Equity markets started off the week with a lackluster day of trading, as investors remained cautious amid fears of a pullback following the recent rally that helped push major indexes to multi-year highs. Though many believe we are well past due for some sort of a pullback, political uncertainty ahead of President Obama’s State of the Union address tomorrow night has investors hesitant to jump in. In his address, investors will keep a close eye on budget talks and any commentary concerning spending cuts [Be sure to check out the real estate news, trends, tips and tricks over at Dividend.com].
[click to continue…]
The Vanguard MSCI Europe ETF (VGK) tracks the MSCI Europe Index and is one of the most cost effective ways to gain exposure to the leading companies based in Europe. Overall, developed European markets can offer a comparable risk and return profile to U.S. stocks, while still helping investors to geographically diversify their portfolio’s equity […]
To put it mildly, European stocks have had a rough couple of years, as the eurozone sovereign-debt crisis continues to plague the continent. And with many economies in the eurozone continuing to teeter on the edge of default (or forced bailouts), investors around the globe have remained understandably leery of any investments made within the shaky […]
The Euro zone debt crisis has been at the forefront since late 2009 when it became apparent that Greece was struggling to curb its towering deficit. Greece unsuccessfully implemented several austerity meassures aimed at restoring financial stability, ultimately succumbing to a bailout package in early May of 2010. History has repeated itself since then seeing as […]
iShares, the ETF market leader in the U.S. with more than 200 individual funds across virtually every asset class, will notch another first for the industry later this month when it becomes the first ETF provider to list products on the BATS Exchange. January 24 will mark the first day of trading for eight new […]
The year-end periods provides the ETF industry with a couple of opportunities to flex its collective muscle; performance comparisons generally tend to favor those products with lower expense ratios–a defining feature of exchange-traded funds. But early January also puts another benefit of exchange-traded products into focus: enhanced tax efficiency relative to traditional mutual funds. The […]
Late last year, Global X brought to market the FTSE Norway 30 ETF (NORW), the first-ever product to feature targeted exposure to Norway. While the FTSE Nordic 30 ETF (GXF) has been around since late 2009, it only features a 21% exposure to the Norwegian economy, leaving a major exposure gap that was waiting to be filled. […]
Since the downgrade of U.S. credit quality in August, investors have turned their attention to the debt drama taking place overseas. Several Euro zone member nations have fallen victim to mounting government deficits, which has inevitably contributed to investor worries over the health of the financially fragile currency bloc. Economic growth has also been lackluster […]
Stocks plunged on Friday as investors found little reassurance in President Obama’s most recent proposal to Congress to stimulate the U.S. economy. Similar to the approaches used in 2009, President Obama’s new plan is more of the same old, including tax cut proposals, aid to state and local governments, and more infrastructure spending. European debt-woes […]
Domestic equities opened significantly lower on Tuesday as investors came back from the extended Labor Day weekend. Stocks, however, managed to work their way higher during the trading session, extending gains into Wednesday in anticipation of President Obama’s address to Congress on Thursday regarding his plan to stimulate employment over the next year. Overseas in […]
Equity indexes crept up higher since the opening bell at the start of last week, although a grim jobs report on Friday quickly sparked a sell-off, with domestic equities broadly finishing in red territory for the week. The S&P 500 is now back below our outlined support at 1,200 and we advise stepping to the […]
