It’s difficult to put a finger on the exact cause of the recent surge in popularity of commodity investing. More than likely, the boom is attributable to a number of different factors. Correlation between international equity markets (and even between stocks and bonds) has surged in recent years, increasing both the importance and difficulty of adding non-correlated assets to investor portfolios. Given the relatively weak correlation with other asset classes, commodities have found a home in many investors’ portfolios. Moreover, unprecedented injections of liquidity into the financial system have created anxiety over a coming uptick in inflation that could erode returns to stocks and fixed income instruments. Commodities have historically served as an effective inflation hedge, and many are once again turning to natural resources to protect assets from a surge in the CPI. [click to continue…]
March 9, 2009 is a date etched into the memories of many investors. After months of unprecedented volatility, depressing statistical releases, and countless false bottoms, that’s the day most equity markets finally hit their lows. It also marked the beginning of an impressive rally that saw most major indexes climb steadily for the remainder of the year, reclaiming big chunks of the ground lost during the downturn. While the “great rally of ‘09″ boosted most asset classes (and their related ETFs), some performed far better than others. [click to continue…]
With interest rates still hovering just above zero and growing concerns over an unavoidable uptick in inflation, many investors are anticipating that the Federal Reserve will have no choice but to raise rates from their historically low levels in the near future. Ben Bernanke, the Chairman of the Fed, recently unveiled a strategy to unwind [...]
After a record-breaking 2009, the ETF industry is off to a fast start in 2010, as the first week of the year has already seen a handful of new fund launches. After a holiday slowdown, trading activity picked up this week as well, and key data releases were carefully analyzed. Below, we offer our picks [...]
Trade tensions between the U.S. and China continue to mount, with the most recent dispute focusing on the damage done to the domestic steel industry by cheap overseas imports. The U.S. International Trade Commission announced that duties of between 10% and 16% will be imposed on future imports of steel pipes. One day earlier, the [...]
After watching their portfolios take devastating blows in 2008, many investors hoped that a new year would bring a reversal of fortune and a recovery of lost assets. After the first two months of the year tested resolve, things finally took a turn for the better in March, and long climb upwards began. Most equity [...]
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 [...]
It’s been an interesting week in the world of ETFs: gold trading was extremely volatile, and world leaders met in Denmark to discuss climate issues. Here are the ETF Database staff picks of the week’s most important and interesting stories from around the Web:
The steel industry has taken a beating over the past two years, as prices and demand have fallen in tandem with the overall market, erasing years of gains in many steel equities. This near collapse was brought on by a perfect storm of events against the steel industry; a severe downturn in the construction industry, [...]
The world’s largest steelmaker by volume posted better-than-expected third quarter net income on Wednesday, even though the results were well below year-ago levels as demand for steel continues to be weak. Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal reported a net profit of $903 million, crushing analyst estimates for a loss of about $50 million. But a significant portion of [...]
IndexIQ, a pioneer in the hedge fund ETF industry, has expanded its product line to include two new ETFs designed to provide protection against inflation: the IQ CPI Inflation Hedged ETF (CPI) and IQ ARB Global Resources ETF (GRES). These ETFs hit the market at a time when investors are becoming increasingly concerned about the [...]
When they were introduced several years ago, exchange-traded commodity products were hailed as a major breakthrough, offering average investors easy, cost efficient exposure to an asset class that had previously been accessible primarily through futures markets and physical storage of natural resources, both of which are beyond the reach of many investors (see our complete [...]
