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Training advanced artificial intelligence models like the one that underpins OpenAI's ChatGPT requires not only immense processing power, but also the right kind of processing power. Graphics processing units from Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) are well suited to the task. Linked together

Investing in the stock market isn't always easy, but with the right investments, it's one of the safest and most effective ways to build long-term wealth.While there's no single right way to invest, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) can be a smart option for many people.

Shares of Intel INTC spiked +6% today following the world’s largest semiconductor company’s stronger-than-expected second-quarter results on Thursday evening.

With a massive 11.3% dividend yield, the Global X NASDAQ 100 Covered Call  ETF ( NASDAQ:QYLD)   immediately catches the eye as a tempting option for dividend investors. Even better, it pays out its dividend on a monthly basis. There is certainly a lot to like about this ETF for income investors. However, before investors get too excited about QYLD, there are a few other factors that they would be wise to consider as well.  What is QYLD’s Strategy? QYLD is an $8.25 billion ETF from Global X that was launched in December 2013. According to Global X, QYLD “follows a ‘covered call’ or ‘buy-write’ strategy, in which the Fund buys the stocks in the Nasdaq 100 Index and 'writes' or 'sells' corresponding call options on the same index." In other words, QYLD owns the mega-cap and large-cap growth stocks that populate the Nasdaq 100 ( NDX ), and it generates income for investors and achieves its outsized dividend yield by selling covered calls against these holdings.  QYLD's Holdings QYLD’s underlying index is the Nasdaq 100, so the fund is made up of many of the mega-cap tech stocks and large-cap growth stocks that investors know and love. The fund is fairly diversified, holding 102 stocks. Its top 10 holdings account for just under half of its assets. See below for an overview of QYLD’s top holdings from TipRanks’ holdings screen.  As you can see above, QYLD’s top holdings skew heavily towards the "magnificent seven" stocks that have led the market higher in 2023 -- Apple ( NASDAQ:AAPL ), Microsoft ( NASDAQ:MSFT ), Amazon ( NASDAQ:AMZN ), Nvidia ( NASDAQ:NVDA ), Meta Platforms ( NASDAQ:META ), Tesla ( NASDAQ:TSLA ), and Alphabet ( NASDAQ:GOOG ) ( NASDAQ:GOOGL ). It’s hard to argue with this portfolio of blue-chip tech and growth stocks, and TipRanks’ Smart Score system agrees, assigning eight of QYLD’s top 10 holdings outperform-equivalent Smart Scores. The Smart Score is a proprietary quantitative stock scoring system created by TipRanks. It gives stocks a score from 1 to 10 based on eight market key factors. A score of 8 or above is equivalent to an Outperform rating. QYLD features an Outperform-equivalent ETF Smart Score of 8. Is QYLD Stock a Buy, According to Analysts? Turning to Wall Street, QYLD has a Moderate Buy consensus rating, as 67.71% of analyst ratings are Buys, 28.58% are Holds, and 3.70% are Sells. At $19.73, the average QYLD stock price target implies 9.4% upside potential. QYLD's Long-Term Performance To see how QYLD has performed over time, we can look at it over the years from a total-return perspective, which captures both price appreciation and returns from dividends. As of the end of the most recent quarter in June, QYLD has a one-year total return of 14.6%. Meanwhile, it has a three-year annualized return of 6.9% and a five-year annualized return of 5.7%. Keep in mind that these returns include what investors gain from the large dividend payouts, so they suddenly look a lot less exciting. Since its inception at the end of 2013, QYLD has returned a slightly better 7.2% on an annualized basis.  While these returns are positive, they are somewhat lackluster, especially when compared to just investing in the Nasdaq 100, which the fund uses as its underlying index. Investors can do just that with an ETF like the Invesco QQQ Trust ( NASDAQ:QQQ) , which invests in the plain vanilla Nasdaq 100 without a complex strategy of selling covered calls like QYLD. Over the past year, QQQ has had a one-year return of 32.8%, more than double that of QYLD. QQQ’s three-year annualized return is also far superior to that of QYLD at 15%. On a five-year basis, QQQ again easily surpasses the total return of QYLD with a far better 17.9% annualized return, more than tripling QYLD’s return. Finally, over a 10-year timeframe, QQQ investors have made a stellar 18.9% on an annualized basis.  So, while QYLD looks tempting with its 11.3% dividend yield, investors would have been far better off simply investing in QQQ over the years, which has vastly outperformed QYLD, even when this yield is taken into account. The dividend yield is nice to have, but QQQ investors have grown their wealth to a far higher level than QYLD investors. Because QYLD sells covered calls against its positions (a strategy that caps upside while slightly reducing downside), it leaves upside on the table as these holdings get called away if the covered call gets hit. You can see it playing out in real time this year, as the Nasdaq has surged, which is why QQQ has more than doubled QYLD’s year-to-date total return.      Fees & Expenses There’s also the matter of fees -- with an expense ratio of 0.60%, QYLD investors are paying a fairly high $60 on a $10,000 investment. This is higher than QQQ, where investors pay a lower 0.20%, which comes out to $20 on a $10,000 investment. This disparity becomes more pronounced over time -- if the fees remain consistent over time and both funds return 5% per year, after a decade, the QYLD investor would pay $750 in fees, while the QQQ investor would only pay $255 over the same time frame.  Below, you can take a look at a comparison of QYLD and QQQ created with TipRanks' customizable ETF Comparison tool, which allows investors to compare up to 20 ETFs at a time across a variety of inputs. The Takeaway The idea of being able to combine these blue-chip tech stocks with an 11.3% dividend yield certainly has its appeal. Receiving dividend payments on a monthly basis is also appealing, and QYLD deserves credit for its rock-solid track record of paying out a monthly dividend every month for nine years and counting, so I can certainly understand why some investors like QYLD.  However, as the comparison to QQQ shows, QYLD’s strategy can leave a lot of upside on the table, and investors historically would have been far better off investing in a simple Nasdaq 100 fund like QQQ. QQQ is clearly the superior investment choice in this comparison, and it's the ETF I would choose to invest in. Nonetheless, if an investor understands QQQ's superior value proposition and still wants the monthly income that QYLD offers, they could consider initiating a position in QQQ and a smaller position in QYLD in order to get the monthly dividend payments. Disclosure

