This is an excerpt of ETF Battles between EEM vs. VWO on ETFguide TV – it’s a face-off between two ETFs focused on emerging market stocks Who wins the battle? EEM and VWO go against each other in key areas, including cost, performance and exposure strategy Both funds are among the largest emerging markets ETFs …
ETF Battles: EEM vs. VWO – Which Emerging Markets ETF is Superior? Read More »
This is an excerpt from our latest video, Investing Trends in 2020 and Where to Invest with Lynn Dolan at ETFguide and Dave Mazza at Direxion Investments. Lynn: As we head into a new decade, the market is already taking shape and new investment themes and trends are starting to take shape. Here to discuss …
Being a contrarian investor is a lot harder than it sounds. It means doing the opposite of the crowd. It means having the stomach and stamina to buy assets or investments that are unloved, misunderstood, and trading at bargain prices. Highly respected investors who made their fortunes by being contrarians include David Dreman, Sir John …
Currency prices go up, they go down, and sometimes they crash. And just like other financial markets, currency prices are not immune to volatility. Should you be hedging your portfolio against currency volatility? Chaos Happens The first argument in favor of currency hedged investments is that chaos happens. It can occur at any time in any …
Stock market volatility ain’t what it used to be. And unlike recent years, the VIX, a benchmark of volatility in S&P 500 stocks, (NYSEARCA:VOO) has been consistently up in 2016. The chart below illustrates how market conditions and stock market volatility or VIX (ChicagoOptions:^VIX) have dramatically changed over the past 52-weeks. (Audio) Stress-Test Your Investments Now + It’s Not a Bear …
Rising Stock Market Volatility, A Sign of the Times Read More »
What is the optimal investment portfolio? Is it the one that contains the hottest performing stocks and funds? Actually, it’s the portfolio that perfectly represents a person’s psychology, life circumstances, financial needs, and future goals. My latest Portfolio Report Card is for K.B., a 49 year-old U.S. Marine Officer serving overseas. He told me he …
Portfolio Report Card: A $171, 000 Retirement Portfolio Weighed Down by Cost Read More »
Having a six or seven figure sized investment portfolio doesn’t automatically make it smart. Such is the case with a $725,000 investment portfolio that I recently graded. An investment Portfolio Report Card request was made to me by a mid-40s software engineer who described himself as an “aggressive investor.” Software is a pretty aggressive business and …
Diversifying your investment portfolio: It’s a dull exercise that people repeatedly hear, yet a chore they execute with consistent imprecision. Are there times when diversification can actually become “Di-Worsification”? Variety is the Secret Diversification boils down to spreading your investment risk across multiple asset classes. It works because of something called “covariance,” which basically means …
2 Times When Diversification Becomes Di-Worsification Read More »
How frightened to invest are people? So frightened, they’d rather die! A poll taken by Harris Interactive for Nationwide Financial found that 62% of surveyed respondents are afraid of investing in the stock market while just 58% are afraid of dying. Building your own investment portfolio from scratch is a fearful task for many people, …
Building Your Investment Portfolio Shouldn’t Be Scary Read More »
Russia is in deep trouble. Never mind that it’s on the brink of full-blown war with Ukraine. International sanctions were just imposed against 17 companies with close ties to President Vladmir Putin, and even more severe penalties are in the works. A poll of economists by a large media enterprise* found that Russia faces a …
What Would Baron Rothschild Say about Russian Stocks? Read More »
A credit bubble (China), inflation (Brazil), and the threat of war (Russia) have made BRICs a dangerous place to invest. Is the worst over? “BRIC” is an acronym for Brazil, Russia, India, and China that was introduced in 2001. Enthusiasm for investing in stocks from BRIC nations rose in the mid-2000s as mega-emerging markets outperformed …
Money is flowing out of risky emerging market stocks (NYSEARCA:VWO), and guess where it’s going? Into even riskier frontier market debt and stocks (NasdaqGIDS:PMNA). The Economist reports: “Investors in America and Europe were hungry to buy dollar-denominated debt offering juicy yields. Zambia drew $12 billion of orders for a ten-year bond paying only 5.4%. Pension-fund …
Chinese stocks are the bargain of a lifetime. That’s what pundits from Goldman Sachs to analysts at major media outlets have been reporting. Are they right? The resurgence of borrowing money, led by world governments, has pushed global debt levels up 40% from $70 trillion in 2007 to around $100 trillion today. And while the …
What are the attributes of a world-class investment portfolio that even Warren Buffett would bless? Buffett’s 2013 letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders gives us a clue: “The ‘know-nothing’ investor who both diversifies and keeps his costs minimal is virtually certain to get satisfactory results. Indeed, the unsophisticated investor who is realistic about his shortcomings is …
A Portfolio Strategy Warren Buffett Would Approve Read More »
When it comes to properly assessing China’s stock market, are financial experts bad or just blind? Here’s what they’ve been saying: Buck the Trend, Buy Chinese Stocks – Forbes, Jim Oberweis, 7/9/13 Huge Reforms in China Could Lead to Big Upside for Top Chinese Stocks – 247wallst, 11/19/13 It’s Time to Buy China – MarketWatch, …
Each month, our Mega Investment Theme Report organizes the order of major events by their impact and importance. And swelling sovereign debt (NYSEARCA:BWX) continues to be a stubborn trend that has made every single report. In Ernest Hemingway’s classic novel, “The Sun Also Rises” someone asks the character Mike Campbell how he went bankrupt. He quips: “Gradually, then …
Like a sleeping giant, stock market volatility can hibernate, but it never goes away. Right now, the giant is showing signs of awakening and whether the beast completely tramples the city is yet to be determined. Although the S&P 500 (^GSPC) hit all-time highs near 1,859 last week, a number of flashing indicators we’ve written …
Depending on whom you believe, China is either on the verge of economic utopia or a major economic shock. And the data is leaning toward the latter. Non-performing loans made by Chinese banks soared to $97.5 billion in the final three months of last year, according to the China Banking Regulatory Commission. That matches levels …
China’s Busted Bank Loans Hit 2008 Crisis Levels Read More »
Are there parallels between the pre-2008 U.S. stock market crash and emerging markets today? Emerging market bulls (NYSEARCA:EDC) say that cheap market valuations are a reason to own stocks from countries like China (NYSEARCA:FXI), Brazil (NYSEARCA:EWZ), Russia (NYSEARCA:RSX), and India (NYSEARCA:EPI). Are they right? AUDIO: Listen to Ron DeLegge @ The Index Investing Show A …
Emerging Markets and Parallels to the pre-2008 Crash Read More »
Price changes in the stock market occur on all-time scales. From a tick in milliseconds all the way to decades and even centuries, prices have a certain pattern. And behind all these constantly influx price changes is trading volume. Why does it matter? Trading volume refers to the number of shares or contracts traded in …