Greece’s ongoing budget woes have been one of the major stories of 2010, sending shock waves throughout the euro zone (and global equity markets in general). After months of back-and-forth, some “doomsday” predictions, and even death sentences for the euro zone common currency, recent developments suggest that the risk may finally be abating for the small nation. Greece’s most recent austerity package, valued at more than $6 billion and went into effect last week, is designed to get the budget deficit down to a manageable level as quickly as possible. The package includes cuts to civil servants’ pay, pension freezes, and consumer tax hikes (including a sales tax hike from 19$ to 21% this week. [click to continue…]
The tech-heavy Nasdaq hit its highest close in 18 months on Friday, as stocks were buoyed by a jobs report that kept unemployment flat at 9.6%. Thanks to the jobs report and renewed confidence in an economic recovery, the price of oil soared, finishing near $81.50 a barrel, within striking distance of its 2010 high. Meanwhile, Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao gave a speech to the National People’s Congress in which he detailed Chinese budget plans and a proposal to hike spending by 11% this year, which helped to send most Chinese ETFs higher. [click to continue…]
ProShares, a leading provider of inverse and leveraged ETFs, has filed for approval on seven addition ETFs, including four “ultra” international ETFs and three products focusing on a popular regional bank index. The international ETFs complement four existing 200% inverse products, and include:
Global equity markets received a much-needed bump on Tuesday, as rumors of a backstop to Greece’s financial mess calmed fears and sent stocks sharply higher. Elsewhere, Iran announced that it had begun enriching low-grade uranium for use in a medical research reactor, setting the stage for another round of warnings from the international community.
Following a three day losing streak that saw some benchmarks slide as much as 5%, this week got off to an eventful start on Wall Street. Earnings season continued with Apple reporting higher revenues and profits while disappointing data on existing home sales sparked fresh concerns over the housing market’s recovery. Bernanke’s odds at a [...]
The reasons for the rise of the ETF industry are numerous: intraday liquidity, (potentially) superior tax efficiency, and enhanced transparency relative to traditional actively-managed mutual funds have all contributed to the billions of dollars of inflows that these funds have seen in recent years. But the real attraction for most ETF investors is the reduced [...]
In an unexpected development, the European Central Bank announced Friday that it will tighten the standards under which it accepts asset-backed securities as collateral from banks for refinancing tenders after March 1. While this step seems relatively minor, analysts viewed its as the first step towards unwinding the massive stimulus plans put into effect to [...]
The week on Wall Street came to an end rather quietly despite high profile news from a couple major banks. Some of Goldman Sachs’ largest shareholders have urged the company to shrink its bonus pool and pass along more to investors, while. Morgan Stanley closed the books on its disastrous acquisition of Crescent Real Estate [...]
Thanks to strong economic recoveries in Germany and France, the 16-country euro zone has now officially exited its worst recession in a half century. According to data released on Friday, the euro zone grew by 0.4% in the third quarter, compared with a 0.2% decline in the second quarter. Although the news strengthened hopes of [...]
Asia Pacific ETFs posted big gains on Thursday following the release of updated growth projections from the International Monetary Fund that included upward revisions for the region for both this year and next. The region as a whole – including Japan, Australia, and New Zealand – is expected to grow by 2.8% for 2009 and [...]
The turmoil that has plagued U.S. equity markets over the last two years will no doubt have several lasting effects. Regulation of the financial sector has been permanently changed. The role of the government in the private sector has been escalated to levels never before imagined. And the wisdom of allocating nearly all of one’s [...]
Early Friday morning, eyes around the world will be focused on Copenhagen, Denmark, where the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will announce the host city for the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The announcement ceremony figures to be quite a spectacle, with heads of state from the four finalists expected to make last minute pleas for [...]
