All of this talk about health care reform… and yet, very little talk about health care as a profitable sector for investors. I have discussed the extremely impressive run for biotechnology throughout the bear market, however. (See “Biotech ETFs Lift Portfolios Higher Than Broad-Based Health Care ETFs and/or “Pharma ETFs, Biotech ETFs Are Benefiting From Swine and [...] Continue Reading...
Index weighting may seem like a bland topic. However, when selecting ETFs, the right “weight” may tip the return scales in your favor. Some indexing alternatives include: (1) Dividend-oriented, (2) Earnings-oriented, (3) Market-cap weighting, and (4) Equal weighting. Find out what will work best for you. Financials, Industrials, And Materials At Most Overbought Levels In At Least A Year - Bespoke Third Preferred Stock [...] Continue Reading...
The mainstream media continue to foster a notion that improving economic fundamentals are driving the cyclical bull. If that were the case, treasury bond yields wouldn’t be falling and gold wouldn’t be maintaining at the $1000 per ounce level. If economic fundamentals were as sound as the media would have you believe, insiders at Toll Brothers wouldn’t be selling shares of [...] Continue Reading...
Trade issues have been brewing between China and the U.S. Should investors be thinking about lightening up on stock ETFs that rely on international trade? Also, summertime may be over. Nevertheless, if Solar ETFs are a wave of the future, you may still want to work on your TAN. Solar Is Shining: Time To Get TAN - Garrett Beauvais, Seeking Alpha Trade War To [...] Continue Reading...
In one form or another, I continue to get the question: Do you STILL think emerging markets are safer than the U.S.? Answer… Yes. This is not to say that emerging market ETFs aren’t extensively overbought. They are. And it’s not to say that they won’t get whacked for 15%-20% losses if the U.S. is hit [...] Continue Reading...
Some infrastructure-related ETFs have performed handsomely in 2009. Due in part to the massive stimulus packages delivered by governments around the world, Steel ETFs have been as solid as… well, steel! Yet how sustainable are the gains in the Steel ETFs that hold companies in that industry? On another matter, will Putin help or hurt investors in Russia? Where Steel ETFs Could [...] Continue Reading...
Several days ago, I addressed an unsettling “arrangement” between 3 asset classes… gold, treasuries and U.S. stocks. Uncharacteristically, they’ve been moving in the same general direction since mid-June. Well, the plot is thickening. By way of review, investors began taking significantly more risk in the beginning of March. People wanted stocks and commodities, and they began dumping U.S. treasuries. In June, [...] Continue Reading...
With the U.S. dollar losing value week after week, investing in world currencies has taken on a more prominent portfolio role. The Australian dollar and the Euro have been noticeably stronger. And emerging currencies like the Brazilian real and the Indian rupee continue to impress. How might you benefit from trends in Currency ETFs? Currency ETFs Shine As [...] Continue Reading...
The ETF revolution started with a method to access broad market indexes in the United States like the S&P 500, the Nasdaq 100 and the Dow Jones Industrials. Then size (small, medium, large), style (growth, core, value) and sector investing (e.g., energy, health care, tech, etc.) came to the foreground. It wasn’t long before international markets [...] Continue Reading...
How Summertime Events Are Affecting Stock, Bond and Commodity ETFs. Click here to listen to the show: 9-16-09 Continue Reading...
