The rapid development of exchange traded products has brought with it increased diversity in the investing space. Markets segments that were once nearly impossible for the average Joe to reach have now become as easy to buy as a share of ExxonMobil. Some of these elusive market segments include emerging markets, high yield fixed income, and commodities, the latter of which is one of the most popular and fastest growing segments of the exchange traded world. [click to continue…]
The first quarter of 2011 is officially in the books, and the last three months have been a stretch marked by instability both domestically and abroad. Significant uncertainty remains, as investors are still divided on the outlook for interest rates, further stimulus measures, and the ability of emerging markets to continue driving global GDP growth. [...]
It’s hard to argue that 2010 was the year of the commodity, as products ranging from gold to oil and everything in between saw their prices surge on the back of rising fears over inflation and supply concerns for many of the world’s key soft commodities. However, the pace of gains has slowed considerably in [...]
By now, most investors are well aware of certain nuances of futures-based investment strategies that are capable of having a significant impact on the returns of exchange-traded commodity products. A select few of the 70+ commodity ETPs on the market offer exposure to natural resources by physically buying and holding the commodity; these “physically-backed” commodity [...]
It doesn’t seem like that long ago that exchange-traded commodity products were the darlings of the ETF world. Praised for democratizing an entire asset class (and one capable of delivering non-correlated returns to investors at that), commodity ETFs saw billions of dollars of cash inflows in 2009. Investors rushed to get their hands on everything [...]
The first month of 2011 is in the books, and January certainly displayed no shortage of action for investors. Earnings season kicked off to a relatively strong start, though disappointments sprinkled throughout cast some doubt on the strength of an ongoing recovery. Last year was a good one for almost every asset class, with the [...]
Egypt has become the center of the news world over the last week, as a series of violent protests and intensifying calls for a regime change have left the future of one of Africa’s most populous countries in doubt. Though violence has been limited to a relatively small number of incidents, protesters have continued to [...]
Last year was a good year for most asset classes, as investor portfolios continued to recover from the recent recession. The difference in performance between many comparable funds was significant, and many of the best performers of 2010 are relatively small funds that maintain considerably smaller asset bases than their more popular competitors. Below, we [...]
As we put the finishing touches on 2010, the year has shaped up to be one of the most eventful in recent memory for global markets as a number of important events impacted the world economy. Among the events that dominated financial headlines this year were an (ongoing) sovereign debt crisis, the flash crash, a [...]
Over the last several years the economic growth gap between the world’s emerging and developed markets has gradually widened, as the U.S. and Western Europe face mounting debt balances and rising unemployment while the BRIC countries continue to expand at an impressive clip. This discrepancy has prompted a fundamental shift in the asset allocation process [...]
Commodities have been a major focus of the ETF world this year, as debates over the suitability of exchange-traded products and their role in increased market volatility have raged. Amidst this backdrop, many commodities have posted huge gains in 2010 as the dollar has stumbled and the raw materials appetite of emerging markets has proven [...]
