Over the last several years ETFs have become popular tools for active investors seeking to take advantage of short-term mispricings in the market; the average daily trading volumes on many of the most popular-exchange-traded products clearly indicates that ETFs are widely used by day traders who measure their holding periods in minutes rather than years. Of course, ETFs also continue to be tremendously powerful tools for the set of the market for which they were originally designed: long-term, buy-and-hold investors. For those in it for the long haul, ETFs can represent a way to tap into a compelling investment thesis that is expected to play out over the course of several years or even decades, without conducting company-specific research or taking on considerable company-specific risk [see also 12 High-Yielding Commodities For 2012]. [click to continue…]
Saving for one’s retirement can certainly be a daunting task. After the crash of the markets in 2008, many everyday investors saw a large chunk of their retirement savings go down the drain in just a matter of months, leaving some in a deep hole. While those close to retirement have been hit but the [...]
When considering the equity allocation of an investor portfolio, perhaps the most common bifurcation made is between developed and emerging markets. The distinction between developed and emerging markets has become a hot topic in recent years thanks to the tremendous gaps in growth and risk between the two groups. As developed markets have struggled to [...]
South Korea is home to one of the world’s most unique and promising economies, thriving off of its status as a tech leader as well as proximity and strong relationships with many of Asia’s rapidly-expanding emerging markets. But constantly looming over South Korea is the unstable relationship with its neighbor to the north, one of [...]
No matter where investors look in the developed world, the picture isn’t pretty. In the U.S. unemployment remains intolerably high, and uncertainty over the latest round of QE will continue to hang over stock markets. In Europe efforts to control surging deficits have been met with protests and public outrage, complicating the process of reeling [...]
With nearly nine months in the books, 2010 is shaping up to be the year of price wars in the ETF industry. In the past several months, a number of big names have slashed expense ratios on some of their most popular products, in an effort to attract cost-conscious investors. Charles Schwab and Vanguard have [...]
Over the last several years, the ETF industry has seemingly been locked in to “three steps forward, one step back” mode. August was the most recent step back, as ETFs experienced net cash outflows for only the second time this year. Total ETF assets declined by about $20 billion during the month, and outflows totaled [...]
The first three months of 2010 saw dozens of new ETF product launches, but things really headed up in April. This past month saw the launch of more than two dozen ETFs, making it the most active month of 2010. PowerShares and ProShares were particularly active on the product development front, debuting a number of [...]
First Trust announced the launch of a new index fund tracking the economies of the BICK economies, a twist on the popular BRIC bloc of major emerging markets. This new fund also includes exposure to Brazil, India and China, but swaps Russia for South Korea. As such, BICK offers an emerging markets alternative that avoids [...]
First Trust, the Lisle, Illinois-based ETF provider best known for its AlphaDEX funds, has filed papers for three new ETFs, including two commodity funds and one emerging market ETF. The funds in registration are the First Trust BICK Index Fund, First Trust ISE Global Copper Index Fund, and the First Trust ISE Global Platinum Index [...]
