The Dow Jones Industrial Average is, after an extremely shaky summer period, back in positive territory for the year. Equity markets have gotten off to a strong start this week, opening above last Friday’s close on Monday and pushing higher through Wednesday. As talked about in previous editions of ETF Insider, the S&P 500 has managed to close above our outlined resistance at 1,200 for three consecutive days now, however, the trading volume in SPY has been quite light, leading us to question the recent strength in the market. Stocks have been broadly rising these past few days and gold had been holding its head above $1,800 an ounce and inching higher, another sign that investors are not quite convinced to sell safe haven assets and jump back into the stock market just yet. Economic data releases on the home front have been mixed, including a disappointing Consumer Confidence report coupled with better than expected factory orders in July.
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Equity markets were dangerously volatile last week, extending the ongoing theme of “uncertainty” for yet another week. Domestic equity indexes are largely stuck in “no man’s land”, and until there is some consistent price action above key support levels (above 1,200 for S&P 500), we recommend for most investors to stay on the sidelines. Even [...]
ProShares, the largest issuer of inverse and leveraged ETFs, has plans to give investors more options for betting against fixed income securities. In a recent SEC filing, the Maryland-based company detailed three bond ETFs, including two offering -100% daily exposure to fixed income benchmarks and another offering -200% daily exposure. The proposed ETFs include:
There was a time not that long ago when investors harbored significant concerns over including fixed income ETFs within their portfolio. When the first bond ETFs were introduced many were uncertain that the marriage of fixed income and the exchange-traded structure would be an efficient and productive one. But as these securities have build a [...]
Earlier this year, with the economic recovery showing signs of sustainability and the printing presses in Washington were still red hot from an unprecedented injection of liquidity, many well-known and well-respected investors turned bearish on long term bonds. In a piece titled “Play Bear In The Bond Market” in January, Forbes columnist John Dobosz wrote [...]
By most measures, Charles Schwab’s venture into the ETF space is off to a pretty good start; at the end of March, Schwab’s eight ETFs had aggregate assets of more than $950 million. All of the San Francisco-based firm’s existing ETFs track equity indexes, but that could change in coming months. Schwab recently filed details [...]
Newport Beach, California-based PIMCO, one of the largest bond fund companies in the world, has made two additions to its small but growing line of fixed income exchange-traded funds. The PIMCO 3-7 Year U.S. Treasury Index Fund (FIVZ) completes the lineup of products covering key rate segments of the Treasury market, fitting between PIMCO’s 1-3 [...]
PIMCO, the bond fund giant that has recently made a splash in the ETF industry, is set to expand its line of U.S. Treasury ETFs, planning the introduction of two new funds: the PIMCO 3-7 Year U.S. Treasury Index Fund (FIVZ) and the PIMCO 20+ Year Zero Coupon U.S. Treasury Index Fund (ZROZ). FIVZ will [...]
