After watching their portfolios take devastating blows in 2008, many investors hoped that a new year would bring a reversal of fortune and a recovery of lost assets. After the first two months of the year tested resolve, things finally took a turn for the better in March, and long climb upwards began. Most equity ETFs experienced solid gains in 2009, adding more than 20% on the year. But as always, some fared better than others, with several funds outpacing broad-based benchmarks by a considerable margin. And then there are the handful of ETFs highlighted below that delivered enormous gains.
These funds have each gained at least 85% this year, putting them in the top two percent of all equity ETFs in our ETF Screener. It should be noted that only funds operating for all of 2009 have been included in this list (although we did bend this rule a bit for one fund with particularly stellar results). For more reports at the year’s best, sign up for our free ETF newsletter, or take a look at the complete rundown of 2009 winners in every asset class. [click to continue…]
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 total ETF assets, there is a lot more to the ETF universe than these mega funds. With nearly 900 exchange-traded products available today, there are several funds flying under the investment radar that present compelling investment cases and have delivered strong historical returns. The following ten ETFs are our picks for funds that haven’t received nearly the attention they deserve from investors (for more actionable ETF plays, sign up for our free ETF newsletter).
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Index compiler MSCI Barra announced earlier this week that Israel will be reclassified from Emerging market status to Developed market status, forcing some of the largest ETFs on the market to do some rebalancing in the coming months. Israel will be removed from the MSCI Emerging Markets Index and the MSCI EMEMEA Index, which includes emerging [...]
