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ETFdb Category Kings: Best Performers From First Half Of 2011

Michael Johnston — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 14:00:40 +0000

The first half of 2011 is officially in the books, and many investors find their portfolios in approximately the same place as they were to start the year (though a furious rally in the final week of the quarter gave a nice boost at an opportune moment). Most major equity indexes are up slightly on the year, while fixed income benchmarks have similarly hovered around breakeven. Beyond these broad generalizations, there are some significant performance discrepancies among exchange-traded products that may seem to offer up similar risk/return profiles. The following tables highlight the top performers from every ETFdb Category during the first six months of the year, shedding some light on the asset classes that have struggled and thrived so far in 2011–and reinforcing that the seemingly minor distinctions between ETPs can lead to big differences in performance [for monthly updates on the best performers, sign up for the free [...]

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May ETFdb Category Kings: Best Performing ETFs

Michael Johnston — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 13:00:43 +0000

The month of May was a generally disappointing stretch for investors, as both international and domestic equity markets struggled to overcome obstacles new and old. Commodities, which had been a nice source of absolute returns for much of the last year, fell on hard times as well; precious metals went into a brief freefall, and most other natural resources saw price declines as well. May demonstrated the importance of a meaningful allocation to fixed income within any long-term portfolio, as most bond ETFs turned in nice gains during the month. The following tables highlight the best performers from each ETFdb Category during the month of May [ETFdb Pro members can download spreadsheets showing performance and expense data for the entire ETF universe]. Equity ETFs Though most equity ETFs finished May in negative territory, there were a handful of bright spots among the hundreds of ETFs that slice and dice the [...]

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Commodity ETF Ideas: Profiting From Backwardation

Michael Johnston — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 15:00:11 +0000

By now, most investors are well aware of certain nuances of futures-based investment strategies that are capable of having a significant impact on the returns of exchange-traded commodity products. A select few of the 70+ commodity ETPs on the market offer exposure to natural resources by physically buying and holding the commodity; these “physically-backed” commodity ETFs generally focus on assets with high value-to-weight ratios–such as precious metals. But for the vast majority of commodities, exposure through a physically-backed structure simply isn’t possible–there are obvious hurdles to funds that invest in live cattle or barrels of crude oil. Most commodity ETFs implement futures-based strategies, offering exposure to everything from corn to gold to tin by investing in contracts that generally exhibit very high correlations to movements in spot prices. Since the commodity ETF boom began a few years ago, many investors have learned about the potential pitfalls of futures-based strategies–including the [...]

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Are Physically-Backed Metal ETFs A Good Idea?

Eric Dutram — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 11:00:11 +0000

As optimism over a quick return to growth in the U.S. has waned, many investors have begun to turn their attention to rising superpowers in the developing world. This trend, combined with ongoing speculation over further easing measures, have sent the U.S. dollar tumbling in recent sessions, as several rival currencies have touched new record highs against the greenback. The slide in the dollar has helped to fuel impressive rallies in nearly every corner of the commodity market, as precious metals and industrial metals, grains, and softs have all soared higher. Most don’t think of industrial metals as an investable asset, but those who have established exposure have been handsomely rewarded this year. One of the widely used industrial metals, copper, has seen its price soar in recent months up to $3.80/lb.–a level within striking distance of pre-crash prices that briefly climbed above the $4 mark. Meanwhile, less well known [...]

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Five Reasons Why The Lead ETN (LD) Is Sinking Like…Well, Lead

Eric Dutram — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 13:09:41 +0000

Many industrial metals saw prices surge in 2009 as the global economy recovered, the dollar weakened, and inflation concerns were . However, beginning in early 2010, the markets experienced a reversal, as the core CPI fell for the first time in more than 25 years and the dollar gained on global sovereign debt concerns. These factors have caused major weakness in many commodities, especially in base metals ETFs such as PowerShares DB Base Metals Fund (DBB), which is down almost 3.6% this year compared to a gain of nearly 70% over the past 52 weeks. One of the weakest components in the base metal category is lead, which is accessible to investors through iPath Dow Jones-AIG Lead Total Return Sub-Index ETN (LD). The ETN was down 2.8% in trading on Monday and is down more than 11% in 2010, by far the worst performer in the Metals ETFdb Category. While [...]

