It’s no secret that new ETFs are being brought to the market as fast as sponsors can obtain regulatory approvals. I have touched on this before that having all these investment choices available does not mean you should jump on the band wagon and buy any new offering. MarketWatch had a piece on the pitfalls and potential problems when investing …
No Load Fund/ETF Investing: What’s Driving This Market?
As I mentioned in my weekly updates, there always seem to be a variety of ever changing factors that have driven this market to its current highs. One, we have not touched on, is the increasing debt big and small investors are using to leverage their investments. The WSJ reported that margin debt, jumped 11% to $353 billion at NYSE …
No Load Fund/ETF Investing: The Interest Rate Factor
Last week’s solid rebound rally happened despite higher oil prices and interest rates. Generally speaking, interest rates and stocks tend to move in tandem, which has not been the case lately. Take a look at the chart below, which shows the iShares Lehman 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT), vs. the S&P; 500: Notice that the gap between the two …
Will The Subprime Debacle Affect Your Mutual Fund/ETF Investments?
With Standard & Poor’s recent downgrading of some of the subprime loans, this question comes to mind: Will continued problems in that area, like more downgrades or defaults, have a negative effect on stocks and subsequently mutual funds and ETFs? MarketWatch had a story on that subject, which made the case for a potential spillover into stocks. I have to …
Sunday Musings: Most Annoying Business Expressions
Even the WSJ recently touched on one of my pet peeves I wrote about recently as I was reviewing the book “Why Business People Speak Like Idiots.” Their article was named “Most Annoying Business Expressions” and covered some of the blown up phrases that could be translated into a simple word for everyone to understand. Here are some of the …
ETF Investing: A New REIT On The Block
In a previous post I mentioned the obvious disconnect that occurred earlier this year between domestic REITs and those that invest in the global arena.The WSJ just featured an article called “Foreign Real Estate Funds Boom,” which analyses several REITs covering a variety of countries. Most of them are well known, however, foreign funds are not the cheapest when it …