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 the year, while fixed income benchmarks have similarly hovered around breakeven. Beyond these broad generalizations, there are some significant performance discrepancies among exchange-traded products that may seem to offer up similar risk/return profiles.
The following tables highlight the top performers from every ETFdb Category during the first six months of the year, shedding some light on the asset classes that have struggled and thrived so far in 2011–and reinforcing that the seemingly minor distinctions between ETPs can lead to big differences in performance [for monthly updates on the best performers, sign up for the free ETFdb newsletter]: [click to continue…]
After a sixth consecutive week of losses, investors will be looking for some indication that the steady losses have been a bit of overkill and that a bounce back is warranted in coming sessions. Equity markets have tumbled past key technical and psychological levels in recent weeks, and anxiety is once again running high both [...]
With equity markets surging in July, many investors had hoped that the U.S. was finally pulling itself out of its nearly two year economic malaise. Private job hiring numbers in ADP’s report were solid, and concerns over the European debt situation seemed to be moderating as investors focus their attention elsewhere. Despite these initial positives, [...]
Starbucks’ announcement after the close Tuesday that it walloped the Street’s earnings expectations for its fiscal third quarter (as well as strong fourth quarter and fiscal 2010 earnings guidance) sent its stock higher, as shares of SBUX jumped nearly 10% in after hours trading. But the earnings report isn’t good news for just Starbucks: it might [...]
