With the finish line in sight, it’s fairly safe to say that 2011 will be remembered by most investors as a wild, back-and-forth year that brought plenty of both hope and despair. A hot start raised optimism of a continued recovery after a generally impressive 2011, but the summer months were anything but relaxing; major indexes suffered some of the worst losses since the recent recession.
In examining the year-to-date performances for the 1,000+ ETPs that have been around since the beginning of the year, there are a number of interesting figures that jump out, including both pleasant surprises and bitter disappointments–and some that are just plain confusing [the complete, sortable, document is available in ETF Edge--sign up for a free 7-day trial to get full access]. [click to continue…]
Earlier today, Eric Dutram, Analyst and Head of Editorial at ETF Database, was on BNN discussing ETFs that have been heavily impacted by the European debt crisis. In the interview, Eric gave his outlook for the European situation as well as some funds to avoid should events deteriorate further in the euro zone. Additionally, Eric [...]
While reports of jobless rates in the U.S. or the pace of inflation in China occasionally pop to the top of the headlines, the last several months have seen the spotlight focused on European markets as the continent continues to battle a debt crisis that has threatened to derail a fragile economic recovery. While the [...]
U.S. equities finished the week pretty much flat as losses in Monday and Tuesday trading were soon erased by solid performances out of the blue chips later in the week to push the S&P 500 back to roughly breakeven for the five day period. International markets didn’t fare much better on the week, and in [...]
Weekly Recap Last week proved to be quite bumpy for investors, as asset classes from stocks to commodities–and everything in between–swayed between gains and losses for the last several trading days on Wall Street. Volatility was abundant across all markets and domestic equity indexes ended the week relatively flat, much like crude oil and silver [...]
The impact of the Middle East protests has reverberated around the world, with a sudden spike in oil prices threatening to pull the globe back into a recession. While crude has soared here in the U.S., events have been even more dramatic in Europe where Brent crude, the benchmark for the EMEA region, has skyrocketed [...]
The first month of 2011 is in the books, and January certainly displayed no shortage of action for investors. Earnings season kicked off to a relatively strong start, though disappointments sprinkled throughout cast some doubt on the strength of an ongoing recovery. Last year was a good one for almost every asset class, with the [...]
China has long been considered the world’s most important economies, thanks to its massive size, tremendous potential, and impressive growth rates over the last two decades. With a population that is rapidly urbanizing, many predict the Chinese economy will be the largest in the world within just a decade, potentially knocking the U.S. from the [...]
In general, 2010 has been a pretty solid year for most portfolios. Despite lingering concerns about unemployment and mounting debt burdens, most global equity markets have moved higher on the year. Commodity markets have been red hot, with prices of many natural resources climbing to new highs thanks to strong demand from emerging markets and [...]
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 [...]
In many instances, ETFs have allowed more active investors to change their strategy for allocating assets and alter the manner in which they seek to generate alpha. Instead of seeking to identify undervalued companies through detailed analysis of financial statements, many now implement a more high level approach that includes identifying sectors, regions, or even [...]