A resilient U.S. economy and expectations of a nearing peak in the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy tightening cycle are emboldening stock investors, even as worries persist over rising valuations and the potential for inflation to rebound.

After a rocky 2022, the crypto market bounced back in a big way in 2023. Bitcoin ( BTC-USD ), by far the largest digital asset by market cap, is up 75% year-to-date, while Ethereum ( ETH-USD ), the second-largest, is up more than 50% over the same time frame. The crypto-focused VanEck Digital Transformation ETF ( NASDAQ:DAPP) has taken advantage of this resurgent crypto interest to gain nearly 200% year-to-date. While DAPP’s 2023 performance has been stellar, there are several pros and cons that investors should be aware of before making an investment decision on DAPP.   What Does the DAPP ETF Do? DAPP is a crypto-focused ETF from ETF and mutual fund provider VanEck. It seeks to track the results of its underlying index, the MVIS Global Digital Assets Equity Index, which intends to “track the performance of companies that are participating in the digital assets economies," according to VanEck. Its ticker alludes to decentralized applications or "dApps," the user-facing smart contracts that exist on blockchains like Ethereum.   DAPP launched in April of 2021, and it is still relatively small in the bigger investing picture, with about $64 million in assets under management (AUM).  DAPP's Holdings DAPP features a fairly limited scope of holdings. It holds just 20 stocks, and its top 10 holdings make up 63.1% of the fund's assets. Below, you’ll find an overview of DAPP’s top holdings using TipRanks’ holdings tool. Aside from holding just 20 stocks, DAPP also lacks diversification in that outside of top holding Coinbase Global ( NASDAQ:COIN ) and top 10 positions in MicroStrategy ( NASDAQ:MSTR ) and Block ( NYSE:SQ ), the fund is pretty much dominated by Bitcoin miners and companies that make Bitcoin mining equipment. This includes companies like Terawulf ( NASDAQ:WULF ), Riot Platforms ( NASDAQ:RIOT ), Marathon Digital ( NASDAQ:MARA ), and Canaan ( NASDAQ:CAN ). This isn’t a bad thing in and of itself, but for an ETF touting the digital transformation of the economy, it seems like a missed opportunity to invest in some of the many other interesting names that are involved in different aspects of the crypto industry. Plus, owning a dozen different miners doesn't do much for DAPP's diversification, as these stocks all more or less move based on the ups and downs of the price of Bitcoin. Stocks that would have been interesting to include in a digital transformation ETF are semiconductor companies like Nvidia ( NASDAQ:NVDA ) and Advanced Micro Devices ( NASDAQ:AMD ) that provide the graphics processing units (GPUs) used by Bitcoin miners. Other interesting stocks would be dominant payment networks like Visa ( NYSE:V ) and Mastercard ( NYSE:MA ), which have invested time and resources in the crypto space and are adopting blockchain technology.  How about CME Group ( NASDAQ:CME ), the parent company of the CME exchange, which, in addition to commodities in the energy and agricultural markets, provides futures and options trading for Bitcoin and Ethereum? Shopify ( NYSE:SHOP ) would have been a solid inclusion as well, as the e-commerce leader has forayed into crypto in a variety of ways and is making it a bigger part of its strategy. Or, if the fund wanted to get even more creative and approach it from a different angle, it could even include something like Starbucks ( NASDAQ:SBUX ), which has incorporated NFTs into its popular loyalty program (with promising results). As is, DAPP's holdings are a mixed bag when it comes to their Smart Scores, as six of its top 10 positions feature a Smart Score of 8 or higher, while the rest feature neutral scores. The  Smart Score is a proprietary quantitative stock scoring system created by TipRanks. It gives stocks a score from 1 to 10 based on eight market key factors. A score of 8 or above is equivalent to an Outperform rating. DAPP itself has a neutral ETF Smart Score of 7. Is Its Expense Ratio High? DAPP’s expense ratio of 0.50% is somewhat middle-of-the-road. On the one hand, it is considerably higher than most ETFs that I would typically consider investing in. On the other hand, it should be noted that it isn’t as expensive as many of the other ETFs in the crypto space, where jarringly-high fees seem to be par for the course. DAPP’s expense ratio is equal to that of the Global X Blockchain ETF ( NASDAQ:BKCH) , but it is considerably lower than that of the Bitwise Crypto Industry Innovators ETF ( NYSEARCA:BITQ) , which has a sky-high expense ratio of 0.85%, and the Amplify Transformational Data Sharing ETF ( NYSEARCA:BLOK) , which also has a much higher expense ratio of 0.75%.  DAPP’s expense ratio of 0.50% means that an investor allocating $10,000 into DAPP will pay $50 in fees over the course of the year. Assuming the expense ratio remains consistent over time and that the ETF returns 5% per year going forward, this DAPP investor would pay $160 in fees over a three-year time frame and $280 in fees over a five-year time frame. Over the course of 10 years, the investor would pay $628 in fees.   Is DAPP Stock a Buy, According to Analysts? Turning to Wall Street, DAPP has a Moderate Buy consensus rating, as 75.41% of analyst ratings are Buys, 14.75% are Holds, and 9.84% are Sells. At $9.63, the average DAPP stock price target implies 15.6% upside potential. Investor Takeaway DAPP has been a strong performer year-to-date, and it deserves credit for that. On the downside, it isn’t particularly diversified, and I feel that it missed the opportunity to look beyond the usual suspects for like Coinbase and miners to add some compelling investments to the fund that are participating in the "digital transformation" in different ways. Furthermore, its expense ratio isn’t great, but in fairness, it is lower than that of many of its competitors in the crypto space. Additionally, DAPP’s relatively small size could make it susceptible to market volatility. Lastly, while DAPP has been a strong performer in 2023, it has actually lost about 50% since its inception in 2021. For these reasons, I can’t really call DAPP a compelling investment opportunity at this time.  Disclosure

