The dwindling U.S. Dollar, rising oil prices and the increased demand from emerging countries lead some to believe that the energy sector is in the “light sweet” spot. Still, even if the energy bulls are correct, you still have to determine the right ETFs for your portfolio. Here are 3 top-notch ETF features for Friday, 10/23/09: Role Of Exchange Traded Funds [...] Continue Reading...
Culturally, the Japanese place such a strong emphasis on scholastic achievement…failure is simply not an option. So it’s not a big surprise to learn that Japan has the highest suicide rate of any industrialized nation. On the other hand, how does one explain the next country in line… France. Doesn’t France shower its citizens with generous public health care? Don’t employees [...] Continue Reading...
Forecasts are calling for China to grow as much as 9% in 2010. 9%! For investors however, markets don’t move in lockstep with economic well-being. So has the C in BRIC investing run its course? Or are China ETFs just getting warmed up? Forget Active: Savvy Investors Are Going For The Smart ETFs Instead -CityAm Proposed iShares Muni ETFs: Bonds In Disguise? - Index Universe Investing [...] Continue Reading...
I’ve written a number of features on “money flow” in the recent past, incorporating daily data at the Wall Street Journal and/or weekly directionality reported by the research firm EPFR Global. In fact, one month ago, I identified the enormous amount of money that was “flowing” into emerging market equities and emerging market bonds. Four weeks has since elapsed. And, in [...] Continue Reading...
The housing crisis, credit collapse, jobless recovery, deficit and the dollar… just a handful of reasons why investors still doubt U.S. stocks. Add the more promising picture for resource-rich economies and/or developing nations, and it’s not diffcult to understand why the top 10 ETFs in TheStreet.com’s list are made up of foreign ETFs and commodity ETFs. Find out [...] Continue Reading...
Nothing in the world of investing will ever come down to a single statistic. Yet I am intrigued by the idea that U.S. troubles may be, in part, tethered to its permanent status as a net importer. So I decided to peruse the latest Economist for trade balance stats. I decided to separate the 5 largest net importers from [...] Continue Reading...
With the Dow’s 50% plus move higher over 7 1/2 months, many are skeptical. Others feel there’s opportunity abroad. Still others wish to play it safer with Currency ETFs and Bond ETFs. If you find yourself sitting in the ”Bull is Bull” camp, here are several articles that investigate alternative strategies for income. One additional feature believes Utility ETFs have merit. Fixed Income Investing [...] Continue Reading...
The worldwide solution to fight deflation is/was government stimulus spending and coordinated rate decreases. Some world powers spent more than others and some spent less intelligently than others. In addition, different central banks cut rates more drastically than their counterparts. Regardless of political camp or economic orientation, there’s near unanimity that the dramatic efforts by the U.S. government are responsible for significant deterioration in the value [...] Continue Reading...
The argument in favor of emerging market investing is that corporate growth rates abroad far surpass the weaker results in the developed economies. Given the enormous amount of money that has been pouring into emerging market holdings, however, are the good times already “baked into the cake?” Today, we’re checking one technical analyst’s perspectives on emerging markets. Readers may also wish [...] Continue Reading...
It’s one thing to recognize a cyclical bull market’s gains off bear market bottoms. In fact, by using the magical March 9 of ‘09 as an inflection point, we tend to think that little has changed in sector leadership. Across the entire 7 1/2 months, the financial sector has been the risky uber-mover with monstrous volatility. Tech and [...] Continue Reading...
