by Andy H on April 29, 2009 | Updated May 14, 2009
Brad Zigler is the managing editor of Hard Assets Investor, an educational Web site devoted to commodity education and commentary. Prior to his current role as managing editor of Hard Assets Investor, Mr. Zigler was head of marketing, research and education at Barclays Global Investors’ iShares exchange-traded funds complex and at Pacific Exchange’s (now NYSE Arca) options market. In addition, he has written for Mutual Funds, Financial Planning, Financial Advisor, Futures, Registered Rep., and Ticker magazines as well as TheStreet.com and MarketWatch.com. Mr. Zigler was gracious enough to discuss commodity ETFs, hard asset investing, and more in an exclusive e-mail interview with ETF Database. [click to continue…]
With last week’s announcement that ProShares has requested that the SEC allow it to provide up to 300% leverage and 300% inverse exposure to 37 different indices, it has become apparent that despite a generally risk-averse economic environment, leveraged ETFs are enjoying a tremendous surge in popularity. In November, rival ETF sponsor Direxion made the […]
by Andy H on April 28, 2009 | Updated April 29, 2009
While it’s clear that buy-the-market style investing is here to stay, financial experts and investors themselves haven’t yet decided which is the better tool for buying the market: index funds or ETFs. The truth is, the similarities between them are much more significant than their differences, but their respective subtleties probably mean you’ll favor one […]
by Andy H on April 27, 2009 | Updated November 1, 2012
In the past few years the interest in leveraged ETFs has skyrocketed. With this new level of interest, so too has criticism of these funds increased. The truth is however most financial products, Mr. Madoff aside, aren’t “good” or “bad”–they’re appropriate for some goals, and inappropriate for other goals. Let’s take a look at leveraged […]
Judging by the spike in traffic this Web site received upon publishing an article about the effects of swine flu on the stock market, I figured there’s a lot of interest in the subject. Here are a few additional resources and discussion threads I’ve found on the subject of the swine flu outbreak/epidemic and its […]
by Andy H on April 26, 2009 | Updated May 14, 2009
Obama administration officials have today announced that students at a New York City high school were sickened by the same strain of swine flu that has killed people in Mexico, adding to fears in the U.S. after cases in Texas, California, and Kansas. There are now 20 confirmed cases of the deadly flu in five […]
When it comes to checking a particular ETF’s financials, we all have our favorite web tool (for me, it’s Yahoo! Finance). But sometimes you want something entirely different: you want to hear opinions, rumors or qualitative analysis. You want the ETF watercooler! Here are five useful web tools to get the scuttlebutt on any ETF.
by Andy H on April 23, 2009 | Updated May 14, 2009
Precious metal ETF issuances such as GLD have been warmly welcomed by investors and traders, after some (barely remembered) initial apprehension. And palladium and platinum-backed ETFs are already trading on the London exchange. So why all the controversy over the possibility of a platinum ETF and palladium ETF in the US?
Mark Kennedy has traded ETFs for over 14 years. He was an ETF options trader on the Philadelphia Stock Exchange floor and a Vice President of Derivatives Trading for Goldman Sachs. Now he enjoys writing about ETFs and giving first-hand insight to his readers at About.com’s Exchange Traded Fund Web site. Mr. Kennedy was gracious […]
On paper, the hedge fund industry is one ripe for a challenge from the ETF industry. Hedge funds have high manager risk, and were previously out of reach for many investors due to high minimum investment requirements and exorbitant fees. Enter the hedge fund ETF.
Founded in 2001, Dave Fry’s ETF Digest was among the first Web sites to cover ETFs. Mr. Fry began tracking these securities in 1996, and his trading programs are based on his technical analysis of their intermediate and long-term price movements. He has been featured and quoted in leading financial publications, including Barron’s, Investor’s Business […]