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Best Performing ETFs Of 2009

Michael Johnston — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 12:00:53 +0000

Following a year that saw some of the worst performances in recent memory, many asset classes have bounced back in 2009. But some have performed better than others, and as the year draws to a close we take a look at some of the best-performing ETFs. The year’s top gainers include a few of the largest and most-heavily traded funds, but the majority of those that made the list are lesser known ETFs likely off the radar of many ETF investors. Each of the 900-plus ETFs currently included in the ETF Screener has been allocated to a single “best fit” ETFdb Category (see a complete list of ETFdb Categories here). While ETFs in the same ETFdb Category generally share similar objectives and risk/return profiles, they aren’t necessarily perfect substitutes for each other. The following list shows the fund from each ETFdb Category with this highest year-to-date return as of December [...]

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ETF Plays For A Falling U.S. Dollar

Michael Johnston — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 08:00:44 +0000

As U.S. equity markets have soared in recent months, the dollar has steadily declined against most of its major rivals, recently falling below the key $1.50 level against the euro for the first time since August of last year. This extended fall has investors wondering if the dollar’s decline reflects temporary volatility, or a long-term trend. Despite the negative connotation, a less valuable currency may not be a negative development for the U.S. economy. But it has nevertheless become a concern for many investors who have begun to seek out ways to hedge against a further decline. Not surprisingly, there are a number of ETFs that offer a way to profit from a falling dollar. Today, we take a look at one of these options: exchange-traded commodity products. To get the rest of the series, be sure to sign up for our free ETF newsletter. Root Of The “Problem” Pinpointing [...]

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Half Year In Review: Six ETF Stories From The First Six Months of ’09

Michael Johnston — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 06:05:58 +0000

With a roller coaster six months behind us that saw no shortage of interesting twists and turns and unsuspected headlines, we’ve finally reached the midway point of 2009. Ahead of us is the highly anticipated “second half of 2009,” which for months we’ve heard will hold returns to growth, a recovering economy, and enough green shoots feed a revolution (possibly the one taking shape in the streets of Iran?). When looking graphically at the market’s performance over the last two quarters, I felt like I was going through a sloppy to-do list. Everything looks like a squiggly checkmark, with a sharp decline in the beginning of the year followed by a longer upslope, bringing us right about back to where we started. But not all ETFs followed this pattern. Here’s a look at six groups of ETFs that distinguished themselves in the first half of 2009: 1. It’s G-O-O-D to be [...]

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Basics of ETN Investing

Michael Johnston — Tue, 19 May 2009 16:00:29 +0000

Perhaps you’ve noticed that many of the investment vehicles in the ETF industry are technically referred to as exchange-traded notes, or ETNs. While ETNs are similar to ETFs in many ways, there are also some key differences that should be considered before investing. More Alike Than Different ETNs share many of the same advantages of ETFs compared to traditional actively-managed mutual funds. ETNs track the performance of an index (or individual asset). They also maintain relatively low expense ratios, may offer some unique tax advantages (more on this below), and feature lower minimum investment levels and greater transparency. So in many important respects, ETNs are similar to their ETF cousins. Underlying Assets Whereas ETFs typically offer investors exposure to various equity markets, many ETNs seek to mimic the return of certain commodity and currency markets (there are, however, several ETNs that offer exposure to various equity markets). The chart below lists several ETNs, along with [...]

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ETF Database » LD

ETFdb Category Kings: Best Performers From First Half Of 2011

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May ETFdb Category Kings: Best Performing ETFs

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ETF Plays For A Falling U.S. Dollar

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