After a rocky start to 2009, global equity markets finally found a bottom, and began an impressive recovery effort that saw many indexes nearly double from their March lows. While not all recoveries were created equal — emerging markets sprinted into the lead early and distanced themselves from the world’s developed economies throughout the year — stock markets in every region of the enjoyed a welcome turnaround in 2009.
Well, almost every region. [click to continue…]
In the beginning of the ETF industry, there was SPY. From there, the initial wave of expansion included primarily “plain vanilla” equity funds offering exposure to widely-followed benchmarks, such as the Dow, Nasdaq, and even sector-specific indexes. But innovation and product development in the ETF world didn’t stop there. The last five years have seen […]
Trade tensions between the U.S. and China continue to mount, with the most recent dispute focusing on the damage done to the domestic steel industry by cheap overseas imports. The U.S. International Trade Commission announced that duties of between 10% and 16% will be imposed on future imports of steel pipes. One day earlier, the […]
Markets continued their post-Christmas coma on Wednesday, as indexes traded within a tight range throughout the day. Strong manufacturing data gave stocks a boost, while an uptick in oil prices eased fears about the energy sector.
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 […]
December has been a quiet month for most equity benchmarks, with the week following Christmas living up to its reputation as one of the slowest of the year. But not all asset classes have gone into early hibernation. One of the most active assets in the final month of the year may also be one […]
After sinking steadily for most of the year, the United States Natural Gas Fund (UNG) has staged a remarkable rally in recent weeks, adding more than 15% in the month of December as inventories finally began to dwindle and optimism of a resurgence in demand in the new year mounted. Exxon’s $31 billion dollar purchase […]
Many investors will be sorry to see 2009 end. Following one of the most disruptive years in recent memory in 2008, almost every asset class participated in a stellar recovery this year. At the depth of the recession, fear trumped reason, and irrational anxieties pushed many assets, including ETFs, well below their intrinsic value. Much […]
The painfully slow post-Christmas week continued at a snail’s pace Tuesday, as most major benchmarks lacked direction and any news to push them higher or lower. The investigation into the alleged airline terror plot continued to develop, and energy stocks took a hit as oil prices sunk lower.
IndexIQ, the Rye Brook, New York-based issuer who burst on to the scene with the launch of the first hedge fund ETFs in 2009, announced this week that it would make zero capital gains distributions for all five of its funds. IndexIQ has found a sizable market for its hedge fund replication ETFs (QAI has […]
As the ETF industry has continued its rapid expansion, there has been much debate surrounding the sustainability of the current growth and the potential saturation of the market. The first ETFs were relatively simple products, offering exposure to the world’s most widely-followed equity benchmarks. But the last ten years have seen hundreds of new ETFs […]
