Federal Reserve meetings are always among the most anticipated and closely scrutinized events in the investment community, as specific decisions on key interest rates and more general observations on the state of the economy have the power to set off waves of either buying or selling on Wall Street and around the globe. Central bank meetings have lost a bit of their luster in the last year, as ongoing concerns of a double-dip recession and weak fundamentals in the economy have essentially removed any possibility of a rate hike and taken much of the suspense out of the gathering. [click to continue…]
The steady decline of the U.S. dollar has been one of the major stories of the second half of 2009, with a “perfect storm” of economic conditions sending the greenback to new lows against many of its major rivals. While a declining dollar isn’t nearly the problem that some make it out to be – a weak currency actually makes U.S. imports more attractive to foreign consumers – worries about a continued slide have all walks of investors, both hedgers and speculators, looking for efficient ways to achieve short exposure to the dollar. There are a number of ETFs that do just that, with each offering a unique risk and return profile.
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