The first rumblings of protest in Egypt actually hit international newswires on Wednesday, 1/26. However, world markets didn’t seem to care until Friday, 1/28… on the third day of street riots. And even as the crisis seemed to intensify over the weekend , stocks and commodities continued their march higher on Monday, 1/31. For some, then, what [...] Continue Reading...
There are plenty of thinkers, bloggers and writers who believe that $100 per barrel is a ner-term inevitability. With the IMF indicating that 2011 global GDP should chime in at 4.4%, and with OPEC determined to maintain production, the case for $100 for crude is legitimate enough. One writer identifies some of the reasons that speculators also see strength for the commodity. But will that necessarily [...] Continue Reading...
Developed World ETFs, Emerging Market ETFs, China ETFs, Germany ETFs Click here to listen to the show: 01-30-2011 Continue Reading...
Macro-economic, big picture issues have been dominating investment decision-making for years. For example, due in large part to accelerating GDP in the U.S., domestic markets outperformed world equities from November 2009 to April 2010. However, when U.S. GDP began showing signs of deceleration, double-dip recession fears caused a 15%+ correction. Investors chose to ignore the strong revenue growth and remarkable profits of U.S. [...] Continue Reading...
Commodity ETF and Commodity ETNs are exceptionally popular with the public, whether the asset involves copper, gold, oil, gas, wheat or cotton. Adding to the intrigue, and some say… because of Commodity ETFs/ETNs… prices have skyrocketed. On the flip side, central banks in the emerging world may dampen demand with tighter policies aimed at fighting inflation. Others maintain [...] Continue Reading...
Big name strategists like Bob Doll of Blackrock have stated that U.S. equities should outperform emerging market equities. One of the reasons? Accelarating economic expansion here, coupled with stimulative rate policy, may be a ”better backdrop” than decelerating economic activity over there, due to restrictive, inflation-fighting monetary policy. Fair enough. It’s true than emergers like China and India are responsibly tackling inflation today to [...] Continue Reading...
Some Sector ETFs have been consistent performers. Others get super hot at just the right time… if you’re fortunate enough to ride the wave early. Others subscribe to the long-standing idea that you simply can’t beat the market. Not with best-of-breed stocks, and not with sectors or sub-sectors. So why try? On Wednesday, January 26th, one writer revisits [...] Continue Reading...
Last week, the Dow charted 8 straight weeks of gains. It looks poised to make it 9 consecutive victories. In fact, the media seem more inclined to talk about Dow 12000 than the equally conspicuous difficulties for the MSCI Emerging Market Index. At the time of this writing, the emerging market index tracker, Vanguard Emerging Markets [...] Continue Reading...
With many of the largest technology companies serving up spectacular earnings reports, Technology ETFs have had a brisk start to 2011. Factor in the much-anticipated iPhone-on-Verizon news and/or “word” that Intel will buy back $10 billion in stock, and you get the impression that semiconductor-related products and services are just getting warmed up. It’s not just a recent phenomenon either. The iShares Global [...] Continue Reading...
Face it… you’ve probably been waiting for a more siginificant equity pullback. And you’ve been wondering why market participants haven’t taken more profits or waited for larger dips to put new money to work. In some ways, it may or may not be as simple as this: Short-sellers have yet to throw in the towel. It is true that investors [...] Continue Reading...
