This year has proven to be a rather successful yet volatile year on Wall Street; equities managed to come out on top after tumultuous rounds of eurozone debt drama, fiscal cliff talks and spotty economic data. Despite the bumps in the road, many investors were rewarded quite handsomely, as certain corners of the market exhibited stellar performances. From the once feared real estate market to investments in Poland, we outline the top 10 best performing ETFs in 2012 (Year-to-date returns as of 12/20/2012) [see also How To Pick The Right ETF Every Time]: [click to continue…]
For the first time in years, a U.S. ETF was one of the highest yielding of the year, as Dow Jones US Construction Index Fund (ITB) surged ahead of the pack. While home-building in the United States is the first sign of a recovery in the domestic market, elsewhere in the world there were positive [...]
Despite the recent worries about the fiscal cliff and the outcome of the Presidential election, 2012 has been a generally strong year for the U.S. markets. Most broad indexes have surged and produced returns in the double digits over the last year. While many of the best performers–such as technology or biotech stocks–are not that [...]
When it comes to diversifying a portfolio, many investors turn toward emerging market equities for their lucrative potentials. And while BRIC and other popular Asian nations are usually investors’ top picks to achieve this key exposure, investors may benefit from taking a closer look at an often overlooked opportunity: Africa. Though known for its geopolitical [...]
Through the evolution of the global economy and ETF marketspace, investors now have access to funds and companies that they may have never even known about only five years ago. Perhaps one of the largest leaps for international investors is the opening up of frontier and emerging markets, a high risk and reward strategy many [...]
After stretching out the global recovery over the last four years, equity markets finally had a strong start to 2012, but it was short lived. While this summer has been tame in comparison to last year, resurfacing Euro zone worries have made for a tumultuous quarter on Wall Street. There is also the added stress to the markets of the upcoming presidential election and [...]
Issuers big and small continue to fill the development pipeline and with the total product lineup approaching the 1,500 mark, ETF investors are sure to have choices when it comes to shopping around. The ETF Database makes it easy for prospective buyers to slice-and-dice the exchange-traded universe whichever way they want; the ETF Screener allows [...]
The first half of 2012 is now in the books, dropping the curtain on a back-and-forth six months for many investors. Though the sentiment recently has been generally negative, the first half will close with positive year-to-date returns for many broad-based equity and bond ETFs–the result of a furious rally during the first two months [...]
U.S. equity markets held their ground this morning, exhibiting utter disinterest in any sort of Euro Zone drama that continuously tries to take center stage. While seemingly not caring at all about the latest Spanish crisis developments, stocks surged forward, bolstered by an unexpected increase in initial claims for unemployment benefits. Although this data is not necessarily [...]
Throughout the past couple of years, investors have witnessed just how far and how deep the Euro Zone’s debt crisis has spread throughout the global financial market. As looming uncertainty and volatility continues to be a dominating force, many have flocked to their preferred ”safe haven” investments, abandoning some of the more profitable and potentially lucrative corners of the market. [...]
The unfriendly economic landscape from 2011 has been gradually evolving into a much more optimistic environment in the new year as confidence has improved across the board. Better-than-expected corporate earnings, manufacturing output, housing sales, and encouraging employment reports have all paved the way higher for stocks as investors are rejoicing over clear cut signs of [...]
