new international sector funds. The five funds, which include four financial ETFs and one materials ETF, expands iShares offerings in the international segment allowing investors to exploit regional differences in sector performance. The new ETFs include the MSCI ACWI ex [...]
