The health care sector has been in the middle of major political and economic debates since the Obama administration began pushing its aggressive health care law last year. Since that time, many haved argue over how to move forward in the space, and over economically viable ways to provide care to the citizens of our nation. With Obama’s recent budget plans for 2012, he will aim to increase spending in the health sector–perhaps boosting the outlooks for some of the firms within it. From an ETF standpoint, health care funds have had a strong 2011, with iShares and State Street‘s largest health care ETFs (IHF and XLV) up 12% and 4%, respectively. Today, an announcement from a major medical firm will come that will put these funds in focus for the day [see also Warning: Obama’s $3.73 Trillion Budget Could Sink These Three ETFs]. [click to continue…]
ETFs were originally embraced by buy-and-hold investors as an optimal, low-cost vehicle for inclusion in a long-term retirement portfolio. But in recent years they have become popular among more active traders who value their liquidity and efficiency in providing exposure to various asset classes. Once used primarily by beta grazers, ETFs have become a favorite [...]
With the end of the first quarter coming to a close, many equity markets continued their slow but steady climb higher last week, with some even touching new 18 month highs. The week ahead will bring a slew of data releases and earnings reports that should test the strength of the current rally. Below, we [...]
The U.S. House of Representatives worked late into the night on Sunday to pass historic health care legislation, capping months of intense debate and dealmaking. Sweeping changes to the nation’s health care system seemed like a done deal earlier this year before a major upset in a special Senate election sent Democrats back to the [...]
After a strong start to last week and a relatively uneventful Fed meeting, markets finished on a slide as investors began to worry that a recent rally was a bit overdone. As central bank meetings around the developing and emerging world continue, there is no shortage of data releases and earnings reports to create another [...]
Barack Obama’s first year in office has, by most accounts, been a mixed bag. The massive $787 billion stimulus plan helped to avoid an even deeper recession, but failed to impact joblessness in any meaningful way. Instead of seeing a downturn in the unemployment rate as promised, Americans have seen the rate grow to double [...]
It’s been an interesting week the world of ETFs: ETFs trended upwards at the beginning of the week but fell back in trading late Thursday and Friday. Here are the ETF Database staff picks of the week’s most important and interesting stories from around the Web:
Healthcare reform has been in the news a lot lately, with constant finger-pointing, debate, and competing versions of comprehensive bills. Although the passage of comprehensive reform appears to be less certain that it was only weeks ago, it remains likely that major changes are coming before the end of the year. While many specifics are [...]
Even the most vocal supporters of passive management and indexing have to admit that certain investor track records are far too stellar to attribute entirely to luck. While I’ve frequently disparaged the concept of active investing, I’m still eager to hear what trends legendary investors are following. The Wall Street Journal’s Gregory Zuckerman recently compiled some [...]
As the ETF industry has exploded on to the scene in recent years, sponsors have aggressively launched funds in an attempt to gain market share. While many of these new ETFs have attracted sufficient investor funds to justify continued operation, some have failed to garner a level of investment necessary to support an active, liquid market [...]
