So when a big name provider like Vanguard lowers the expense ratio on popular ETFs (e.g., VWO, VGK, VEU, VT, etc.)… you should definitely take notice. Compare and contrast your total cost of ownership.

In other news, headlines surrounding oil in recent weeks have made Non-OPEC oil-rich nations like Canada more attractive. Jonathan Bernstein echos the sentiment in an ETF Zone feature below.

Vanguard Cuts Prices On VWO, 5 Other ETFs - Olivier Ludwig, Index Universe
Flight To Safety ETPs - Bill Luby, VIX And More
ETFs For Oil-Rich Countries, Performance In Crisis - Jonathan Bernstein, ETF Zone   

Disclosure Statement: ETF Expert is a web log (”blog”) that makes the world of ETFs easier to understand. Gary Gordon, MS, CFP is the president of Pacific Park Financial, Inc., a Registered Investment Adviser with the SEC. Gary Gordon, Pacific Park Financial, Inc, and/or its clients may hold positions in the ETFs, mutual funds, and/or any investment asset mentioned above. The commentary does not constitute individualized investment advice. The opinions offered herein are not personalized recommendations to buy, sell or hold securities. At times, issuers of exchange-traded products and interested financial companies compensate Pacific Park Financial, Inc. or its subsidiaries for advertising at the ETF Expert web site. ETF Expert content is created independently of any advertising relationships. Moreover, ETF Expert employees and Pacific Park Financial, Inc. representatives do not have the capability to substantiate performance or other claims made by advertisers. You may review additional ETF Expert disclosure details here.

Of course, the most talked about 52-week high has been the yellow metal. Its run at $1300 per ounce has energized the legions of “gold bugs,” as the discussion has turned to even “higher highs.”

If capital aprreciation is still in the cards, are there different ways for you to profit? If so, are some Gold ETFs less volatile than others? 

Gold And The Miners - Bill Luby, VIX And More
Bearish Winter For Natural Gas - Lara Crigger, Hard Assets Investor
With iShares In Its Sights, Vanguard Launches More ETFs - Robert Goldsborough, Morningstar

Disclosure Statement: ETF Expert is a web log (”blog”) that makes the world of ETFs easier to understand. Gary Gordon, MS, CFP is the president of Pacific Park Financial, Inc., a Registered Investment Adviser with the SEC. Gary Gordon, Pacific Park Financial, Inc, and/or its clients may hold positions in the ETFs, mutual funds, and/or any investment asset mentioned above. The commentary does not constitute individualized investment advice. The opinions offered herein are not personalized recommendations to buy, sell or hold securities. At times, issuers of exchange-traded products compensate Pacific Park Financial, Inc. or its subsidiaries for advertising at the ETF Expert web site. ETF Expert content is created independently of any advertising relationships. You may review additional ETF Expert disclosure details here.

Does his mean you should buy into the doom-n-gloom forecasted by U.S. Treasury Bond ETFs? Or are there other ways to interpret the recent flight to perceived safe harbors?

Revisiting The Flight To Safety Trade - Bill Luby, VIX And More
When Will Vanguard Top iShares On Assets? - Matt Hougan, Index Universe   
Is Copper A Rational Market? - Julian Murdoch, Hard Assets Investor

Disclosure Statement: ETF Expert is a web log (”blog”) that makes the world of ETFs easier to understand. Gary Gordon, MS, CFP is the president of Pacific Park Financial, Inc., a Registered Investment Adviser with the SEC. The company and/or its clients may hold positions in the ETFs, mutual funds and/or index funds mentioned above. The company receives advertising compensation from Invesco PowerShares Capital Management, LLC and Geary Advisors, LLC. The commentary does not constitute individualized investment advice. The opinions offered herein are not personalized recommendations to buy, sell or hold securities. Investors who are interested in money management services may visit the Pacific Park Financial, Inc. web site.

The globe requires more minerals, materials and natural resources. Brazil is chock-full of them. Moreover, with major events like the World Cup and the Olympics heading to Brazil over the next 4-6 years, could Brazil ETFs continue to score goal after goal? 

What about other BRIC countries? Will a soft landing in China continue to help world markets?

Benchmark Brazil ETF Gets Mid-Cap Rival - Roger Nusbaum, The Street
Vanguard Drops Bomb With S&P 500 ETF Plans - Heather Bell, Index Universe
ETFs For The Gold Bull Market - Ron Rowland, Money And Markets

Disclosure Statement: ETF Expert is a web log (”blog”) that makes the world of ETFs easier to understand. Gary Gordon, MS, CFP is the president of Pacific Park Financial, Inc., a Registered Investment Adviser with the SEC. The company and/or its clients may hold positions in the ETFs, mutual funds and/or index funds mentioned above. The company receives advertising compensation from Invesco PowerShares Capital Management, LLC and Geary Advisors, LLC. The commentary does not constitute individualized investment advice. The opinions offered herein are not personalized recommendations to buy, sell or hold securities. Investors who are interested in money management services may visit the Pacific Park Financial, Inc. web site.

