Stocks tacked on gains last week although trading activity on Wall Street was quite muted considering all of the encouraging economic data releases. Indexes ended the week on a high note after a better-than-expected consumer sentiment figure, which bolstered investors’ confidence. The real challenge comes this week however, as investors prepare to digest several key manufacturing reports at home, including GDP on Wednesday.
Investors cheered as European leaders were able to come to a consensus on a Greek debt deal late yesterday to help the severely indebted nation. The terms will total to a 130 billion euro package marking the second relief funding that the country has received in the past two years. Some believe that this may [...]
Stock markets around the globe plunged last week following the Fed’s decision to proceed with “Operation Twist“, which sent waves of fear and panic-selling across every corner of the market. Long-term U.S. Treasury bonds were the only securities that didn’t get slaughtered last week, the S&P 500 shed more than 6% while the MSCI Emerging [...]
With a weak consumer economy and a lack of job creation, concerns are once again beginning to return to the housing industry. For the 10 City Case-Shiller index, prices are down year-over-year in non seasonally adjusted terms for the most recent reading, leading to a dreaded double dip for many markets around the country. However, [...]
IndexIQ, the issuer perhaps best known for its hedge fund replication ETFs, rolled out the latest addition to its growing suite of small cap lineup today: the IQ U.S. Real Estate Small Cap ETF (ROOF). The new product will be the first to offer exposure exclusively to small cap U.S. REITs, seeking to replicate the [...]
Celebrating the one year anniversary of their partnership on a commission-free ETF platform, iShares and Fidelity announced the expansion of a program that allows free trading of certain iShares ETFs. The addition of the five ETFs brings the total number of iShares products that can be traded commission-free in Fidelity accounts from 25 to 30:
AdvisorShares continues to expand its footprint in the active ETF arena, announcing today the launch of the Cambria Global Tactical ETF (GTAA). The new fund comes out of a partnership with Cambria Investment Management, the firm run by Mebane Faber and Eric Richardson. Faber is perhaps best known for his 2007 paper A Quantitative Approach [...]
Despite bullish rhetoric from Washington and some indications of progress–the strength of the recent earnings season was a pleasant surprise–investors remain anxious in the current environment. With equity markets facing tremendous obstacles ahead, including elevated unemployment rates and an uncertain regulatory environment, safe havens have seen no shortage of interest [see Three ETFs To Protect [...]
For someone who played such a major role in the introduction and widespread adoption of ETFs, Vanguard Group founder John Bogle has some surprisingly negative perceptions of these products. Bogle’s beef isn’t with the exchange-traded structure (he’s referred to that as a “truly great business model” that helps investors avoid the “tyranny of compounded costs”), [...]
Historically, no portfolio was complete without a material allocation to real estate. Consistently high real returns and low correlations to stocks and bonds made it easy to overlook the out-of-whack fundamentals that ultimately led to an unprecedented collapse. But when real estate markets got a reality check in late 2008, many investors swore off the [...]
Investors returned from a long holiday weekend with a lot more than leftovers to digest. The crisis in Dubai continued to evolve, with uncertainty over the UAE’s ultimate involvement in Dubai the latest cause for concern. Meanwhile, India surprised investors by reporting GDP growth of nearly 8% for the year, likely setting the stage for [...]
