There is an erroenous assumption that some investors make about Dividend ETFs. For one thing, many mistakenly believe that a fund needs to be labeled as a dividend exchange-traded product to provide a high level of income. For another, many fail to look overseas. Granted, Vanguard Dividend Growth (VIG) is a fine example of capturing long-term [...] [...more]
Is it a loss of confidence in gold that has caused a 10% sell-off over the previous 5 trading sessions? Have under-performing hedge fund managers been forced to liquidate the SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) — hedge fund managers like John Paulson who own super-sized stakes in the world’s largest gold ETF? Data may suggest otherwise. Futures traders have yet to close out [...] [...more]
Some don’t believe in the curative powers of band-aids with Neosporin. In particular, if Greece is going to default in 2011 or early 2012, some see European ETFs as ripe for short-selling opportunities. Daniel Sckolnik at iStockAnalyst.com suggests that one may benefit from a worsening 16-country crisis via shorting Vanguard European ETF (VGK).  The author also opines that shorting CurrencyShares Euro (FXE) is likely to be beneficial over [...] [...more]
How can you tell when some of the best minds are focused solely on relative strength? They recommend what has been working, or what hasn’t been hurting as badly, over the last 1, 2 and 3 months. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that.) Relative strength is a venerable tool. And when there’s a clear “risk-off” bias in [...] [...more]
As many times as gold vigilantes try to short the yellow metal — as often as gold bugs try to take profits near $1900 oz — new buyers still keep coming back. For example, after a 3%+ smackdown on 9/7/11, the SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) managed to rally back 2% on Thursday, 9/8/11. Yet, even as precious metal funds [...] [...more]
How difficult do the stock bulls have it? The iShares DJ Transports (IYT) hit a new 52-week low, and may be marking a new bear signal for Dow Theory proponents. The financial sector via SPDR KBW Banks (KBE) also reached new 52-week lows. Worse yet, many European benchmarks have plummeted to depths not visited in more than 2 years. The reasons are too plentiful to tally. That [...] [...more]
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 [...] [...more]
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 [...] [...more]
During the health care legislative debate in 2010, Health Care ETFs served as the investments everyone loved to hate. And in 2010, as the overwhelming majority of sector ETFs notched remarkable returns, health care had been stuck in neutral. Until 2011. Suddenly, the most undervalued sector on a historical P/E ratio basis began to ignore Obamacare uncertainty. In fact, [...] [...more]
Currency ETFs, Quantitative Easing And ETFs, Bond ETFs, Emerging Market Bond ETFs, Local Debt ETFs, Materials-Rich Country ETFs Click here to listen to the show: 7-17-2011 [...more]
