September was a brutal month for equity markets around the globe, as anxiety over Europe and intensifying concerns about the growth prospects for many emerging markets hammered asset prices. The freefall in stock markets hit the bottom line of the ETF industry as well; despite another month of strong inflows, industry assets fell below the $1 trillion mark for the first time in several months. According to recent data from the National Stock Exchange, ETP assets finished the third quarter at about $973 billion, a decline of about 9% over the previous month. That slide came despite aggregate inflows into exchange-traded products of about $4.6 billion.Year-to-date inflows into ETFs totaled almost $79 billion through the first nine months, slightly ahead of the 2010 pace. [click to continue…]
American equity markets rose broadly in Tuesday trading, as optimism over a resolution to the Greek crisis boosted sentiment across the board. The Dow finished up by 1.2% but lagged the other, broader indexes in the session; the S&P 500 rose by 1.3% while the Nasdaq gained 1.5% on the day. Commodity markets also gained [...]
Sector rotation techniques have been around for decades, a relatively simple strategy often used by investors seeking to capitalize on short-term mispricings in order to generate alpha. In its most basic form, sector rotation involves segmenting the equity universe by industry, and moving into and out of various sectors depending on relative attractiveness from a [...]
Oil has not been the talk of markets since pre-recessionary time when sky high prices, above $140 per barrel to be exact, were acting as an anchor on various aspects of our economy. That period in time saw numerous businesses struggle with soaring crude prices, a good example being U.S. airline Skybus, who was forced [...]
ETF assets climbed to a new all time record in April according to the latest data from the National Stock Exchange, with a total of $1.14 trillion in more than 1,200 products at the end of last month. Total assets grew by more than 5% on the month, thanks to stellar performances from equities and [...]
IndexIQ rolled out the latest ETF offering exposure to oil companies today, debuting the IQ Global Oil Small Cap ETF (IOIL). The new ETF will be the first exchange-traded product to offer exposure to global small cap companies engaged in the oil sector, including areas of exploration and production, refining and marketing, and equipment, services [...]
Tuesday was a pretty rough day for markets all around as weak top line growth from bellwether Alcoa sent stocks and commodities reeling. Both the Dow and the Nasdaq fell by about one percent in the session while the S&P 500 sank by a more modest 0.8%. Commodity markets were especially weak on the day [...]
FocusShares, the company acquired last year by Scottrade, has debuted 15 U.S. equity ETFs that are among the cheapest exchange-traded products available. The new products, which include both market cap-specific and sector-specific funds, are all linked to indexes developed and maintained by Morningstar. The new FocusShares ETFs include:
Despite UN-led strikes in Libya and lingering concerns over Japanese nuclear issues, U.S. equity markets managed to finish the day broadly higher, boosted in large part by a bid from AT&T to buy rival T-Mobile for $39 billion. The Dow surged by 178 points while the broader indexes posted strong gains as well; the S&P [...]
Global X continued an aggressive expansion of its ETF lineup on Tuesday, announcing the launch of two funds offering exposure to companies engaged in the extraction and production of widely-traded commodities. The Pure Gold Miners ETF (GGGG) will seek to replicate the Solactive Global Pure Gold Miners Index, while the Oil Equities ETF (XOIL) is [...]
Last week domestic equities were confined to a volatile trading range. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones both slid lower by over a percentage point each, while the NASDAQ took a much larger hit and lost over two percentage points for the week. Ongoing tension in the Middle East, especially recent protests in Saudi Arabia, [...]