New Aluminum ETFs May Be On The Way - Jim Trippon, China Stock Digest
Volatility Has Vanguard Looking To Calm ETF Clients - Jessica Marquez, Investment News   
Confusing Micro With Macro - Benjamin Shepard, Investing Daily

Disclosure Statement: ETF Expert is a web log (”blog”) that makes the world of ETFs easier to understand. Gary Gordon, MS, CFP is the president of Pacific Park Financial, Inc., a Registered Investment Adviser with the SEC. The company and/or its clients may hold positions in the ETFs, mutual funds and/or index funds mentioned above. The company receives advertising compensation from Invesco PowerShares Capital Management, LLC and Geary Advisors, LLC. The commentary does not constitute individualized investment advice. The opinions offered herein are not personalized recommendations to buy, sell or hold securities. Investors who are interested in money management services may visit the Pacific Park Financial, Inc. web site.

Time and again, however, I discuss an investment methodology that is simple to implement and focuses on what you can control. You can control portfolio costs, portfolio yield and the outcome of every individual decision.

On the latter point, you can make certain that each purchase ultimately results in a big gain, small gain or small loss; taking a small loss ensures that you do not suffer a big loss. Indeed, it is the management of this risk that determines investor success… not a single-minded pursuit of reward.

So why am I suggesting that ETF investors consider selling a hallmark fund like Vanguard Total Market (VTI)? After all, hasn’t it tracked the Wilshire 5000 with remarkable precision? And isn’t it still in an uptrend above its 200-Day moving average? Yes… and yes!

However, taking a profit is never a bad thing… especially when you have these 5 reasons for “carlos-slimming-down” on VTI:

1. 13 for 15? Vanguard Total Market (VTI) has ended exactly flat or gained ground on 13 of the last 15 trading sessions. In part of that stretch, it had been 11 for 11. In more than a decade, you won’t find that many consecutive victories.

2. ”All In?”  I believe that I’ve got this fact correct… but if not, I am sure that a reader will correct me. We’re down to 3.6% in money market funds? When’s the last time that the investing public has had all of their money invested in something?

Granted, a great deal of the money market mutual fund dollars have poured into bonds, without much concern for rising interest rate risks. Nevertheless, the limited money market holdings may also be a sign of “complacency.”

3. Complacency 3.0? The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) hasn’t been this low (17.75) since the last 2 gasps of bull market hope. Specifically, the bear began at the market’s all time top in October 2007 with a VIX at this level. The VIX again touched these lows in May of 2008, as investors erroneously figured that the credit crisis had ended with the Fed-orchestrated buyout of Bear Stearns in March 2008.

 4. Treasury Bond Yields On The Rise. In one of yesterday’s columns, I noted that intermediate and long-term Treasury Bond ETFs had all fallen below 200-Day exponential moving averages. While I believe this is symptomatic of a longer-term trend for U.S. treasury bond depreciation, I’d expect a bit of treasury purchasing at the higher yield levels in the near term. Ergo, stock assets may be sold by some to fund the purchase of treasuries.

5. Better Opportunities in Asia and Latin America. By now, the U.S. stock market out-performance over emerging markets and developed foreign markets in 2010 has been well-documented. I don’t expect it to last.

 If you do decide to sell some VTI, consider the possibilities of Small Cap Brazil (BRF), All Asia excl Japan (AAXJ), Vanguard Emerging Markets (VWO) and Vanguard Total World (VT). Unlike VTI, All of these funds have yet to recover 52-week highs.

You can listen to the ETF Expert Radio Show “LIVE”, via podcast or on your iPod. You can review more ETF Expert features here.

What you rarely heard, however, was a a term to discuss the opposite phenomenon. In other words, when the Dow fell to 6500… when P/Es were in the single digits by March of 2009… why weren’t the same folks talking about a “PROgression” back to the mean?

I am just wondering aloud here.

Still, I present the regression/progression paradox because so few investors have the slightest faith in Europe ETFs today. Here’s an instance when the same thinkers might redeem themselves by discussing the possibility of European Country ETFs and European Region ETFs returning to meaningful short- or long-term averages.

Recently, Bespoke pointed out that a number of regional and country ETFs had reached “oversold” status. The researchers define ”oversold” as a function of trading more than one standard deviation below a 50-day moving average.

As of 2/22, the results had shown that Spain (EWP), France (EWQ), Germany (EWG), Italy (EWI) and the Netherlands (EWN) were all oversold. Moreover, they were the only oversold country ETFs – the same country ETFs that I discussed in my editorial, “Any Hope For Spain, Italy, Or Other European Country ETFs?”

Not surprisingly, with all of the oversold individual country ETFs coming from the battered region, broader European Regional ETFs were the main cluster of oversold foreign funds. In particular, the iShares Europe 350 (IEV), Vanguard Europe (VGK), the DJ Euro Stock 50 (FEZ) and the iShares MSCI European Monetary Union (EZU) collectively dominated the “oversold” spotlight.

