Archive | November, 2010

November 14, 2010 – ETF Expert Radio Podcast

China Rate Hikes And ETFs, US Dollar And ETFs, Quantitative Easing And ETFs, Asia ETFs, Energy ETFs Click here to listen to the show: 11-14-10 Continue Reading...

Are Emerging Country ETFs Offering An Opportunity Or Signaling A Change?

“Change” is a lot like a pass interference call in American football. The penalty can drastically alter the outcome of the game, but it’s only a ”good” call if it helps your team win. In the 2008 election, independent voters decided that Barack Obama represented a change that they could believe in. Like pass interference, however, the changes appeared to penalize the country more than [...] Continue Reading...

Hedging Market Risk Using Volatility ETFs/ETNs

Volatility ETFs/ETNs showed promise in early September, when markets struggled to establish direction. Then the markets rocketed on the drug of Congreessional victories for Republicans and quantitative easing by the Federal Reserve. With stocks demonstrating renewed volatility concerns due to the potential for more China rate hikes, Ireland debt woes and unresolved tax policy, the Volatility ETF/ETN [...] Continue Reading...

Muni ETFs Travel The Same Dismal Path As Long Treasury Bond ETFs

It doesn’t make sense to avoid all bond types… or does it? On 10/13/10, I gave my reasons for why the Fed would primarily purchase debt with a maturity of 5-10 years. In essence, keeping mortgage rates low involves targeting the 10-year note, while keeping big-ticket financing under Saran Wrap involves targeting consumer credit in the 3-6 year time frame. (Review [...] Continue Reading...

What Currency ETFs May Tell You About A Particular Country

Many investments have been held hostage by the U.S. dollar for nearly a decade. Dollar up, market down… dollar down, market up. Yet one can gather more info from currencies beyond the tracking of the U.S. dollar’s correlation to world equities. Consider the Australian dollar. Some argue that positive movement in the Australian dollar reflects large quantities of raw materials being exported by Australia to China. What other [...] Continue Reading...

5 Stock ETFs That Haven’t Been Held Hostage By the Dollar

Many investors take their cue from the direction of the U.S. dollar. When the world’s reserve currency has gained in value, global stock assets have often dropped. When the greenback has lost value relative to a basket of world currencies, world equities have frequently soared. For those that were raised on the notion that a strong currency [...] Continue Reading...

How Prominent Politicians May Affect Your Stock ETFs

Whether you approve or disapprove of the Republican victories in Congress, some believe that certain ETFs may be adversely affected by the outcome. For instance, Sarah Palin recently denounced the QE2 efforts by the FOMC. Is it possible that ETFs that originally benefited from QE2 will start to slide? In contrast, will the Fed’s recent decision continue help equities such [...] Continue Reading...

3 Reasons To Buy Stock ETFs On Smaller Dips

Increasingly, investors have been asking that I put more cash to work. This includes new clients that have been sitting on the sidelines. It also includes current clients that are depositing checks from their banks into their brokerage accounts. Guarded optimism and restrained greed have returned. It’s not the kind of euphoria that… if experience serves… tends [...] Continue Reading...

Why Some “PIIG” ETFs Will Not Fly

The European debt crisis faded from the headlines in the 2nd hald of 2010… until now. Portugal, Italy Ireland, Greece and Spain — fears about these countries miantaining an ability to repay their government-issued obligations have resurfaced. Will dollar-denominated ETFs reverse the recent trend and reclaim some of their allure? If so, would commodities, materials and energy get pushed [...] Continue Reading...

Republican ETFs: Contrary To Popular Opinion

Financial journalists, bloggers and wannabes have chimed in on the stock market implications of the Republican landslide. Unfortunately, many writers offered up ETF picks that arrived a little late to the idea table. For instance, with the Republicans taking over the U.S. House of Representatives, many are now touting oil-related investments. I don’t disagree. After all, the energy sector isn’t threatened by cap-n-trade [...] Continue Reading...

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