Early Friday morning, 8/21/09, U.S. stocks hit intra-day 10 1/2 month highs. It took little more than a headline… “Existing Home Sales Fastest In 2 Years.” On the one hand, it appears the “quantitative easing” efforts by the Federal Reserve are working swimmingly. The Fed’s buying long-term treasuries. Interest rates on mortgages remain near historic lows. And foreclosure hunters, as well [...] Continue Reading...
Only hindsight will tell us if the bullish rally will last, or if we’ll succumb to bearish pressure. One way to insulate yourself from uncertainty is to generate more in the way of an income stream. Enter dividends. On this Friday, August 21st, 2009, we’re looking at dividend ETFs. We’re also checking in on consumer-based ETFs that may [...] Continue Reading...
Did anybody really see this coming? Not even Meredith Whitney, who famously flipped from bear to bull at the start of earnings season, would have forecasted ongoing interest in the Financial Select SPDR (XLF). Financial stocks have benefited from “short-squeezes” to famous hedge fund buyers (Paulson) to an increasing number of mortgage applications. Still, is there enough [...] Continue Reading...
ETF assets have hit the $1 trillion dollar mark and they continue to climb. Not surprisingly, new providers are entering the arena. What’s more, new concepts are making their way to the forefront. We all know that leveraged ETFs have been one of the more contraversial vehicles as of late. But what about the so-called “Actively Managed ETFs?” Is [...] Continue Reading...
Did you think that the natural gas story was the only problem facing commodity ETFs? Hardly! The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CTFC) recently announced that it will terminate its prior leniency with regard to exceeding federal limits on speculative agricultural positions. Limitations will be installed 10/31/09. If the CTFC is concerned about a crisis in food prices, you better [...] Continue Reading...
With economic optimism on the rise, many investors and economists believe that inflation is the the next calamity facing the U.S. Warren Buffett said as much in yesterday’s op-ed piece. If you are in this camp, you may wish to determine which is a better inflation fighter, gold or oil? Hedgig today could make all the difference down the [...] Continue Reading...
Long-time radio show listeners and web log readers know that I favor Asia in the emerging market space. In fact, my key recommendation to Fox Business News watchers on 7/15/09 was to consider shares of SPDR S&P Emerging Asia Pacific (GMF). The shares had been up as much as 15.6%; however, the sharp 2 days of selling [...] Continue Reading...
Bond investing can be complex with issues like duration and yield-to-call. ETFs can greatly simplify the bond world by offering low costs as well as easy trading flexibility. Today, we’ll take a look at the case for TIPS in the income portion of your portfolio. We’ll also check in on the sectors that you might want to pounce on should a [...] Continue Reading...
Over the last year, the Currency Shares Japanese Yen Trust (FXY) possessed a -.70 correlation with the S&P 500 SPDR Trust (SPY) as well as a -0.65 correlation with the iShares Europe 350 (IEV). Those high, negative relationships strongly suggested that when the Japanese yen had climbed, developed stock markets were sure to give up ground. Two reasons [...] Continue Reading...
Natural Gas ETF Fuels Regulatory Debate (UNG). Click here to listen to the show: 8-19-09 Continue Reading...
