Investors are looking for a safe place to put their money – an asset class they can “touch” and possibly trade even when no organized marketplace exists. That of course is the worst-case scenario and I do not believe it will get that far but the possibility is there and gold seems to achieve peace of mind for investors at the moment. As such, for me, GLD would be the only stock or ETF I would buy if I could own just one. Words: 862
About 54% of GDXJ’s holdings are considered “small-cap” using the metric of a market cap of $200 million to $1 billion. The ETF balances this with 44% in mid-cap names (stocks with market caps of $1 billion to $5 billion). In addition, GDXJ’s country exposure should give investors some comfort. Nearly two-thirds of the assets are in Canadian companies. Australia and the U.S. also have double-digit allocations. Words: 533
Martin Weiss’ team of international experts – Mike Larson in North America, Claus Vogt in Europe, Tony Sagami on Asia, Rudy Martin on South America – and Ron Rowland, one of the nation’s foremost experts on international exchange-traded funds (ETFs) met recently to discuss and determine what they think is coming next. They came up with eight new forecasts for 2010 — some very negative, some very positive – and put forth specific, actionable recommendations based on their conclusions. Words: 1969
There’s the greatest irony! Gold bugs panicking over GLD’s connection to physical gold instead have flocked to an ETF that in no way, shape or form actually tracks the price of gold. Investors in PHYS are paying serious cash to avoid a better-constructed ETF, simply out of paranoia and fear. Words: 689
Crude oil, natural gas, gasoline — our civilization can’t live without them. So it’s no surprise that energy exchange traded funds (ETFs) are also big business. Today I’m going to give you a brief overview of the ETFs in this sector. As you’ll see, energy is a surprisingly diverse industry. Words: 870
I had previously expressed personal interest in buying into this fund – as a relatively “safe” and diversified investment (within this sector). However, should the fund managers choose to invest heavily into derivative investments, the actual holdings of mining equities could be limited, and thus not offer an amount of diversification to justify experienced investors into putting money in this fund – and certainly the “safety” I had hoped for is also not present. Words: 868
You’ve probably heard about hedge funds, those super-secretive private pools where millionaires stash their money. Yes, sometimes they blow up. But many hedge funds have a long history of good returns in all market conditions. They do this by combining sophisticated trading techniques with long and short positions in various markets. The problem is that the best hedge funds aren’t available to everyday investors in small amounts. Words: 1078
While ETFs offer numerous advantages over traditional actively-managed mutual funds and individual stocks – near total transparency, intraday trading, and a (generally) more straightforward tax situation – they aren’t foolproof, and there are plenty of opportunities to make mistakes while investing in ETFs. Words: 1991
Many ETFs now present unique approaches to stock and bond investing by tweaking popular and widely-followed benchmarks. The very first ETF, the S&P 500 SPDR (SPY), remains by far the largest U.S.-listed ETF, reflecting investor familiarity with the underlying benchmark, but there are now approximately 30 other issuers now competing for a slice of this still-growing pie. Words: 789
Since the economic recovery began, many investors have looked to Asia to drive growth and stimulate global demand. China has grabbed most of the headlines, as tremendous growth in the world’s most populous nation has essentially pulled this emerging market into a tie with Japan as the world’s second-largest economy. While China’s growth has been impressive, however, recent data releases have shown that Asia isn’t a one-trick pony. Words: 781
FACEBOOK
TWITTER