The competitive landscape of the ETF industry has evolved rapidly over the last several years, with several new players–both big and small–making a push into the space. From financial giants such as RBS and Citi to relative unknowns such as Javelin and Precidian, the roster of active ETF issuers has grown to nearly four dozen. Now, mirroring a trend playing out in the lineup of exchange-traded products, it appears that some contraction is in order. Coming months could see a few ETP issuers wiped off the map, as a series of fund closures and mergers should reduce the number of companies that market exchange-traded products [see also ETF Update: Pipeline Continues To Fill]. [click to continue…]
Although worries over the debt ceiling continue to plague equity markets, some sectors of the financial world have been given a boost by quality earnings reports from a variety of firms. Most recently, investors received good news from casino operator Las Vegas Sands which rose more than 5% in after hours trading, while others focused [...]
Wall Street regained some lost ground last week as investors appeared less fearful to jump back into the equity markets. Corporate earnings were mostly upbeat, although several big financial institutions missed estimates while Apple and Google both blew past analyst predictions. Emerging market equity indexes also ended the week in green territory. Gold took a [...]
UBS rolled out two new ETNs on Thursday, debuting products that offer exposure to Internet-related companies that have recently completed an initial public offering (IPO). The new ETRACS Internet IPO ETN (EIPO) is linked to the UBS Internet IPO Index, a benchmark that consists of companies that maintain operations focused on the Internet that have [...]
The old adage “never judge a book by its cover” has been applied to a wide variety of situations over the years, from encouraging open mindedness in social situations to shopping for a car to, well, judging books by their covers. And it turns out this piece of advice can be quite valuable for investors [...]
Today’s market has been especially rough for consumer product companies such as Johnson & Johnson, Colgate Palmolive, and Procter & Gamble, which have all sunk on weak guidance thanks to disappointing growth in developed markets. While these product makers have tumbled some had hoped that the key retailers would be able to avoid this malaise [...]
In the early days of the ETF industry most of the products were broad-based equity funds that offered exposure to domestic and international stock markets. But as ETFs have gained market share and become more popular with both buy-and-holders and more active traders, products have become increasingly specialized. Since the debut of the sector SPDRs [...]
So much for a nice, quiet Thanksgiving week. Between the back-and-forth negotiations surrounding a bailout of Ireland and yet another escalation of tensions between North and South Korea, recent sessions have featured no shortage of action. Now investors turn their attention to the U.S. consumer, preparing to analyze spending habits during the make-it-or-break-it shopping season.
With yesterday’s bearish report from the Federal Reserve, many investors are growing increasingly wary of a double dip recession. In his report to Congress, Fed Chair Ben Bernanke said that the outlook for the economy is ‘unusually uncertain’ and that this may prompt the board “to take further policy actions as needed.” This report sent [...]
With investors divided over the prospects for equity markets heading into the second half of 2010, another highly anticipated earnings season kicked off last week, with mixed results. After a flat Monday, markets surged higher following a slew of impressive reports, only to retreat after some disappointing numbers from the financial sector and a shockingly [...]
Technology firms, many of which rely on Europe for significant portions of their sales, have seen their share prices sink over the last month as the sovereign debt crisis has called into question growth prospects in the region for the foreseeable future. One hard hit company has been Amazon.com which has seen its shares fall [...]
