ETF Expert

Foreign stocks returned to their winning ways in the first 10 weeks of 2012. By mid-March, however, economic data out of China started to demonstrate sluggishness. A rapid rise in Spanish bond yields began threatening the country’s ability to manage its own finances. And European interbank lending ground to a halt. Nevertheless, as recently as Tuesday (May 1), many commentators [...] Continue Reading...

On Tuesday, 5/1/2012, CNBC trumpeted the Dow’s highest close since December of 2007. On Wednesday, the media giant celebrated the price-weighted index’s ability to shrug off weaker-than-anticipated employment data in the United States. There are reasons to be pleased with the progress of U.S. stocks in 2012. My clients continue to benefit from exposure to risk assets like Vanguard High [...] Continue Reading...

Doug Kass, prominent helmsman at Seabreeze Partners and frequent commentator at CNBC, embraces social media. In fact, Mr. Kass tweets roughly 8-10 times throughout the day. Yesterday (4/30), Mr. Kass tweeted that his largest investment was short bonds, and he listed Inverse Bond ETFs like ProShares UltraShort 20+ Treasury (TBT) and ProShares Short 20+ Treasury (TBF). This morning (5/1), [...] Continue Reading...

High Income ETFs, ETF Uptrends, ETF Downtrends, Treasury Bond ETFs, China ETFs Click here to listen to the show: 4-29-2012 Continue Reading...

The iShares 20+ U.S. Treasury Bond Fund (TLT) has often exhibited wider daily trading swings than the S&P 500 SPDR Trust (SPY). This quirk alone has made it difficult for me to embrace the long end of the treasury bond curve. Instead, I’ve been more apt to stick with intermediate investment grade corporate credit, as well as short-term and long-term high [...] Continue Reading...

You don’t have to agree with every aspect of “Dow Theory” to appreciate one of its most venerable features. In particular, the Dow Jones Transportation Index should lead the way higher for the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Why has this particular axiom maintained a level of popularity for more than a century? In essence, transporters “take” materials to [...] Continue Reading...

Last week, I wrote a piece on ETFs with remarkably positive trends in relative strength. Specifically, I highlighted 3 successful investments that rarely garner media coverage, yet deserved a bit more of the limelight. (See “Three ETFs With Momentum That You Probably Don’t Know Exist.”) I received a great deal of direct feedback on this particular article. [...] Continue Reading...

According to Paul La Monica at CNN Money, the level of insider selling is near the highest that it has been in a decade. Specifically, close to 1800 S&P 500 executives cashed in shares over the most recent 3-month period. Does this mean that the “smart money” is leaving equities? Or do perma-bears love to point [...] Continue Reading...

Last year, world equity markets obsessed over the movement of sovereign debt yields in Portugal and Greece. Here in 2012, Spanish and Italian bond yields have risen enough to scare investors back into the perceived safety of U.S. treasuries. In fact, iShares Barclays 7-10 Year Treasury Bond Fund (IEF) is near 52-week highs. Unfortunately, concerns about the 3rd and 4th [...] Continue Reading...

Most Influential ETFs, Energy ETFs, Materials ETFs, Gold ETFs, Muni Bond ETFs Click here to listen to the show: 4-22-2012 Continue Reading...