The last few weeks have been a rocky stretch for the financial sector in the U.S., with another massive bankruptcy filing coming as negative sentiment towards big financial institutions is reaching new heights. After a stellar month in October, a wave of risk aversion in November has dealt a blow to the financial sector, with steep losses piling up amidst ongoing Euro zone worries [see Euro Free Europe ETFdb Portfolio].
The largest and most popular ETFs in the Financials ETFdb Category are generally dominated by U.S. banks and financial institutions. But beyond those funds, there are a number of choices for investors looking to tap into the financial sector of international markets, believing this asset class may deliver some degree of insulation from the risk factors impacting U.S. banks in the current environment: [click to continue…]
The first half of 2011 is officially in the books, and many investors find their portfolios in approximately the same place as they were to start the year (though a furious rally in the final week of the quarter gave a nice boost at an opportune moment). Most major equity indexes are up slightly on [...]
As the investment picture has become more clouded over the past few months thanks to mounting obstacles throughout the developed world, many investors have looked to those “experts” with a history of navigating through challenging environments. One increasingly popular economist who has seen his stock soar in the past few years is Nouriel Roubini, a [...]
For much of 2010 the euro zone has taken center stage, giving directions to equity markets around the world as the debt-laden continent did its best to stave off a potentially devastating fiscal crisis. In recent weeks, a number of positive indications have emerged, giving investors hope of a rally not only in Europe but [...]
by Eric Dutram on July 23, 2010 | Updated June 13, 2011
After a rough day in the markets on Wednesday, equities soared on Thursday as investors cheered the results from a host of companies who reported a strong quarter and managed to increase earnings by maximizing top line growth instead of cutting costs. Among the biggest gainers on the day was industrial manufacturer Caterpillar which raised [...]
The first half of 2010 is officially in the books, but few of the questions on investors’ minds at the start of the year have been answered. When 2009 drew to a close, few expected the remarkable rally to continue into the new year. The consensus was that the easy gains had been made since [...]
Financial stocks will be in focus in coming days, as investors digest financial reforms agreed upon by lawmakers in a bill known as the Dodd/Frank Act. These reforms were passed on early Friday in what many are calling the most sweeping regulatory overhaul on the American financial system since the 1933 and 1934 Security Exchange [...]
If you were to ask a group of long-term investors about the preference for the exchange-traded structure over traditional actively-managed mutual funds, the response would be fairly predictable: lower costs mean higher bottom line returns, especially when compounded over a relatively long time horizon. But while ETFs may have been created with the buy-and-holder in [...]
Earlier this week, the European Union announced the formation of a bailout fund for struggling European countries, including Greece. The bailout will be worth 750 billion euros (nearly $1 trillion), including contributions from the IMF, and is meant to stop the international debt crisis that has destroyed investor confidence in European markets. Although the initial [...]
Earlier this week, European leaders announced a nearly $1 trillion rescue plan to potentially bail out highly indebted EU countries. Markets initially cheered the news, with Spanish and Italian markets leading the way; the iShares MSCI Spain Index Fund (EWP) soared higher by more than 14% on the news while the iShares MSCI Italy Index [...]
The global economic recovery that began in March 2009 has, at times, seemed too good to be true. Despite continually-rising unemployment rates, government balance sheets pointing towards insolvency, and a lack of truly convincing earnings reports, equity markets climbed continually higher. After last week, it seems that those fears weren’t baseless after all, as crumbling [...]
