by sethd on March 19, 2010
A week highlighted by the relatively uneventful Federal Reserve meeting saw equity markets head generally higher, as investors cheered the prospect of several more months of low interest rates. After months of heated debate, a vote on health care reform looms over the weekend, and health care funds above-average volumes throughout the week. Below, we offer our picks for the week’s most important and interesting ETF stories from around the Web (sign up for our free ETF newsletter to get ETF analysis and commentary delivered to your inbox): [click to continue…]
Earlier this month, InvestmentNews released a list of the ten ETFs financial advisors researched the most in 2009. The list, which was based on information provided by Morningstar, included several traditional inflation hedges, such as the SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) and iShares COMEX Gold Trust (IAU), as well as the broad-based PowerShares DB Commodity Fund (DBC). And in the top spot was the Barclays TIPS Bond Fund (TIP), which invests in inflation-protected securities issued by the U.S. Treasury. [click to continue…]
After enjoying a record year in 2010, many in the ETF industry were disappointed when January figures revealed a material decline in total assets, breaking an impressive string of month-over-month expansion. The latest ETF statistics from the National Stock Exchange are out, and February results were more typical of the industry’s recent growth. Total ETF [...]
ETFs finished February range-bound, as most equity markets remained choppy to finish the week. This came after continued weakness in the euro zone and some disappointing news on the jobs front, with 20,000 additions to the list of people seeking unemployment benefits. In other news, AIG reported a $8.87 billion quarterly loss, raising concerns that [...]
Last Friday, the U.S. Labor Department reported that the consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.2% in January and climbed by 2.6% over the past 12 months. But after stripping out volatile food and energy prices, prices actually fell by 0.1% in January, marking the first time since 1982 that “core CPI” has declined. While the [...]
Last week saw impressive volatility in equity ETFs, as investors focused their attention squarely on the debt crisis of Greece and the reaction of wealthy euro zone neighbors. While Wall Street will continue to monitor any developments in the region going forward, there are a number of major events ahead this week that could have [...]
Investors have historically embraced international diversification in their portfolios as a way to smooth out volatility and reduce overall risk. But the last two years have shown that the benefits of such diversification aren’t what they once were. A meltdown that began in the U.S. mortgage market quickly spread throughout the world, sparking countless complaints [...]
Whenever a company prepares for a public offering, executives have been known to spend an inordinate amount of time choosing the combination of letters that will serve as the company’s ticker and often nickname within the investment community. To many, the fixation on selecting the perfect ticker seems like an irrational obsession on par with [...]
Fidelity Investments announced today that it will offer its retail customers commission-free online trades for a suite of 25 iShares ETFs. The funds included in the commission-free platform include ETFs in all nine domestic equity style/size categories, as well as international equity and fixed income options. “Fidelity has partnered with the leading ETF provider in [...]
In the business of asset management, bond investing may not get much love, but it can be as vital a component of an investor’s portfolio as equities. Fixed income investing isn’t nearly as sexy as stock picking, but as many investors have learned in recent years, a well-rounded bond allocation can significantly reduce the overall [...]
In two weeks, the curtain will close on 2009, bringing to an end a banner year for the ETF industry that saw hundreds of fund launches and tens of billions of dollars in cash inflows. Ongoing product development and innovation continues to expand investor options, bringing almost every corner of the investable asset universe within [...]
It’s been an interesting week in the world of ETFs: major indexes trended higher despite an increase in the trade deficit and a lower number for the Consumer Sentiment Index. Here are the ETF Database staff picks of the week’s most important and interesting stories from around the Web:
