Last year, the U.S. hit the bottom of one of the worst recessions in its history. Though the year started out on a sour note–stocks plunged for the first two months of 2009–markets finally bottomed out in early March, and then began a furious rally that saw many asset classes reclaim some of the ground lost during the 12 months. Markets trended steadily higher for the remainder of the year, and some of the assets hit the hardest on the way down turned in some huge gains on the way back up (through many still finished the year well below their pre-recession highs).
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iShares continued the expansion of its product lineup on Wednesday, debuting the MSCI Russia Capped Index Fund (ERUS) on the NYSE Arca Exchange. The new ETF will track the performance of the MSCI Russia 25/50 Index, a benchmark that currently includes about 28 individual securities. All 25/50 indexes, such as the benchmark to which the [...]
No matter where investors look in the developed world, the picture isn’t pretty. In the U.S. unemployment remains intolerably high, and uncertainty over the latest round of QE will continue to hang over stock markets. In Europe efforts to control surging deficits have been met with protests and public outrage, complicating the process of reeling [...]
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 the ETF world continues to expand, more online brokerage houses are beginning to offer their clients commission-free trading on ETFs as a way to generate interest in these relatively new investment vehicles. Among the first firms to offer this program were Fidelity, which currently offers 26 commission-free iShares ETFs, Charles Schwab (11 ETFs), and [...]
Through the first eight months of 2010, a number of unexpected disasters–both natural and man-made–have taken their toll on equity markets around the world. Chile was battered by a devastating earthquake. The airline industry took a hit from a volcanic eruption in Iceland. And the oil industry has been slammed by the Deepwater Horizon fiasco [...]
As the economies of Western Europe have grown more intertwined over the past few years, Russia has been left on the sidelines. Blocked out of NATO and the EMU even as both organizations creep ever closer to its western boarders, the once mighty superpower was quickly being boxed in and losing influence over former Cold [...]
Earlier this week, communication and IT industry giant Cisco Systems announced a massive push into the Russian market by investing more than $1 billion in the country over the next decade. The company will also be providing $100 million in venture capital in order to establish a “dedicated physical presence” in a planned technology hub [...]
Once upon a time, when Greece was best known as the home to Mount Olympus and birthplace of gyros, debt issued by governments of advanced economies was considered to be “risk-free.” But after years of providing social benefits well beyond their means, a new age of austerity has dawned. Perpetual demand for sovereign debt is [...]
One of the interesting developments to come out of the turmoil in global equity markets over the last two years is the surge in interest in the world’s emerging economies. While developed markets continue to be plagued by mounting debt, rising unemployment, and other macroeconomic issues, emerging markets have raced ahead, establishing themselves as the [...]
By all accounts, the economic recovery that began in March 2009 and continued through the first four months of 2010 seemed to be on relatively solid footing. Earnings season in the U.S. got off to a relatively strong start, unemployment rates seemed poised to pull back, and the reluctant agreement of the (relatively) wealthy European [...]
