According to the ancient Mayan calendar, the world will end in December 2012. If banking analyst Meredith Whitney is right, the beginning of the end might be around the corner. Whitney, who rose to prominence after a pessimistic report on Citigroup issued in late 2007 later proved to be painfully accurate, has been zeroed in on the municipal bond sector for some time now as the next market to enter into a freefall. She first turned heads last year when predicting that between 50 and 100 local governments could default on obligations worth hundreds of billions of dollars–a collapse that would almost certainly be felt throughout global financial markets. [click to continue…]
Stock markets in the U.S. finished the day mixed as a strong performance from the oil sector helped to buoy the broader indexes ahead of the more concentrated DJIA. Still, both the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 finished the day up by less than 10 points each while the Dow slid by just five, in [...]
Wall Street started off the holiday-shortened week on a mixed note as a stronger U.S. dollar weighed on a variety of asset classes. Despite a stronger greenback, both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq managed to post gains of 0.3% while the Dow slid marginally, posting a 0.1% loss. Commodities, an asset class usually crushed [...]
When the Federal Reserve slashed the federal funds target rate to a range of 0.0% to 0.25% in late 2008, most expected that the drastic measure would be temporary, and that interest rates would gradually climb higher. But nearly two years later, the U.S. economy continues to languish as job creation has failed to materialize [...]
After witnessing an impressive run-up through the first three quarters of the year, more and more investors are now expressing concern over a bubble in bond markets. Reaction to the recent announcement of another round of QE has skewed towards the negative, as economists both in the U.S. and around the globe have predicted that [...]
by Eric Dutram on October 22, 2010 | Updated April 20, 2011
As the ETF world continues to grow, the competitive landscape continues to evolve. In recent years, a growing number of firms have attempted to differentiate themselves by offering unique exposure to asset classes and strategies not previously available–such as funds tracking the Philippine stock market or ETNs linked to the price of industrial metals such [...]
As investors have become more comfortable with the idea of achieving fixed income exposure through the exchange-traded structure, bond ETF assets have skyrocketed and the number of funds has increased rapidly. For those in higher tax brackets, municipal bonds have always been a popular option, as the tax-exempt feature of the interest payment boosts the [...]
After lingering in the background of the ETF industry for the last several years, fixed income funds have stepped up in recent months to become one of the primary drivers of growth. Through the first seven months of 2010, cash inflows to ETFs totaled $49 billion. Of this amount, more than $23 billion has been [...]
In the past two weeks, many large U.S. corporations have posted solid earnings which has sparked optimism over an economic recovery. However, recent testimony from Fed Chair Ben Bernanke has weighed on the markets and has kept many investors fearful about the near future. In his testimony, Bernanke called the American economic outlook ‘unusually uncertain’ [...]
The tremendous surge in ETF assets in recent years has been attributable not to equity funds, but rather to products offering exposure to other asset classes. The number of exchange-traded commodity products has surged, enabling investors to establish exposure to everything from copper to sugar through the exchange-traded structure. Another big growth area has focused [...]
Massive budget deficits brought on by years of reckless spending and low taxes have put many cash-strapped nations such as Greece and Spain in impossible positions. These countries now find themselves searching for ways to cut fat from their bloated budgets and get their fiscal houses in order and avoid the financial devastation that comes [...]
