The financial crash of 2008 has forever changed the way investors approach the market. After seeing bottom-line returns crumble before their eyes, many are now understandably wary of particularly risky asset classes. Portfolio allocation strategies have now become a game of musical chairs, as investors shift their assets to and from various sectors trying to park their capital in the “safest,” yet highest yielding, investments [see also 3 ETFs For Roubini's "Perfect Storm"].
The ETF universe has not been spared by the recent financial crisis, as several products have either lost their footing or have been seemingly kicked to the curb. Not surprisingly, some of the worst performers have been products that employ strategies that target a particular sector or asset class. With such a narrow focus, these funds struggle to deliver steady returns and are often the ones that are most affected by market volatility. Whether you’re looking to completely avoid these strategies or think its time to buy in at the dip, we outline five of the worst ETF strategies of the last five years. [click to continue…]
As the ETF industry has grown by leaps and bounds over the past few years, innovation has been a recurring theme in the space. Although some of the new exchange-traded products now hitting the market offer access to “plain vanilla” asset classes and indexes, the ETF expansion has been fueled primarily by first-to-market products that […]
The ETF industry has grown by leaps and bounds over the last five years and innovation across products has brought forth a multitude of previously inaccessible investment strategies to mainstream investors. Aside from the vast expansion in the exchange-traded product universe, the last five years have been nothing short of a roller coaster ride. Global […]
The growth of the ETP lineup to 1,300 products and beyond has been fueled largely by the development–and success–of funds other than the “plain vanilla” offerings that offer exposure to well known stock and bond indexes. As the ETF industry has grown in size, it has also become more granular in nature; many of the […]
While reports of jobless rates in the U.S. or the pace of inflation in China occasionally pop to the top of the headlines, the last several months have seen the spotlight focused on European markets as the continent continues to battle a debt crisis that has threatened to derail a fragile economic recovery. While the […]
In much the same way that the rise of the Internet has changed the world over the past two decades, nanotechnology may shape the way we live over the next twenty years. Nanotechnology, technically speaking, is the engineering of functional systems at the molecular scale, the study of matter that is roughly 100 nanometers or […]
For investors looking to make a play on the technology sector through ETFs, there are a number of options offering varying degrees of exposure. The PowerShares QQQ Trust (QQQQ) tracks the Nasdaq 100 Index, meaning it is tilted heavily towards the technology sector (about 65% of its holdings), but maintains moderate exposure to health care […]
by Eric Dutram on September 25, 2009 | Updated September 29, 2009
Research in Motion (RIMM), the Canadian maker of the popular Blackberry device, is taking a beating today, with its shares down more than 15% in early trading. The company reported weaker than expected revenue for the quarter ended in August and gave disappointing earnings guidance for the upcoming third. The news sparked a host of […]
