Last Friday, the U.S. Labor Department reported that the consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.2% in January and climbed by 2.6% over the past 12 months. But after stripping out volatile food and energy prices, prices actually fell by 0.1% in January, marking the first time since 1982 that “core CPI” has declined. While the absence of any signs that runaway inflation is materializing initially soothed markets, the report also signaled that another potentially tricky economic drag, deflation, is a very real concern. [click to continue…]
As interest in ETF investing has surged in recent years, issuers have rushed to expand their product lines into every corner of the investable universe. The first generation of ETF products consisted mostly of equity funds designed to track well-known benchmarks, and while the vast majority of ETF assets remains in these “plain vanilla” funds, innovation in the industry has brought countless asset classes and investment strategies within the reach of all levels of investors. After initially using ETFs alongside stocks and mutual funds, many investors have now embraced all-ETF portfolios, utilizing a range products to accomplish investment objectives. ETFdb Pro members can access our line of all-ETF model portfolios, including both long-term buy-and-hold allocations and shorter-term themed strategies (if you’re not an ETFdb Pro member yet, sign up for a free trial or read more here). [click to continue…]
Last year saw the continuation of the ETF industry’s impressive rise, with more than 100 new products hitting the market and a handful of new issuers entering into the arena. While many of the new exchange-traded products are “plain vanilla” funds that will compete directly with existing products, we also saw a number of truly [...]
Michael Johnston, senior analyst at ETF Database, appeared on live television this morning to discuss a few ETFs that would serve as possible hedges against inflation, including:
WisdomTree Dreyfus Emerging Currency Fund (CEW)
IndexIQ CPI Inflation Hedged ETF (CPI)
Claymore/Clear Global Timber Fund (CUT)
Market Vectors TR Gold Miners Fund (GDX)
IndexIQ ARB Global Resources ETF (GRES)
Watch the full interview [...]
Over the last year, U.S. equity markets have staged a remarkable recovery as volatility has plummeted and the emergency stimulus measures implemented amidst heated debate appear to have had their intended effect. Indications that unemployment may be close to peaking and that consumer confidence is on the rise once again only add fuel to the [...]
Many investors will be sorry to see 2009 end. Following one of the most disruptive years in recent memory in 2008, almost every asset class participated in a stellar recovery this year. At the depth of the recession, fear trumped reason, and irrational anxieties pushed many assets, including ETFs, well below their intrinsic value. Much [...]
The steady decline of the U.S. dollar has been one of the major stories of the second half of 2009, with a “perfect storm” of economic conditions sending the greenback to new lows against many of its major rivals. While a declining dollar isn’t nearly the problem that some make it out to be – [...]
Over the last several months, a perfect storm has been brewing over the U.S. dollar, with record low interest rates, a still unstable financial system, and uncertainty over reserve currency status all contributing to a prolonged slide in the greenback against its major rivals. But those who subscribe to the Warren Buffett investment philosophy of [...]
President Barack Obama embarked this week on a critical trip to China, seeking to gain support for tougher economic sanctions against Iran during meetings with Chinese President Hu Jintao. But as the U.S. president was setting out to present his case, the controversy over the relative value of China’s currency, a delicate issue for U.S. [...]
It’s been an interesting week the world of ETFs: Technology stocks reported strong earnings and oil finished the week at the $80/bbl mark. Here are the ETF Database staff picks of the week’s most important and interesting stories from around the Web:
It’s been an interesting week the world of ETFs: Gold finished the week around $1045/oz and President Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize. Here are the ETF Database staff picks of the week’s most important and interesting stories from around the Web:
Over the last decade, the ETF industry has grown from a handful of exchange-traded products offering quick, cheap, and easy exposure to major U.S. equity benchmarks to more than 850 funds that facilitate investment in nearly every asset class, strategy, and corner of the world imaginable. With so many innovative products hitting the market (September [...]
