For most of 2010, treasury bond yields have moved lower and lower and lower. That helped contrarians experience unrealized capital appreciation in rising bond prices. Over the last few weeks, however, the tide may have turned. Investors are becoming emboldened by the prospect that a double-dip recession is unlikely… and that the world economy is indeed recovering. In fact, [...] Continue Reading...
Q4 Rally ETFs, Tech ETFs, Yield ETFs, 52-Week High ETFs Click here to listen to the show: 9-12-10 Continue Reading...
Throughout the year, I have pursued higher-yielding income. Energy partnerships, preferred shares, high yield bonds, emerging market bonds — it hasn’t mattered. The corresponding ETFs experienced capital appreciation; meanwhile, the 5%-8% annual yield presented extraordinary value up and above comparable treasuries. With that said, how can I completely knock U.S. treasury bonds? Or for that matter, how can anyone slam [...] Continue Reading...
Latin America continues to shine in 2010. In fact, countries like Chile, Peru and Columbia have been hitting 52-week highs. Yet regional Emerging Market ETFs haven’t necessarily followed suit. Does this suggest that investors have to become more knowledgeable about specific foreign countries? If so, do you know which Latin America Country ETFs have the best prospects going forward? 7 Great [...] Continue Reading...
New 52-week highs often tell us a great deal about the type of ETF assets that the public demands. When a wide variety of stock ETFs make the list, there’s a good chance that investors are embracing risk. When investment-grade bond ETFs steal the show, investors may be avoiding “trouble” altogether. In the current environment, however, it’s not [...] Continue Reading...
Robert Shiller expressed that the outlook for real estate remains ”uncertain.” On the one hand, if jobs become more plentiful, ultra-low interest rates and large percentage price drops from 2006 highs could entice buyers. On the other hand, soon-to-be-released census info may show less demand for new housing. If data on the jobs front pick up, will investors go after battered Homebuilder ETFs? [...] Continue Reading...
InTrade.com currently predicts a 70% chance that Republicans will control the House Of Representatives after the 2010 elections. The site’s prediction market platform has Republican chances of claiming the Senate at approximately 28%. Indeed, many expect big changes after the mid-terms. In fact, there’s a growing sense of giddiness about how high the markets might climb… particularly, if the entire [...] Continue Reading...
Over the last decade, Emerging Market ETFs witnessed massive excess returns over developed market counterparts. So it may not be all that surprising that money continues to flow into the developing world. For instance, in August, $20 billion fled the total assets under management amount for the 1000+ exchange-traded fund universe. Yet Emerging Market ETFs experiences net inflows of nearly $5 billion. So which is the most [...] Continue Reading...
Investors had to be encouraged by the pre-holiday rally in U.S. equities last week. The Dow had moved into positive territory on the year. The S&P 500 had catapulted 5.6% higher off an intra-week low. And the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) had dropped below a 50-day moving average. Taking it one step further, the VIX has hit “lower highs” in [...] Continue Reading...
While worldwide equity markets began 2010 with a bang, European debt woes and U.S. economic stagnation caused the investing public to downshift. Still, a number of emerging countries have been juicing their returns since May; moreover, their year-to-date gains are positively phenomenonal. Malaysia, Thailand and Chile provide 3 good reasons to come out of the bear cave. Are there other surprises in the YTD [...] Continue Reading...
