Precious metals have been on a tear for much of the last year, no doubt delivering huge profits to some of the hedge fund managers who began stocking up on bullion in early 2010. Physically-backed gold and silver ETFs took in close to $10 billion in inflows last year, as investors embraced the exchange-traded structure as the most efficient way to establish exposure to an asset class that has safe haven appeal and can perform relatively well in inflationary environments as well. With uncertainty over the global economic outlook swirling and concerns about an uptick in inflation lingering, gold surged to new record highs in 2010 after adding about 25%. But the yellow metal was overshadowed by silver, which gained close to 90% on the year. Forget the tiger, 2010 was the year of the precious metal. [click to continue…]
As the popularity of ETFs has surged in recent years, the manner in which investors use these vehicles has evolved as well. Originally designed with cost-conscious buy-and-holders in mind, ETFs have now been fully embraced by more active traders as well (just look at the turnover of SPY). And recent years have seen the introduction [...]
With the end of 2010 rapidly approaching, much of the uncertainty that investors had expected to lift this year remains firmly in place. Equity markets have staged an impressive rally in recent months, but significant hurdles remain in the form of persistently-high unemployment, regulatory uncertainty, and fiscal instability throughout much of the developed world [see [...]
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 [...]
Michael Johnston, senior analyst for ETF Database appeared on live television earlier today to discuss the rally of the US Dollar. ADZ, DDP, DGZ, EUO, UUP, and YCS are some of the ETFs that have been affected. Watch the complete interview at BNN.
More much of the second half of 2009, one of the overarching themes has been continued weakness in the U.S. dollar, as a perfect storm of economic and political factors combined to push the greenback continually lower against major rivals. But once the calendar turned to December, the tables turned as well, and the U.S. [...]
Gold is often referred to as a “safe haven” investment, reflecting its tendency to rise in times of economic uncertainty. While there is no shortage of “gold bugs” that buy and hold the metal for extended periods of time, there are countless investors who trade gold quite actively. Just as signs of weakness in the [...]
by Andy H on October 29, 2009 | Updated April 25, 2012
UPDATED: 4/18/2012 The label “gold bug” may suggest a kooky old man who spends a lot of time in his basement reading conspiracy theory newsletters. The truth, however, is that there are many legitimate reasons to trade in gold and its derivatives. Gold has been proven time and time again to be an excellent “safe [...]
The Gold Rush of 2009 likely hasn’t come as a complete surprise to too many investors. After all, gold has been proven time and time again to be a “safe haven” investment that rises during uncertain economic times (such as the last two years), and questions about the dollar’s future as the world’s reserve currency [...]
Direxion, the ETF sponsor responsible for many of the most heavily-traded ETFs on the market, is reportedly making some changes to its line of mutual funds that may ultimately impact the leveraged ETF industry.
With uncertainty and risk aversion dominating investor psychology in the first quarter of the year, gold ETFs have benefited, increasing dramatically in the first three months of 2009. According to the World Gold Council, investments in gold ETFs increased to $13.58 billion in the first quarter, representing more than six times the amount held in [...]