I’ve said it before. I do believe that the “euro-dollar” will catch a break shortly; we’ll learn of Greece’s fate such that the uncertainty will subside AND attention will shift back to U.S. monetary/fiscal policy. That should help broad-based European ETFs like Vanguard Europe (VGK).

Nevertheless, I am not a buyer. For one thing, I’m not a die-hard advocate of regression/progression to the mean. Does it happen? Yes… but no one can precisely define when it will occur or on what timeline  (e.g., 50-Day, 200-Day, 1-Year, 10-Year, etc.). Secondly, while I have already made a case for Italy (EWI) over Spain (EWP), and while a potential burst from Vanguard Europe (VGK) is a distinct possibility, I feel better about all-world stock asset exposure in Vanguard Total World (VT).

You can listen to the ETF Expert Radio Show “LIVE”, via podcast or on your iPod. You can review more ETF Expert features here.

On a separate note, Vanguard ETFs earned the gold medal for money inflows in November. Did other ETF providers score big?

Should You Invest In The Building Boom? - Daren Fonda, Smart Money
Whither Commodity Stock Funds? - Brad Zigler, Hard Assets Investor
Is Vanguard Taking Over The ETF Market? - Matt Hougan, Index Universe

Disclosure Statement: ETF Expert is a web log (”blog”) that makes the world of ETFs easier to understand. Gary Gordon, MS, CFP is the president of Pacific Park Financial, Inc., a Registered Investment Adviser with the SEC. The company and/or its clients may hold positions in the ETFs, mutual funds and/or index funds mentioned above. The company does not receive compensation from any of the fund providers covered in this feature. Moreover, the commentary does not constitute individualized investment advice. The opinions offered herein are not personalized recommendations to buy, sell or hold securities. Investors who are interested in money management services may visit the Pacific Park Financial, Inc. web site.

Find out how you may or may not be affected by Vanguard’s recent rate hike announcement. Also, we look at one person’s thoughts on how savvy investment ideas can get creamed if trading trends turn against you. 

Vanguard: Increased Purchase Fees Do Not Apply to ETFs - Paul Justice, Morningstar
Defense And The Dollar: Consumer Staples ETFs – Jonathan Bernstein, ETF Zone
Good Picks Can Be Clobbered By Trading Trends - Kimball Corson, Seeking Alpha

Disclosure Statement: ETF Expert is a web log (”blog”) that makes the world of ETFs easier to understand. The content does not represent investment advice, nor are the securities discussed suitable for every investor. Pacific Park Financial, Inc., a Registered Investment Adviser with the SEC, may hold positions in the ETFs, mutual funds and/or index funds mentioned above. Investors who are interested in money management services may visit the Pacific Park Financial, Inc. web site.

Yep… Vanguard ETFs are rapidly growing. Recent ETF inflow/outflow data for the first 3 quarters show that Vanguard picked up nearly $18 billion in new assets, a startling 23% of its total under the Vanguard wrapper. iShares’ inflows over the same time frame corresponds to 8% of the firm’s total net and State Street has experienced net outflows.

Year-over-year? iShares and State Street SSgA grew 23% and -5% respectively. Vanguard? The low-cost leader packed a 66% wallop!

Truth be known, most of Vanguard’s victory is attributable to a few core funds, like Vanguard Emerging Markets (VWO) and Vanguard Europe Asia Pacific (VEA), Vanguard Total Bond Market (BND) and Vanguard Total Stock Market (VTI). It seems that lower-cost exchange-traded funds providing exposure to identical or highly correlated indexes have found their audience.

Yet cost is only one factor for ETFs. Annual yield, trade-ability and index tracking error can all impact performance. So I thought I’d take a look at these 4 big-time Vanguard holdings since their inception dates, and compare them to the largest iShares rival. Over time, was Vanguard’s cost structure enough to result in better long-term performance?

In truth, I may have expected to see the largest discrepancy in the emerging market arena. Four-and-a-half years may have been enough time to show an impact of cost and tracking error. But alas, in the time period viewed, EEM and VWO came out identical.

Vanguard Europe Asia Pacific (VEA) tracks the exact same index as EFA. In the brief period studied, VEA outperformed. And while Vanguard Total Stock Market (VTI) doesn’t track the same index as the iShares Russell 3000 (IWV), the intent for total stock exposure is the same; VTI provided more bang for the total U.S. buck.

I may be less inclined to give kudos to BND over AGG, however. U.S. Treasuries are far more prevalent in the Vanguard Total Bond make-up. It follows that in the short-time period studied, entirely bear-market data at that, I wouldn’t be too quick to deem iShares Aggregate Bond (AGG) the inferior ETF.

If you’d like to learn more about ETF investing… then tune into “In the Money With Gary Gordon.” You can listen to the show “LIVE”, via podcast or on your iPod.