In last Friday’s market commentary, I suggested that over-indebted countries like Greece, Ireland and Portugal, among others, can’t and eventually won’t pay back the burden of continuously shouldering the mother of all indebtedness. While the ECB and most governments are still in denial of that fact, anxiety surrounding the euro zone debt drama increased over the weekend and global markets …
Oil ETFs Suffer From Demand Fear
Crude oil took a steep dive today and closed below the $100 level for the first time since the middle of March. USO, the ETF equivalent, lost 9.11% for the day. The entire commodity index followed suit with DBC dropping 6.7%, while gold (GLD) and silver (SLV) gave back 2.88% and 11.89% respectively. The dollar was the beneficiary and gained …
ETFs On The Slide
There’s no question which news event ruled the day. From the get go, it was S&P’s announcement that it is cutting its outlook on U.S. government debt to negative, which could threaten its pristine AAA rating. The major market ETFs dropped like a rock, but afternoon bargain hunting limited losses somewhat. Good thing there wasn’t another negative news report, or …
Major Market ETFs Sink On Weak Economic Outlook
There was no green number to be found in today’s market pullback, as the chart from MarketWatch clearly shows. It was a day during which recovery worries clearly surfaced as it appeared that the economy may not be as strong as had been previously assumed. While these inconvenient thoughts have surfaced from time to time, bullish sentiment has always won …
Major Market ETFs Climb Uphill—Gold Hits A New High
In an about face from Tuesday, the markets managed to climb uphill on Wednesday, and the major market exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) posted modest gains. Gold (GLD) was the big winner by making a new high of $1,438/ounce. Interest rates were higher, pulling bonds down, but the major asset classes all ended up to the plus side. The day did …
Major Market ETFs Fall Back
There was some slippage in the market, and those exchange-traded funds (ETFs) representing the major indexes (DIA, QQQQ and SPY) pulled back a little. After the recent rebound, it’s no surprise that that the markets took a breather, but it could also have been a case of exhaustion. In the last 23 trading sessions, for example, the Dow (DIA) had …