I've been lucky (yeah, I'd prefer to take credit, but honesty is probably the better way to go) to have been holding a decent chunk of my portfolio in emerging markets through Barclays ETF offering (EEM). This part of my portfolio has increased significantly recently. But that's largely irrelevant to you. What goes up today could easily go down tomorrow. Read the rest of this entry »
“List of ETFs” Article ArchiveThe list of exchange traded funds (ETFs) keeps growing. Here are the ETFs that I know and possibly care about. Many of these are simply the ETF equivalents of index funds, but others are more exotic. In all cases what I write here isn't an endorsement. Everyone's situation is different and I don't presume to know what is right for anyone other than me. It used to be that you could reduce overall portfolio volatility by investing in international markets. When US markets went down, international ones went up or at least held steady. The opposite occurred when US markets went up. Unfortunately, this isn't necessarily true anymore. Read the rest of this entry » There are two popular dividend exchange traded funds (ETFs). Based on assets and fund flows, Barclays iShares Dow Jones Select Dividend Index (DVY) is the leader. The competition comes in the form of PowerShares' HighYield Dividend Achievers (PEY). Read the rest of this entry » You've no doubt heard that for the last several years the real estate market has been hot with returns exceeding many other asset classes. Fortunately for stock market investors there is a way to tap in to that growth with Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) ETFs. Read the rest of this entry » Barclays Global Investors continues to lead the pack when it comes to providing the largest number of exchange traded funds (ETFs). Some expense ratios are higher than other providers with similar offerings so it's worth comparing these numbers. Funds with large market caps are likely more liquid as are those with many holdings so I've provided that information here too. Note that this list contains only equity ETFs i.e. no fixed-income funds here. Read the rest of this entry » Back in October of 2006 I wrote how I wished there was an easy way to tap in to international real estate. In April of this year, StateStreet beat other exchange traded fund providers to the punch with their International REIT ETF. Still, as a fan of Barclays I had hoped that they too would introduce such a fund to the market. Well they finally did. Read the rest of this entry » As far as basic materials go, steel is one of the more important ones. We see steel everywhere we go and continued growth in countries like China and India will likely result in steady and possibly increasing demand for steel. That sort of argument is prompting investors to look for ways to tap in to the steel market. Read the rest of this entry » The trend to "go green" is increasing in popularity. In fact, I heard today that demand is so high that there's even a $1 billion market for all natural pet products. Yes folks, if you're going to go green you're likely to take along your cat or dog with you. The exchange traded fund (ETF) providers have noticed this trend and now individuals can invest their money in companies that do good by the environment. Read the rest of this entry » A mortgage ETF from Barclays launched around a while ago amid concerns that the sub-prime mortgage market was in disarray. The iShares Lehman MBS Fixed-Rate Bond Fund (MBB) provides exposure to mortgage-backed securities. Read the rest of this entry » Real estate's lustre has certainly dulled recently. At least that's the case in the US. Regardless, real estate is still an important element of diversified portfolio. While may people own their own homes, I've instead decided that buying a house is not the right choice for me. Instead, I aim to keep a certain percentage of my portfolio invested in real estate investment trusts (REITs). Read the rest of this entry » A recent Forbes article reports that there are around 407 exchange traded funds (ETFs) available for trading. Crazy, isn't it? The market has certainly moved beyond the original idea of simple investing through indexing. The article mentions 10 of the latest and mostly over-focused offerings, but uses a silly slide show interface so I've gone ahead and presented the list here in a more simplified form. Read the rest of this entry » I've written in the past about bond ETFs and how they represent a portion, albeit small, of my portfolio. Up to this point I've only dipped my toes in to exchange traded funds that track the Lehman Aggregate Bond Index (AGG) and the iBoxx Corporate Bond Index (LQD). Read the rest of this entry » PowerShares has just released another exchange traded fund (ETF) and added yet another twist on what many people say has become a crowded market. The PowerShares DWA Technical Leaders Portfolio (PDP) tracks and index of 100 stocks that are assembled by the team at Dorsey Wright & Associates. What makes this ETF different is that it is built using entirely technical measures without consideration for fundamentals like cash flow. Read the rest of this entry » It would appear that there is no end to the creativity of exchange traded fund (ETF) providers. Proof of this comes to us from Claymore Securities Inc. with its introduction of an ETF that invests in spin-offs. This new ETF started to trade on the American Stock Exchange (AMEX) last week. Read the rest of this entry » Bond exchange trade funds (ETFs) are very well represented in the world of investing. Selections from Barclay's Global Investors alone come in six variations. They include short-term treasury bonds (SHY), medium-term treasury bonds (IEF), long-term treasury bonds (TLT), inflation protected treasuries (TIP), corporate bonds (LQD), and a broad bond market index (AGG). The list isn't quite complete though. Foreign bonds are not at all represented. I suspect there'll be a filing for such an ETF soon. Read the rest of this entry » Many consider the launches of gold and silver exchange traded funds (ETFs) to be successful so it comes as no surprise