One of the greatest spectacles in sports kicks off in South Africa over the weekend, with 32 countries gathering to compete in the final stages of the World Cup. Even the economists of the world have taken an interest in the upcoming matches; ABN Amro recently released a note predicting that the world economy would benefit more from a German victory than if any other national team were to win.
In reality, any connection between success on the soccer pitch and an economic boost would be minimal. The biggest winner over the coming month could be South Africa, which has a chance to display its infrastructure and business environment to the world. To get in the spirit as the competition begins, we run through the 32 competitors, highlighting the ETF options available for each (for more ETF insights, sign up for our free ETF newsletter): [click to continue…]
Once upon a time, when Greece was best known as the home to Mount Olympus and birthplace of gyros, debt issued by governments of advanced economies was considered to be “risk-free.” But after years of providing social benefits well beyond their means, a new age of austerity has dawned. Perpetual demand for sovereign debt is [...]
The past few years have shown many investors the importance of diversification and its role in proper portfolio construction. More recently, market turmoil in Europe and the “flash crash” in the markets last Thursday rocked virtually every asset class, sending markets plunging around the world. It is somewhat remarkable that events in Greece, a small [...]
Over the last two years, many investors have become acutely aware of the significant differences in the growth profiles of the world’s developing economies relative to advanced nations. Historically perceived as risky investments, emerging markets have now been firmly established as the primary source of global GDP growth, creating a surge in interest among U.S. [...]
In late February one of the strongest earthquakes on record ripped through southern Chile, just weeks after Haiti was devastated by a similar natural disaster that took thousands of lives and caused billions of dollars worth of damage. With this event still fresh in their minds, many investors anticipated that the quake in Chile could [...]
March has gotten off to a start similar to January, as another strong performance Tuesday has investors hoping the recent run-up will prove more sustainable than mini-rally that started the year. A showdown in the tech sector caught the attention of investors, as Apple filed a patent infringement lawsuit against HTC, the maker of Google-based [...]
March got off to a hot start on Monday, as equity markets posted gains on a positive manufacturing outlook and multiple reports of M&A activity. Most notably, UK-based Prudential PLC agreed to buy AIG’s Asia operations for $35.5 billion in cash and stock. Elsewhere, the Institute of Supply Management reported that its index of manufacturing [...]
Equity markets were choppy last week as investors digested a slew of data regarding all facets of the economy. Consumer confidence was sharply lower, while unemployment claims rose and existing home sales sunk, calling into question the strength of a global recovery. Across the Atlantic, investors remained worried about the future of the euro as [...]
Just weeks after a devastating earthquake sparked a humanitarian crisis in Haiti, another natural disaster has hit the South American nation of Chile. Early Saturday morning, a magnitude 8.8 earthquake, the fifth strongest ever measured in the country, occurred off of Chile’s coast, causing massive destruction throughout the region. At least 100 aftershocks of magnitude [...]
The proliferation of commodity ETFs has brought this “fourth asset class” within reach of more investors than ever before. But as many have learned the hard way, resource fundamentals are only one of the factors that impact many exchange-traded commodities, and the nuances of the futures market often have a more significant impact than changes [...]
San Francisco-based iShares, which was acquired by BlackRock from Barclays last year, has more than 180 U.S.-listed ETFs. But the distribution of assets is far from even across these funds. At the end of 2009, the ten largest iShares ETFs–only about five percent of the issuer’s product line–accounted for 50% of total assets. So there’s [...]
