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 fiscal woes have been felt throughout Europe, the impact has not been felt evenly. Some of the more financially stable markets, such as Germany, have held up quite well; the euro’s weakness has actually given a boost to export-driven markets whose goods have become more attractively priced to foreign buyers. [click to continue…]
Since Woodrow Wilson re-instituted the practice of delivering the State of the Union Address in person in 1913, the annual event has evolved dramatically. The introduction of radio and television brought the presidential speech into millions of households, attracting increased interest and, of course, increased scrutiny. Thanks to the proliferation of 24 hour news networks [...]
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 [...]
Alternative energy has been a hot topic in recent years, as some have argued for aggressive adoption while others deem the policies and practices too expensive and feel that the world should let the market sort through the various ideas until a more cost-efficient way to implement the various clean energy methods presents itself. Earlier [...]
With oil prices held in check below the $80 mark until very recently, sluggish global growth has combined with decreasing alternative energy subsidies from cash-strapped governments to batter the alternative energy ETF market for much of 2010. While some broad based energy ETFs tracking the oil and gas sector have managed to pull themselves back [...]
Through nearly eight months, 2010 has been an extremely rough year for energy ETFs, including both traditional oil and gas-focused funds as well as “greener” alternative energy products. Traditional energy ETFs have plummeted thanks in large part to the fallout from the Gulf oil spill, which has limited demand for many oil service firms and [...]
As the summer months draw to a close, many ETFs find themselves in negative territory on the year; an extension of 2009′s magnificent rally has simply not materialized. Many of the disappointing performances from equity ETFs have been easy enough to explain, as scenarios that have played out countless times before have dragged down stocks. [...]
It has been more than two months since an oil rig exploded and sank in the Gulf of Mexico, setting off one of the worst environmental disasters in U.S. history. The aftermath of the spill has called into question the very survival of British oil giant BP, and dealt a devastating blow to pension funds [...]
When Google announced earlier this month that it was making a nearly $40 million investment in two wind farms owned by NextEra Energy Resources, many investors were left scratching their heads. The Mountain View, California-based company is known for allowing its employees to pursue pet projects on company time, but a not-so-insignificant investment in wind [...]
After news of fraud charges against Goldman Sachs broke last Friday, anxiety built over the weekend and investors watched nervously to see if markets would plummet this week. But markets saw a relatively clam week, with most indexes posting moderate gains despite more trouble in Greece and jumping gas prices. It was another eventful week [...]
Alternative energy remains a fast growing market segment not only in the world of ETFs, but in terms of total investment as well. Since 2005, investment in clean energy increased by 230% to $162 billion in 2009. Echoing similar trends occurring throughout the global economy, emerging markets have stepped up their push to become leaders [...]
