The past few weeks have been an extremely rough period for financial companies in the U.S. as worries over the economic situation continue to mount. Concerns are building that not only will major financial institutions face another mortgage crisis thanks to an extremely low level of job growth, but also that ghosts from the last crisis may still be haunting some of the nation’s largest banks as well. In fact, federal housing authorities have joined in the wave of lawsuits targeting banking institutions, saying that these companies allegedly misrepresented the value of mortgage-backed securities, further adding to the woes for the sector. ”The financial sector performance has been a real laggard to say the least,” said Brian Gendreau, a market strategist at Financial Network. “These lawsuits certainly do not clear up the uncertainty.” [click to continue…]
This week has continued where last week left off, as selling across the board continues to plague equities. Tech and financials are leading on the downside as new government regulations and fears over a slowdown in the economy are weighing on stocks. Meanwhile, traders are continuing to seek the safety of T-Bills as protection in [...]
Investors poured into U.S. Treasuries last week as far worse than expected economic data from the manufacturing and housing sectors sent waves of anxiety through equity markets both in the U.S. and abroad. Surprisingly enough, amidst all the chaos even gold failed to climb much higher and the precious metal closed just above $1,540 for [...]
For much of 2010, investors around the world have scoured any release of data or news from the Chinese government in an attempts to glean information on Beijing’s plans for implementing monetary tightening. China is expected to account for a significant portion of global GDP growth in 2010, and has become an important trade partner [...]
Emerging markets ETFs represent the crossroads of two of the hottest investment trends of recent years. As the U.S., Japan, and developed European economies struggled to pull out of recessions and avoid a double dip, the world’s emerging economies raced ahead, led by the BRIC bloc of nations. According to the International Monetary Fund, the [...]
After adding more than 100 new funds and taking in nearly $120 billion in cash in 2009, it seemed that the ETF industry would be hard-pressed to match that impressive pace in 2010. But an action-packed January that saw more than a dozen new funds, setting a pace that would shatter last year’s expansion. The [...]
iShares, the San Francisco-based issuer behind nearly 200 ETFs, announced today the launch of five new international sector funds. The five funds, which include four financial ETFs and one materials ETF, expands iShares offerings in the international segment allowing investors to exploit regional differences in sector performance. The new ETFs include the MSCI ACWI ex [...]
