ETF Expert

There have been precious few opportunities to purchase U.S. stock weakness over the last seven months. Specifically, the smallest dips have reversed course quickly, always finding a way to grind higher. On the other hand, some exchange-traded vehicles along the more modest rung of the risk ladder have caught the attention of institutional buyers. Consider SPDR [...] Continue Reading...

Right now, the good folks at Morningstar view Low Volatility ETFs as too expensive. The analysts at the investment evaluation giant believe that investors should focus on mega-cap brand name corporations instead — companies that may have more reasonable prices relative to earnings and/or fair value estimates. Mega-cap ETFs include assets like Guggenheim Russell Top 50 (XLG) [...] Continue Reading...

ETFs for the Current Market;ETF Strategies for the Current Market;Growth & Income ETFs;Market Prognosticators & ETFs;International Markets & ETFs Click here to listen to the show: 5-5-2012 Continue Reading...

Daisy Maxey is a talented financial columnist for WSJ.com. Ms. Maxey also follows me on Twitter. Not surprisingly, then, I may be slightly hesitant to question the timing of her recent feature, “Frontier Market Funds Offer Promise, Risk.” By the percentages, Ms Maxey cites data that is supposed to represent opportunity in the least developed countries [...] Continue Reading...

One of the most prominent names in perma-bear predicting, Nouriel Roubini, just advised that you buy stocks for a period of about 2 years. At that time, the professor expects a global economic depression to rock the world markets. There’s a great deal of irony in hearing “Dr. Doom” discuss riding a stock wave higher through [...] Continue Reading...

On Monday, April 29, the S&P 500 may close at an all-time record peak. Yet very few folks seem to be talking about “selling high, and buying low.” If anything, a number of respectable analysts cheerily predict that any efforts to sell into market strength in May will be met quickly with a steady demand [...] Continue Reading...

Earnings Season & ETFs; Bulls, Bears & ETFs; Central Bank Policy & ETFS; ETF Portfolio for 2013; ETFs for Shorting Europe; Technology Stocks & ETFs Click here to listen to the show: 4-28-2012 Continue Reading...

On a quarterly basis, 61% of companies tend to beat top-line revenue numbers. However, corporations are only beating expectations by a paltry 39% for Q1. The revenue shortfall is not hard to explain. Multinational corporations are struggling to generate sales due to a slowdown in global growth, particularly in Europe and China. The modest achievement in [...] Continue Reading...

Is the American consumer genuinely spending? While the combination of rising home prices and higher 401k values may contribute to a temporary wealth effect, higher payroll taxes may begin to exact a toll. Consider the curious case of SPDR Retail (XRT). Its year-to-date 16.2% haul is better than most large and mid-cap benchmarks. Equally impressive, XRT [...] Continue Reading...

Half of the largest U.S. corporations are missing revenue targets this earnings season. Non-cyclical sectors from health care to consumer staples are beating the pants of economic growth standouts like technology and energy. Trading volume is noticeably larger on down days than on up days. Treasury bonds are notching new 2013 peaks on safe-haven purchasing. [...] Continue Reading...