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Emerging Market ETFs: Seven Factors Every Investor Should Consider

Eric Dutram — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 14:30:53 +0000

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 in government spending through austerity and establishing a platform for sustainable economic growth. And in Japan, the central bank has taken steps to weaken the currency in order to keep the country’s important exporters competitive on the global stage. However, the country’s debt levels now approach 200% of GDP–by far one of the highest levels in the developed world–raising all sorts of red flags around a market that has been stick in economic quicksand for the better part of two decades. While a few advanced markets have managed to avoid this malaise–namely those with significant [...]

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Russia ETF On Fire (And Not In A Good Way)

Eric Dutram — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 16:40:21 +0000

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 in the Gulf of Mexico. Now another unexpected natural disaster is wrecking havoc across large parts of the world’s largest country, Russia. In addition to a record heat wave in the country’s capital and most populous city, much of the country has been experiencing a drought that has ravaged crop yields and forced the nation to cut off wheat exports. Moreover, massive wildfires stretching across much of the western portions of the country are threatening to choke off Moscow from the rest of the world [see Three Unlucky ETFs]. This disaster is one of the [...]

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Currency ETFs: A Better Way To Play The BRIC?

Eric Dutram — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 12:34:32 +0000

When the global economy transitioned into “recovery mode” following the latest recession, the emerging markets of the world jumped into the lead and quickly left their developed counterparts in the dust. Although advanced economies have resumed expansion, growth rates in the U.S. and Western Europe lag far behind the impressive figures being put up by China, Brazil, and countless other emerging economies. Some investors have always embraced emerging markets as an opportunity to access high growth areas of the economy, but in recent years interest has surged to new highs. With significant hurdles to growth in advanced economies–including sky high unemployment and mounting debt– many investors are rethinking the traditional wisdom that has called for them to allocate huge chunks of portfolios to domestic securities. The “home country bias” isn’t dead, but it’s taken some body blows [see this Q&A With Richard Kang for more on this topic]. Most emerging [...]

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Warning: Use Caution When Investing In Currency ETFs Of Commodity Dependent Nations

Eric Dutram — Fri, 21 May 2010 14:28:09 +0000

In recent weeks markets have encountered turmoil with prospects for growth around the world being slashed as debt issues in Europe weigh on investors. As investors continue to flee the euro, many are flocking towards the relative safety of the U.S. dollar, further driving up the greenback and dragging down commodity prices. In addition to basic metals, one of the most heavily impacted commodities has been oil, which has plummeted as of late. Traders have seen the price of crude slump from close to $90/bbl. to now down around $70/bbl.–and some see no end to the slide in sight. While this could translate into good news for consumers at the pump, it has been a negative development for oil production firms as well as currencies that are highly dependent on commodities. Generally speaking, when commodity-intensive economies see rising prices for their main exports, the currencies tend to rise as well. [...]

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Three Currency ETFs Matching The Dollar’s Recent Gains

Eric Dutram — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 17:38:37 +0000

After struggling for much of 2009, the U.S. dollar is back on the upswing thanks not to overwhelming strength in the domestic economy, but sovereign debt issues in Europe and a subsequent “flight to quality” from international investors. Although the mounting debt of the U.S. government presents potential debt problems down the road, the dollar has retained its status as the global reserve currency, despite frequent calls for other currencies to play a more prominent role in global trade. In fact, one of the best performers in the Currency ETFdb Category is PowerShares DB USD Index Bullish Fund (UUP), which is up about 4% for the year after surging in Wednesday trading. The fund tracks the Deutsche Bank Long US Dollar Index (USDX) Futures Index, a benchmark that tracks the dollar’s performance against a basket of developed market currencies including the pound, euro and yen. Several of these currencies have [...]

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Russia ETF In Focus

Michael Johnston — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 17:36:48 +0000

The week between Christmas and the new year is traditionally a quiet one on Wall Street, with volumes plummeting as traders enjoy a long vacation and many large firms shut down altogether. Indeed, the post-Christmas week of 2009 has seen little action, with most major benchmarks lacking direction in light trading. Russia, on the other hand, has been a hotbed of activity, with several major developments unfolding this week that could have a major impact on the country’s financial markets as the calendar turns to 2010. Russia positioned itself to reenter the international capital markets by repaying the last of its Soviet-era debt in an exchange for cash and sovereign Eurobonds. Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin has indicated that Russia could issue at much as $18 billion in Eurobonds in 2010, joining a handful of Latin American emerging markets expected to tap international debt markets next year. At a time when [...]

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Thawing Relations Boost Russia ETFs

Michael Johnston — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 07:32:17 +0000

The Cold War may have ended decades ago, but relations between the U.S. and Russia have never fully recovered. In recent years, tensions between these world powers have been particularly strained, as the countries clashed on issues including democracy, missile defense, NATO expansion, and independence for Kosovo. Concerns of armed conflict and nuclear war are long gone, but mutual distrust and unease between the former Cold War opponents has remained. Relations sank to a post-Cold War low during the Bush administration, but president Obama has made clear his intentions to “reset” relations with Russia. Recent events suggest that tensions may finally be thawing. Obama Scraps Missile Defense System Last week, Obama announced that he was abandoning plans for a missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic. Russia, which perceived the plans as a threat to its security and a major hurdle to an updated Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, welcomed [...]

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Will Putin’s Pledge Boost Russia ETF?

Michael Johnston — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 06:05:55 +0000

Although Dmitry Medvedev was elected as Russia’s president nearly a year and a half ago, many Russians remain convinced that prime minister Vladimir Putin continues to call the shots. The skepticism over the president’s independence runs so deep that Medvedev joked this week that he would undergo blood tests to prove the two men aren’t “of the same blood.” In recent weeks, both have made overtures indicating that Medvedev will continue in charge for the foreseeable future. Last week, Putin ruled out competing with Medvedev for the presidency in 2012 (he will be eligible again under Russia’s constitution), and pledged to work with the president to accomplish an ambitious economic agenda. For his part, Medvedev has not hesitated to criticize the economic policies put in place by his successor. In a bold move last week, Medvedev posted a proposal to make broad changes to Russia online, and yesterday stood by [...]

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China Calls For New Reserve System: Currency ETFs In Focus

Michael Johnston — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 12:49:30 +0000

China’s central bank once again stated the need for reform of the international currency system to reduce over-dependence on current reserve currencies (read: the U.S. dollar). While the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) didn’t specifically mention the dollar in its statement, the desire to replace the greenback as a central component of many countries’ foreign reserves holdings was quite clear. “To avoid the shortcomings of sovereign credit currencies acting as reserve currencies, we need to create an…international reserve currency that can maintain the long-term stability of its value,” the PBOC said. The dollar, which is already facing downward pressures stemming from the general global uncertainty and the record levels of government debt, sunk against its major rivals on news of China’s proposal. Specifically, the PBOC’s plan involves the use of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), a synthetic currency developed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), as a super-sovereign reserve currency. Such a [...]

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ETF Database » XRU

Emerging Market ETFs: Seven Factors Every Investor Should Consider

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Russia ETF On Fire (And Not In A Good Way)

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Currency ETFs: A Better Way To Play The BRIC?

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Warning: Use Caution When Investing In Currency ETFs Of Commodity Dependent Nations

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Three Currency ETFs Matching The Dollar’s Recent Gains

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Russia ETF In Focus

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Thawing Relations Boost Russia ETFs

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Will Putin’s Pledge Boost Russia ETF?

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China Calls For New Reserve System: Currency ETFs In Focus

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