Despite a mostly favorable stock market in 2019, over-hyped IPOs like Lyft and Uber disappointed. This is an excerpt from ETFguide TV about the Cooling IPO Market and the Surprising Performance of IPO focused ETFswith Ron DeLegge at ETFguide. Stocks were hot, but initial public offerings, also known as IPOs still struggled. And despite the …
Sitting atop this year’s performance gainers are leveraged ETFs. These are funds that use a combination of debt and derivatives to magnify their performance. Are leveraged ETFs right for you? Before tackling this question, let’s examine key trends within this arena. Among this year’s best ETFs are funds concentrated in semiconductors (NYSEARCA:SOXL), homebuilders (NYSEARCA:NAIL), and Chinese …
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 »
Imagine hiring a builder to construct you a home. You tell the builder how you want the home to look and you tell them about all your desired features. Instead of showing you a blueprint, the builder starts construction and a short-time later, your house is completed. But there’s a very big problem: The home’s final design is nothing like what …
DON’T Invest a Single Dime Without this Crucial Document Read More »
Stock market volatility creeps up when most investors least expect it. But even more intriguing about the latest upward explosion in equity volatility is that it occurred on small percentage losses in major stock index benchmarks like the S&P 500 (NYSEARCA:SPY) and Russell Small Cap 2000 (NYSEARCA:IWM). (Audio) Portfolio Report Card: Diseccting a $1.2 Million …
Regardless of whether you believe the stock market is overvalued or undervalued, one thing we can all agree upon is that stocks have been stellar performers. The S&P 500 (NYSEARCA:SPY) has risen five consecutive years and gained around 228% since bottoming at market lows in March 2009. Over that same period, mid-cap (NYSEARCA:MDY) and small-cap stocks …
Here’s 50 Blue Chip Stocks that Should Make Shareholders Mad Read More »
This just in: U.S. stocks are at record highs, but caveat emptor. Why? Because fewer and fewer stocks are participating in the rally. Almost half of the stocks (47%) within the Nasdaq Composite (NYSEARCA:ONEQ) are 20% lower from their peak over the past year. And although Apple (NasdaqGS:AAPL), Facebook (NasdaqGS:FB), and Microsoft (NasdaqGS:MSFT) have lifted …
My latest request for a Portfolio Report Card is from Andy in New Jersey. He was curious about whether his investment account was adequately diversified and if he is on the right track. The portfolio I graded for Andy – a taxable TD Ameritrade account – was one of seven investment accounts he’s got scattered …
I’ve always wondered what a professional gambler’s portfolio would look like. Would it be a broadly diversified portfolio of penny stocks with a Kenny Rogers box set and a shot of whiskey to boot? Or perhaps, it would contain none of these worldly possessions. How would a gambler invest his or her winnings? I recently …
What Does a Professional Gambler’s Investment Portfolio Look Like? Read More »
Performance divergences, especially in key industry sectors, are either supportive or non-supportive of the broader stock market’s move. Although the S&P 500 (SNP:^GSPC) and Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSEARCA:DIA) have notched new highs this year, small cap stock ETFs linked to the Russell 2000 (NYSEARCA:IWM) and S&P SmallCap 600 (NYSEARCA:IJR) continue to lag. The fact …
3 Industry Sectors Vital to the Stock Market’s Health Read More »
“The investor’s chief problem—and even his worst enemy—is likely to be himself,” once quipped the great Benjamin Graham. The truth of Graham’s observation is seen in the consistent pattern of mutual fund investors to self-destruct. AUDIO: Listen to Ron DeLegge @ The Index Investing Show Over the past 30 years, the typical stock mutual fund investor’s performance has …
The latest episode of stock market cheating by high-frequency traders (HFT) has set in, yet unanswered questions remain. Do regulators like the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) encourage market manipulation? Manipulation refers to the dishonest activity by individuals or institutions who try to game the price of a stock (NYSEARCA:IVV) or a certain market for their …
Former high flying industry sectors like biotech (NASDAQGIDS:IBB) and social media stocks (NYSEARCA:SOCL) have crashed between 14-16% over the past month. Have hot momentum stocks lost their mojo? One proxy of momentum stocks is the iShares MSCI USA Momentum Index ETF (NYSEARCA:MTUM). The fund owns 100-150 large and mid-cap U.S. stocks that are screened for …
Was the S&P 500 the last proverbial man standing? Today’s -2.09% clobbering officially wiped out the S&P 500’s (NYSEARCA:IVV) YTD gain. Put another way, three-months of gains were lost in single trading session! (See chart below) The swift decline doesn’t come as a surprise to our readers, as we’ve been warning about the stock market’s …
Is another surge in stock market fear and volatility ahead? Will you be ready when it happens? “Public psychology is the most important single factor in shaping security markets,” said Gerald Loeb. Loeb was right and that’s why we make it a regular habit at ETFguide to track movements and trading opportunities in the CBOE …
Is the latest revelation of stock market manipulation by high-speed traders via a just released 60 Minutes report really new? Before Michael Lewis’ latest book “Flash Boys,” there was “Wall Street Jungle” – a 1970 bestseller by Richard Ney. Although Ney’s insightful book was written in an era before the dominance of electronic trading, his …
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 »
Is so-called smart beta investing a new and improved way to invest or just another one of Wall Street’s fancy sales pitches? Smart beta strategies (formerly known as “fundamental indexing”) in the investment world generally fall into two camps: 1) Indexes that use a one-dimensional or simple formulas, like equal weighting all the stocks within a benchmark like the …
Smart Beta Investing: New Paradigm or Word Trick Read More »
The stock market’s wild mood swings from fear to greed and back are in full swing again. And this time around, the investing public’s fear of missing out on potential stock gains is greater than its fear of losing money. The latest Fear and Greed Index shows that stock market greed is now at extreme …
The Russell 2000 small cap index (NYSEARCA:IWM) just made a new all-time high, but stocks aren’t the only thing topping. U.S. public debt is at record levels too and heading higher. Total outstanding public debt is now at $17.41 trillion, according to the U.S. Treasury Department’s latest daily statement. That’s almost $1 trillion over last …
$17.41 Trillion in U.S. Debt, like Stocks, at Record Levels Read More »