Chairman Bernanke hinted than the U.S. Federal Reserve is still leaning towards additional easing, either through bond purchases or an extension of low rates into 2015. (Tell us something that we didn’t already know.) Yet the Fed does not appear poised to act in September or October. Indeed, with the Fed unlikely to provide clarity until after the presidential election, Stock ETFs may see volatile [...] Continue Reading...
On Friday, August 17, the CBOE S&P 500 Volatility Index (VIX) hit a 3-year low. Apparently, options investors had not been feeling a need to purchase ”puts” to protect against a devastating decline in U.S. stock prices. However, since logging a 3-year low, the VIX has jumped roughly 25% (8/17/12-8/29/12). In the same time frame, the U.S. market has moved sideways (-0.4%). The VIX essentially measures the [...] Continue Reading...
In response to a severe recession and worsening unemployment in 2009, the U.S. Federal Reserve embarked on its controversial program of bond purchases. However, the U.S. Federal Reserve electronically created new money out of thin air to make those bond purchases, weakening the value of the U.S. dollar for years and causing many to question the value of quantitative easing [...] Continue Reading...
The United States of America is frequently credited with being the largest economy in the world. Indeed, the U.S. produces the greatest market value of final goods and services per year. On the other hand, when an economy is not defined by national borders, the European Union can be credited with the largest Gross Domestic Product (GDP). And it is this fact that [...] Continue Reading...
Gold ETFs, IAU & GLD, Bond ETFs, Treasury Bond ETF Concerns, Fed Update Click here to listen to the show: 8-26-2012 Continue Reading...
Roughly one year ago today (9/6/2011), gold hit a spot price high of $1921 an ounce. In mid-May of 2012, the yellow metal reached $1526 —  a bearish drawdown of -20.5%. And yet, the resilient commodity has worked its way back up to $1670 per ounce. Numerous articles lambasted investors who demonstrated interest in owning the precious commodity at [...] Continue Reading...
Over the last 3 months, Vanguard Emerging Markets (VWO) amassed $3.3 billion in new assets under management. Year-to-date, the net new dollars for VWO approximated $9.7 billion. In contrast, the year-to-date net inflow for PowerShares NASDAQ 100 (QQQ) and Vanguard S&P 500 (VOO) was $2.7 billion and $2.5 billion respectively. And Europe? Most of the European proxies experienced little [...] Continue Reading...
Recently, Carl Delfield of Investment U, suggested that investors would reap the financial rewards of owning an equally-weighted portfolio of ”economically-free” countries. The author offered the most popular corresponding Country ETFs as a way to tap the potential of those sovereigns. Philosophically, I might agree with Delfield’s contention that such a portfolio would prove profitable. In fact, [...] Continue Reading...
Emerging Market Dividend ETFs, Infrastructure ETFs, Asian ETFs, Malaysia ETFs, Market Update Click here to listen to the show: 8-19-2012 Continue Reading...
The CBOE S&P 500 VIX Volatility (VIX) is screaming that stock market participants have become too complacent. Specifically, the current price (14.29) is well below 15 — the level at which market-watchers insist that investors are failing to appreciate equity risk. Do stocks have to sell off because of limited daily trading ranges and ultra-low VIX volatility? Only if you have a vested [...] Continue Reading...