that speculation has increased about a platinum ETF. The main obstacle to such an ETF is that the market for is smaller and less liquid. So far London and Zürich look like the most likely launching grounds according to analysts of Resource Investor. Read the rest of this entry » The number of alternative energy exchange traded funds (ETF) is slowly increasing. The first one I heard about came from PowerShares in the form of their WilderHill Clean Enery Portfolio offering. Although in the last month this ETF has shed around 15%, there are still some people who might consider this a worthy investment. Read the rest of this entry » More and more specialized exchange traded funds (ETFs) are being introduced in to the market. And sure enough, Powershares decided it was time for a water ETF. At first I thought this was another commodity play like the commodities ETF or gold ETF. But I was wrong. Read the rest of this entry » Barclays Global Investors are generally considered to be the leaders when it comes to creating new exchange traded funds (ETFs). But every now and again they misstep and another firm fills a particular niche first. Read the rest of this entry » In my quest for portfolio diversification, I looked around for exchange traded funds (ETFs) that could give me some exposure to foreign real estate much like the domestic REIT ETFs like ICF. Read the rest of this entry » At the moment, I own the commodities exchange traded fund (ETF) from Deutsche Bank (ticker DBC). Although it is the best ETF for commodity investors in my opinion, it isn't quite what I would call perfect. Read the rest of this entry » At first blush, an exchange traded fund that tracks the performance of 1500 US-based companies seems like the perfect, broad-based investment vehicle for a fan of ETFs like me. But on closer examination, I find it quite lacking. Read the rest of this entry » As the exchange traded fund market continues to slice the investment world in to smaller and more targeted offerings, Warren Schmalenberger, current President and CEO of Dorchestor Capital Management Company, decided there was a need in creating an index that tracked everything. Read the rest of this entry » Seeking exposure to foreign markets can be an important diversification tactic. One such market is Canada which given its proximity and close ties to the US makes it an investment that is easy to understand. However, this also means that you may end up getting less of a diversification benefit from it. Read the rest of this entry » Barclays Global Investors has finally launched a commodities exchange traded fund (ETF). This new offering began trading July 21, 2006 on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol GSG. This ETF follows on the heels of Deutsche Bank's earlier-to-market commodities ETF, DBC and tracks the performance of a commodities index that features 24 individual commodities. Read the rest of this entry » Currency exchange traded funds (ETFs) would, similar to commodity ETFs, hold currency rather than companies like traditional ETFs. The idea being that you could buy shares of the ETF and in effect hold different currencies. Read the rest of this entry » WisdomTree Investments Inc. just introduced 20 exchange traded funds (ETFs) on the NYSE all of which track dividend producing indexes. In addition, these new offerings use a fundamental weighting approach as opposed to the more traditional market capitalization weighting. Read the rest of this entry » There are several exchange traded funds (ETFs) that invest in companies that yield a dividend. The ones most people are familiar with are discussed in a previous dividend ETF post. But now there is an alternative that deserves closer inspection given that it is straying from what most would could traditional. Read the rest of this entry » Back in February 2006, Deutsche Bank introduced the first commodities exchange traded fund (ETF) listed on a U.S. exchange. The symbol for this ETF is DBC. I think this is a significant and positive addition to the list of available ETFs as it targets an asset class that is largely out of the reach of the small investor. Read the rest of this entry » It is possible to change the returns of your portfolio without changing the asset allocations you have settled on. The two ways I know of to do this are through the use of margin accounts and leveraging with options. Read the rest of this entry » The silver ETF is riding on the heels of the fairly recent release of the gold ETF. Barclays made the necessary filings on the silver ETF 9 months ago. Other exchange traded funds have, on average, launched 12 months following registration. That makes for an expected availability date of late June or early July for the silver ETF. Read the rest of this entry » A gold ETF was eagerly awaited by US investors. Now, there are two to choose from. One is IAU from Barclay's Global Investors. The other is GLD from State Street. Read the rest of this entry » Exchange traded funds (ETFs) tied to the US Treasury have been available for quite some time now. They offer investors yet another way to diversify their portfolios while also providing a little more flexibility over traditional treasury investments. Read the rest of this entry » I've thought about the idea of an inverse exchange traded fund (ETF) on occasion. The idea is that this ETF would move inversely to some index so that when the ETF would go up when the index goes down. Read the rest of this entry » If there's any other sector exchange traded fund (ETF) that gets more attention than the nano ETF, it is the biotech ETF. Again, from my perspective, these ETFs are far too focussed for my style of investing. Of course my strategy is going to differ from yours, so you may want to look in to this particular area. Read the rest of this entry » The nanotechnology arena is far too narrow an area for me to invest in through an ETF. Yes, while there is great promise in nanotechnology, the investment rewards are not yet guaranteed and the road ahead is likely to be a bumpy one. Read the rest of this entry » |
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