Posts tagged as:

EES

For many investors, March 9, 2009 was a major turning point; on that day the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed below 6,550, capping a disastrous stretch that had erased billions of dollars from portfolios around the world. Fortunately, that proved to be the low point of the recent recession; the next day markets rallied, and continued to move generally higher throughout the end of the year.

So it should be no surprise that most ETFs offering exposure to risky asset classes now boast impressive three year return figures; most are well into positive territory, and many have more than doubled over the past 36 months or so. What is perhaps surprising is the list of the best performers in the three years following the depths of the recession; some of the ETFs that have delivered the most impressive returns over this period are not household names, and cover asset classes that might not have been expected to climb quite so high:  [click to continue…]

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Are Your Cap-Weighted ETFs Leaders Or Laggards?

by on July 13, 2010

The rapid growth of the ETF industry in recent years has altered the investment landscape in more ways than one. The low expense ratios offered by most exchange-traded products have brought increased scrutiny on active managers and called into question their ability to add value to client portfolios. The immediate diversification offered by a basket of securities has caused some to shift away from the complex research associated with individual stock picking towards more macro analysis required for tactical strategies. And as indexes have evolved from hypothetical measures of performance to essentially investable assets, the methodologies utilized in the construction and maintenance of benchmarks have become increasingly important to investors [see our database of ETF indexes]. [click to continue…]

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Weighting Methodologies: An ETF Report Card

by on October 27, 2009

Advisors and individuals who favor a tactical asset allocation to investing have historically analyzed broad macroeconomic trends and statistics to identify asset classes and sectors poised deliver strong returns. In the early days of the ETF industry, this meant homing in on a certain sector or style and picking the fund that tracked that segment. [...]

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

The Ten Best ETFs You’ve Never Heard Of

by on October 19, 2009 | Updated June 9, 2010

Just as there are various “celebrity stock tickers” that every investor recognizes instantly (GOOG, MSFT, F, JNJ), there are some ETFs that everyone knows. Generally, these ETFs, such as SPY, GLD, and QQQQ, reflect the most widely-known investment strategies and asset classes. And while the 25 largest funds that account for more than half of [...]

{ Comments on this entry are closed }