All three major U.S. indexes ended the week with gains, after a slew of Big Tech earnings, economic data and central bank announcements boosted investor confidence in a soft landing for the U.S. economy.

All three major U.S. indexes ended the week with gains after a slew of earnings from big technology companies, economic data and central bank announcements boosted investor confidence in a soft landing for the U.S. economy.

Wall Street rose on Friday as fresh inflation data eased concerns about new rate hikes and chip stocks benefited from Intel's unexpected profit.

AMD is one of the top-performing chip stocks of 2023, but is it too late to buy the rally? Here's what investors need to know before Q2 earnings.

It’s the last day of the trading week, so investors are looking for extra spending money for the weekend ahead. Here are three unusually active put options to sell: high-paying and worthwhile long-term holds.  

Wall Street rose on Friday after data signaling easing inflation pressures added to hopes that the Federal Reserve's policy tightening was ending, while chip stocks rose as Intel posted a surprise quarterly profit.

U.S. President Joe Biden is planning to sign an executive order to limit critical U.S. technology investments in China by mid-August, Bloomberg news reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the internal deliberations.

With nearly half of the stocks in the Nasdaq 100 Stock Index ($IUXX ) (QQQ ) having reported Q2 earnings, more and more company executives are optimistic about a soft landing for the U.S. economy. According to a Bloomberg analysis, tech executives are less frequently using words like headwinds, inflation,...

In today's video, I'm looking into Intel's (NASDAQ: INTC) latest earnings report, shedding light on the current state of the semiconductor market and crucial insights that Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) and Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD) shareholders should know about. Check out the

For Immediate ReleaseChicago, IL – July 28, 2023 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the finan

Wall Street opened higher on Friday after data signaling easing inflation pressures added to hopes that the Federal Reserve's policy tightening was ending, while chip stocks rose as Intel posted a surprise quarterly profit.

Intel shares rose over 4% on Friday, a day after the chipmaker's unexpectedly strong quarterly report heralded a turnaround in fortunes after a long, margin-sapping struggle due to plummeting PC sales and a highly competitive data center market.

NCR Corporation NCR recently announced that the Union Bank of the Philippines has selected the company’s ATM as a Service (ATMaaS) solution to revolutionize, connect and streamline the self-service banking operations.

Wall Street was set to open higher on Friday after data showing easing inflation pressures added to hopes that the Federal Reserve's policy tightening was ending, while chip stocks surged as Intel posted a surprise quarterly profit.