Andy H

Andy graduated from the University of Notre Dame.
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During the past two years of operating ETFdb.com, we’ve tried various commenting solutions on our news stories to allow our readers to chime in. To be frank: they all stank. To date, commenting on our Web site was a clunky and underwhelming experience.
Today, I am happy to announce we have integrated a new discussion platform on ETFdb.com: Disqus. What makes Disqus so much better than our past commenting solutions? [click to continue…]
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In recent months a great deal has been written regarding the wildly different recoveries underway in the world’s developed and emerging economies. With the U.S. economy held in check by still mounting job losses and western Europe has facing a potential debt crisis, the world’s developing economies have emerged as the primary drivers of global growth. Much of the attention has focused on the BRIC bloc of countries, but the relative success of emerging and frontier economies goes far beyond Brazil and China. [click to continue…]
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Wednesday saw a significant reduction to the growth seen in the first two days of February, as the health care sector weighed on major benchmarks. Major earnings reports were mixed, with Cisco beating estimates (after the bell) and Pfizer falling short. Fed chairman Ben Bernanke was sworn in to a second term, arguing in support […]
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Thursday marked a second consecutive day of chaos on Wall Street, as an Obama proposal to curtail risks taken by banks weighed on the financial sector. Commodity producers saw shares plummet as well, as concerns that governments are beginning to pull back support plans impacted expectations for global growth. After the bell, Google reported that […]
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It’s no secret that actively managed funds have fallen out of fashion. Many big names have touted the benefits of financial instruments that track an index, and ETFs such as SPY and VTI have enjoyed huge asset inflows as a result. Legendary investor Warren Buffett is even on board, announcing that “a very low-cost index […]
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I read The Reformed Broker‘s recent post, ETF Inflation and Brown’s Law of Wall Street Product Creation, with some interest, as we cover so many new ETF launches here at ETFdb. By the way, although you could call this post a rebuttal to that link, I do have a lot of respect for The Reformed […]
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Over the last several years, ongoing innovation in the ETF industry has led to flurries of new product launches offering exposure to new asset classes and increasingly remote geographic areas. One of the most interesting current areas of new product development focuses on faith-based investing, the concept of considering compliance with religious laws and values […]
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Investors turned towards Washington D.C. on Wednesday, as Congress struck a deal on a health care bill that earned the president’s approval. The agreement marked a big step forward, but battle on health care seems to be far from over, with several lawmakers eagerly awaiting a cost assessment. Elsewhere, concerns over some governments’ finances sent […]
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The beginning of December brought more good news for the ETF industry, as cash continued to flow in and innovative new products continued to gain traction with investors. It was an active week on Wall Street as well, with a pleasant surprise from the jobs front wrapping up a week that saw continued rises in […]
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As the stock market continues to rise, seemingly running ahead of fundamentals, more and more investors are becoming concerned that the stocks are becoming overvalued, and that a downward correction may be just around the corner. While safe haven investments such as the U.S. dollar and gold are popular picks for investors looking to profit […]
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The label “gold bug” may suggest a kooky old man who spends a lot of time in his basement reading conspiracy theory newsletters. The truth, however, is that there are many legitimate reasons to trade in gold and its derivatives. Gold has been proven time and time again to be an excellent “safe haven” investment, […]
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Direct investment in crude oil products used to be limited to major financial institutions and oil companies themselves, but the development of the ETF industry in the U.S. has democratized the investment process in many ways, including making investments in various oil products accessible to average investors. There are a number of exchange-traded products that […]
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