Better late than never. E*TRADE, the online brokerage that is perhaps best known for its commercials starring infant trading whizzes, has begun offering commission free trading on a lineup of exchange-traded funds. ETFs issued by Global X, WisdomTree, and db-X (Deutsche Bank) will be eligible for commission free trading on the E*Trade platform. That lineup includes about 90 ETFs covering a wide variety of asset classes, including currencies, international bond markets, dividend-weighted indexes, and commodity-producing equities. The most popular ETFs that are now available commission free on E*Trade include: [click to continue…]
Over the last couple of years, investor interest in certain asset classes and general strategies has spiked as a result of the challenges facing global financial markets. With interest rates at record lows and volatility jumping to higher-than-average levels, dividend-focused ETFs have become popular products. ETFs linked to indexes that screen based either on dividend [...]
A quick look at the headlines on any given day is generally enough to explain why investors have been shifting greater percentages of their long-term portfolios towards emerging markets in recent years. The U.S. is grappling with elevated unemployment, and faces a regulatory gridlock that is creating undesirable tax uncertainty. Europe has been unable to [...]
The developments of the last several years have highlighted the growing gap between the developed and emerging markets of the world. Advanced economies in North America, Europe, and Asia face mounting debt burdens and the prospect of a prolonged stretch of low economic growth. Meanwhile, many emerging markets have raced ahead, boasting blistering GDP growth [...]
Today’s market environment has created a hazy outlook for equities as major equities have fallen into an unstable trend for much of 2011. While some remain bullish on the economic recovery, others feel that recent statistics point the other way, and that we are heading for a slowdown. As such, many investors have varying opinions [...]
EGShares, the only ETF issuer focused exclusively on emerging markets, announced today the introduction of another product offering exposure to equities of developing markets. The new Emerging Markets High Income Low Beta ETF (HILO) will seek to replicate the Indxx Emerging Markets High Income Low Beta Index, a 30-stock benchmark designed to provide lower volatility [...]
Emerging markets have seen their importance to the global economy swell in recent years, as the developing markets of the world have become the primary drivers of growth not only in their home market but in advanced economies around the globe as well. With many developed countries struggling to gain traction and facing elevated unemployment [...]
iShares announced the latest addition to its ETF lineup on Thursday, rolling out a fund that seeks to deliver exposure to U.S. companies that have consistently delivered relatively high dividend yields. The iShares High Dividend Equity Fund (HDV) will seek to replicate the performance of the Morningstar Dividend Yield Focus Index, a benchmark that includes [...]
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 [...]
State Street rolled out two new ETFs on Thursday, launching products offering exposure to emerging markets equities and fixed income securities. The SPDR Barclays Capital Emerging Markets Local Bond ETF (EBND) will seek to replicate a benchmark consisting of fixed-rate local currency sovereign debt of emerging market countries, while the SPDR S&P Emerging Markets Dividend [...]
Though the recent tax agreement between the Obama administration and Congressional Republicans was hailed as an historic compromise, there is no shortage of politicians and organizations–from both the left and the right–expressing frustrations with the accord. In addition to extending the Bush-era tax cuts for an additional two years, the deal signed into law last [...]
