This week saw many investors go bargain hunting in the first two days of the week as fears over a Greek default temporarily subsided. Many had focused in on the Greek Prime Minister and a crucial vote that took place earlier in the week in which the Parliament voted on if it had confidence in his leadership. Thanks to being the chairman of the largest party in the legislature, George Papandreou passed this crucial test. Markets rose in anticipation of this event as most had expected him to remain in power, however, the real test comes next week when the government must push further austerity measures through in order to secure more bailout funds from the richer European powers.
Thanks to this slight reduction of risk, investors scooped up equities across the board in Monday and Tuesday trading, as well as the beginning of Wednesday’s session as well. Yet this did not last as the Federal Reserve held an important policy meeting to discuss rates, its outlook for the economy, and the future of QE. The central bank kept its benchmark at the ultra low level and promised not to raise them for an ‘extended period’ citing a still weak economy. However, Bernanke also ruled out another batch of quantitative easing, suggesting that although the economy remains on shaky footing, it isn’t bad enough to warrant an extension or expansion of the now infamous bond buying program. ”The FOMC is firmly on hold pending more information,” said Jim O’Sullivan, chief economist at MF Global in New York.
With these developments taking shape, some our ETF plays from Monday have done quite well as investors around the world are breathing a sigh of relief, at least for the time being. As a result, we’re taking this opportunity to shift exposure in our all-ETF portfolio to take advantage of European events:[hide 4]
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Thanks to stock markets managing to finish in the green for the week, at least in the S&P 500 and the DJIA, some are beginning to think that the recent downtrend in markets is finally over. However, any hope of a surge this week could be cut short by a continuation of the Greek debt crisis, especially [...]
As the ETF industry has continued to expand at a breakneck pace, the introduction of first-to-market products has become somewhat commonplace. Well more than 100 ETFs have debuted this year, many of them targeting an asset class or investment strategy not previously accessible within the ETF wrapper. Recent weeks have seen the debut of the [...]
In recent years interest in achieving exposure to emerging markets has intensified tremendously, as the developing economies of the world have established themselves as the clear leaders of GDP growth while advanced economies have struggled to regain their footing. While there are dozens of countries that fall under “emerging” status, exposure to this investment strategy [...]
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 [...]
Over the last year, a tremendous increase in the amount of ETF education has significantly reduced the likelihood of misuse by professional or amateur investors. By now, hopefully everyone knows that the United States Natural Gas Fund (UNG) doesn’t actually buy and hold natural gas and that USO’s underlying assets don’t include barrels of crude [...]
It’s been an interesting week in the world of ETFs: U.S. equity markets ended the week on a sour note with most benchmarks down about 2%. Here are the ETF Database staff picks of the week’s most important and interesting stories from around the Web:
With sluggish growth forecasted for the next few quarters an unemployment rate quickly approaching 10%, many U.S. investors are looking beyond their borders for new investment opportunities. While developed European and Asia Pacific economies have received a significant amount of attention, the most popular investment destinations remain the four largest emerging market countries: Brazil, Russia, [...]
The Cold War may have ended decades ago, but relations between the U.S. and Russia have never fully recovered. In recent years, tensions between these world powers have been particularly strained, as the countries clashed on issues including democracy, missile defense, NATO expansion, and independence for Kosovo. Concerns of armed conflict and nuclear war are [...]
Even the most vocal supporters of passive management and indexing have to admit that certain investor track records are far too stellar to attribute entirely to luck. While I’ve frequently disparaged the concept of active investing, I’m still eager to hear what trends legendary investors are following. The Wall Street Journal’s Gregory Zuckerman recently compiled some [...]
In addition to numerous earnings reports and key economic releases on the home front, U.S. investors have several international situations to monitor this week, ranging from elections in Indonesia to the ongoing dramas in Iran and Honduras. As if that wasn’t enough, two BRIC nations are also in the headlines Monday, as Russia welcomes president Obama for [...]
