For many advisors, it’s hardly obvious what the next year holds. Looking beyond the short-term issues of political outcomes, we believe that advisors need to understand the broad themes that may continue to drive returns. In the upcoming webcast, A Better Pie: Asset Allocation for the Next 5 Years, Jim McDonald, Chief Investment Strategist, Northern [...] Read more at ETFtrends.com.
The development of environmental, social and governance based strategies could come against a wall after the U.S. Labor Department plans to make it more difficult for retirement plans to include socially responsible investments. The U.S. Labor Department in June proposed a rule that would make it more difficult for socially responsible funds that select securities [...] Read more at ETFtrends.com.
China country-related exchange traded funds have enjoyed a fast recovery after the coronavirus pandemic disrupted global economies, and the rebound in Chinese markets may still have legs. Over the past three months, the iShares MSCI China ETF (NASDAQ: MCHI), the largest China ETF by assets, increased 8.4% and the Xtrackers Harvest CSI 300 China A-Shares [...] Read more at ETFtrends.com.
Natural gas futures and related exchange traded funds surged Monday on rising liquefied natural gas exports and on supply concerns as another hurricane threatens production off the Gulf of Mexico. The United States Natural Gas Fund (NYSEArca: UNG) increased 6.7% Monday as Nymex natural gas futures advanced 8.8% to $2.65 per million British thermal units. [...] Read more at ETFtrends.com.
September was a rough month for stocks, with indexes and stock ETFs posting losses for the first time since March, after making fresh all-time highs at the beginning of the month. But stocks and index ETFs rallied on Monday as investors developed optimism that lawmakers would compromise over a fresh stimulus deal, encouraged by the [...] Read more at ETFtrends.com.
U.S. markets and stock exchange traded funds rallied Monday on hopes that another round of economic stimulus is coming, despite lingering uncertainty surrounding the health of President Donald Trump. On Monday, the Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ: QQQ) increased 1.6%, SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (NYSEArca: DIA) was up 1.4% and iShares Core S&P 500 [...] Read more at ETFtrends.com.
By Nyle Bayer for Helios Quantitative Research “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” The quote was made famous by Mark Twain and others. However, they incorrectly attributed it to the British prime minister Benjamin Disraeli. Before Disraeli was prime minister, a doctor called M Price read a paper to an 1894 [...] Read more at ETFtrends.com.
The timing couldn’t be more auspicious for the real estate sector. With the market recovering from a catastrophic collapse during the financial crisis over a decade ago, Covid-19 is putting a heavier emphasis on homes as a live-work space with social distancing measures in place. This, in turn, is opening up opportunities for real estate-focused [...] Read more at ETFtrends.com.
A backlog of mergers and acquisitions were put on hold as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Now, however, the floodgates are open and an outpouring of M&A activity is set to hit the capital markets through the rest of 2020. M&A research firm Mergermarket recently released data on the M&A space showing signs of [...] Read more at ETFtrends.com.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s diagnosis of the coronavirus did no favors for oil prices, which have been languishing after they rebounded from April’s dive into negative territory. Additionally, more headwinds are in store for oil, which could continue to put a bearish spin on the commodity. “Oil prices fell 3% on Friday after U.S. President [...] Read more at ETFtrends.com.
Uncertain times in the capital markets call for a dash of portfolio certainty–something that gold can provide. With the strength of the dollar weakening and an economy still trying to pull itself out of the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, gold is a suitable safe haven with ETFs like the iShares Gold Trust (IAU). IAU [...] Read more at ETFtrends.com.
It’s hip to be square, according to the old song. With the ARK Fintech Innovation ETF (NYSEARCA: ARKF), it’s hip to have large allocation to payments processor Square (NYSE: SQ). Square could move into direct deposits is the latest sign of fintech companies, including plenty of ARKF components, moving into areas previously dominated by traditional [...] Read more at ETFtrends.com.
Following a spate of dividend cutting by S&P 500 firms in the first half of 2020, advisors and investors may want to explore the benefits of active management combined with an emphasis on dividend growth. The T. Rowe Price Dividend Growth ETF (TDVG) checks those boxes. TGRW is a new addition to the active non-transparent [...] Read more at ETFtrends.com.
A rub with some model portfolios constructed with exchange traded funds is that these portfolios are limited to a single issuer’s products. That’s not the case with WisdomTree’s Modern Alpha Model Portfolio. Across an extensive lineup of bespoke portfolios, WisdomTree mixes its own products along with ETFs from other issuers. This holds true across domestic [...] Read more at ETFtrends.com.
Being long online retail stocks is a winning strategy this year. In some cases, so is shorting traditional brick-and-mortar retailers. The ProShares Long Online/Short Stores ETF (NYSEArca: CLIX) does both and it’s paying off for investors. CLIX tracks the ProShares Long Online/Short Stores Index, which combines two specialized retail indexes into one. It is 100% [...] Read more at ETFtrends.com.
A swell of encouraging data points bode well for renewable equities and the related exchange traded funds such as the First Trust NASDAQ Clean Edge Green Energy Index Fund (NasdaqGM: QCLN). QCLN seeks investment results that correspond generally to the equity index called the NASDAQ® Clean Edge® Green Energy Index. The index is designed to [...] Read more at ETFtrends.com.