In a move that could reignite debate over the impact of exchange-traded products on equity market volatility, NASDAQ announced on Tuesday that it will rebalance the Nasdaq-100 Index that serves as the underlying for the PowerShares QQQ (QQQ) and as the benchmark for various mutual funds. The move will affect dozens of securities, though none moreso than tech giant Apple; AAPL currently accounts for more than 20% of the index, but that weight will be cut to about 12% after the rebalance. “The Special Rebalance reflects our commitment to ensure the NASDAQ-100 Index remains a relevant benchmark for investors around the world who track the performance of the U.S. equity market,” said EVP John Jacobs. “The NASDAQ-100 Index will remain an objective, transparent, rules-based index and will be comprised of the same large-cap growth companies that have a legacy of leadership and innovation.” [click to continue…]
With some 3,700 companies, the NASDAQ has more trading volume than any other stock exchange in the world. The NASDAQ 100 is one of the world’s most widely-followed indexes, measuring the performance of 100 of the largest domestic and international nonfinancial companies listed on the NASDAQ Stock Market. As the ETF industry has boomed, billions [...]
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 [...]
