Archive | August, 2011

August 14, 2011 – ETF Expert Radio Podcast

ETFs For Volatile Markets, Volatility ETFs/ETNs, Dividend ETFs, Inverse ETFs, ETF Protection, “Dip-Buying” ETFs Click here to listen to the show: 8-14-2011 Continue Reading...

Without Bailing Out European Banks, These ETFs May Be Toxic

Beginning with subprime concerns in 2007, the United States had to throw all kinds of spaghetti at the Wall before noodles began to stick. For instance, the Federal Reserve first slashed interest rates. Later, in March of 2008, the Fed and J.P. Morgan orchestrated a buy-out of Bear Stearns. In September, the SEC banned the short-selling of financial [...] Continue Reading...

Should You Be Lining Up For Preferred ETFs?

History may not repeat itself, but the run on European banks is beginning to look strikingly familiar. Remember toxic assets? Remember subprime? Back in 2008-2009, the U.S. stock market didn’t break free of the bear’s grip until “too-big-to-fail” institutions were bailed out by Congress. In fact, the panic didn’t cease until the Fed agreed to purchase [...] Continue Reading...

ETFs For Extreme Swings In The Daily Trading Range

For four consecutive days, the Dow Jones Industrials rose or fell 400 points or more. In fact, that’s never happened before in the history of the U.S. market. Does it matter? (No, seriously. What can one glean from this historical factoid?) Well, we can take note that new records are not all that surprising… not when the trading [...] Continue Reading...

Questioning The Trend Into Short-Term Bond ETFs

One of the eternal axioms in the investment world? The trend is your friend. That said, investors may be making a herd-like mental mistake by jumping into short-term bonds. On one hand, it’s easy to see why the trend towards short-term bonds has been so popular. With deteriorating economic prospects and ongoing debt crises in the developed world, many [...] Continue Reading...

Three Emerging Market ETFs Boldly Rebuff The Bear

Rampant inflation in India, as well as troublesome price increases in China, have caused respective monetary authorities to limit borrowing. Investors rarely celebrate higher interest rates or bank reserve restrictions. Equally disturbing, ultra-slow growth in the developed world hinders emerging economy exporting. Moreover, the sovereign debt uncertainty in Europe, as well as in the United States, presents additional challenges for manufacturers across [...] Continue Reading...

Dividend ETFs For Income Investors… Seriously!

Suddenly, stocks are income investments. “Seriously!” analysts are screaming. Consider the case of the U.S. government’s AA+ debt for a 10-year treasury at 2.13%. Microsoft still has its triple-A (AAA) rating… and it’s yielding 2.6%. Johnson & Johnson has its triple-A rating intact… and it yields 3.7%. Who knows when the volatility will end. But it will. And [...] Continue Reading...

Indiscriminate Selling Stimulates Huge Demand For Yield-Oriented ETFs

Two weeks earlier, the U.S. stock market (S&P 500) sat near 1340. By the close of Monday’s bell, the market finished at 1119… a startling -16.5% breakdown. Perhaps more shocking, however, was the indiscriminate selling of several long-time, non-volatile income producers. For example, in the same period, iShares S&P Preferred (PFF) tumbled -14.1%. Considering the fact that preferred shares [...] Continue Reading...

Protecting Principal With Volatility ETFs, Inverse ETFs And Long-Short ETFs

There are a wide variety of active risk management strategies. None of them are fool-proof. The one that we advocate — stop-limit loss orders — may have adverse tax consequences; the stop may also fail to execute in a rapidly declining market. Options and futures investors cheer the “out-of-the-money” puts. This has the benefit of an insurance policy, though [...] Continue Reading...

Charles Kirk Interviews Gary Gordon At The Kirk Report

Reposted From The Kirk Report: Many of you have asked me to interview experts whose primary focus and knowledge is trading and investing using exchange traded funds or ETFs. It is my pleasure to offer such an interview with Gary Gordon! Mr. Gordon is a Certified Financial Planner and president of Pacific Park Financial. He is an [...] Continue Reading...

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