[at MarketWatch] - After September 2008's barrel of rotten apples, chart-wise at least, nothing looks as tempting as it used to. Still, there are some apples worth picking on September's boughs.
[at MarketWatch] - From retail to large caps to bonds, what to look for in Trading Strategies' guide to surviving and thriving in the cruelest month for investors.
[ETFguide] - After a stellar July and early August performance, the market is heading toward the July low at S&P 1,011 and Dow 9,614. Is the summer rally over?
[ETFguide] - The S&P 500 has dropped 5% in a few days. The reversal from up to down occurred at a point that hosted well known resistance levels. Technically speaking, this is bearish. How about other facts?
[ETFguide] - It's easy to get caught up in something that feels so good, such as rising stock prices. Over the past few weeks, the markets have gained nearly 10%. The obvious question is whether this marks the end of the bear market or if we are about to fall victim to another sucker rally.
There is no denying that the ETF boom is in full swing, as billions of dollars continue to flow into the industry every month despite a difficult economic environment. As individual investors and advisors alike become more informed on the nuances and potential benefits of ETFs, usage has surged. Part of the impressive surge in assets is no doubt attributable to the flexibility of the exchange-traded structure; these securities have found homes in the portfolios of investors across the risk tolerance spectrum. ETFs have been embraced by long-term buy-and-holders...
There were no changes to Northlake's Market and Style models for August. The market Cap model continues to recommend Mid Caps and the Style models still favors Value. As a result, Northlake client positions in the S&P 400 Mid Cap (MDY) and the Russell 1000 Value (IWD) will be maintained for another month.
Last week was a continuation of an exuberant market during earnings season and a flailing economy complete with bad housing data and seven additional FDIC bank closings. The bulls argue corporate balance sheets while bears focus on the economic data. So, which is safer: driving looking into the rear view mirror or into the windshield?
There is near unanimous agreement in the market that deflation has defeated inflation. Unanimous consensus always makes me nervous. Looking around the US, deflation is prominent, with all things real estate. However, US real estate is losing its impact, month by...
Portfolio construction consists of the following steps:
Decide personal risk profile which determines the target allocation in risk assets.
Decide asset allocation method: strategic or tactical or both strategic does not change target asset allocations while tactical can alter allocations more actively)
Decide target allocation for each asset in a strategic asset allocation
Periodically rebalancing portfolios
For a portfolio using strategic asset allocation, with long term target allocation being fixed (and only changed when major events such as approaching retirement and children's college education spending, for example), one can further enhance a portfolio return and reduce the risk by rebalancing and fund selection...
The list of Russell Reconstitution Preliminary candidates came out on Friday June 11,2010 with 262 additions and 205 deletions. This list will be filtered in the next two weeks and on June 25, 2010 the final list will be announced. A quick overview on the process below from the Russell website:
ETFs have become increasingly popular as part of taxable or self-directed IRA portfolios, and a flurry of new commission-free ETFs will only accelerate their adoption. There is another less visible but significant move to make ETFs a staple in traditional company sponsored retirement plans such as the 2.7 trillion 401(k) sector.
iShares (recently acquired by BlackRock) established iShares401k.com to promote ETFs within the 401(k) industry. Two vendors -- AdvisorETF401k and Ascensus -- have signed up to provide iShares ETFs for 401(k) plans.
The latest Vanguard announcement on offering all the company's 46 ETF trades commission free marks a new era for ETFs. In our opinion, with trading costs removed, ETFs are now a viable alternative to index and actively managed mutual funds in portfolio building and asset allocation.
Three brokerage firms, Vanguard, Fidelity and Schwab, have announced commission-free ETFs. Let's first compare them in the following table:
Exchange traded funds (ETFs) were among the most heavily impacted securities during Thursday’s market turmoil. What happened, and what lessons can be learned from the sell-off?
How were ETF investors affected during Thursday’s volatile market swing? It’s important to understand that outside the 20-minute free-fall, it appeared that the markets acted efficiently. However, during that 20-minute decline, something obviously went awry and the exchanges are still researching and reporting on why some stocks and ETFs had...
An already tumultuous day took a terrifying turn in afternoon trading on Thursday, as several major US indexes lost multiple percentage points in a matter of minutes before reclaiming big chunks of the ground lost. At 2:40 on Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down about 415 points, putting it on pace for one of its worst days of the year. But the worst was yet to come; by 2:47, just seven minutes later, the Dow had plummeted another 583 points, putting it down nearly 1,000 points for the day. In the next ten minutes, the...
NEW YORK (Market Intellisearch) -- Shares of iShares Russell 1000 Value Index settled at $56.81 up $1.68(+3.05%) in today's trading session. On the volume front, trading was heavier than usual and ...
NEW YORK (Market Intellisearch) -- Unusual volume of call contracts was traded today. There were 1,806 call contracts traded compared to the ten day average volume of 285 contracts. On the put ...
NEW YORK (Market Intellisearch) -- Shares of iShares Russell 1000 Value Index closed below the 50-day moving average of $57.01. When analyzing trading patterns, technical analysts and investors ...
NEW YORK (Market Intellisearch) -- Shares of IWD crossed above the critical 50-day moving average of $56.97. The location of a stock price when analyzed against the moving average can aid in ...
Mesabi Trust (NYSE:MSB) is the 1st best rebounding stock in this segment of the market. It has risen 182% from its 52-week low. It is now trading at 88% of its 52-week high. Gladstone Capital ...
iShares Russell 1000 Value Index (IWD) [Chart - Analysis - News] lost some ground during trading yesterday, but it appears there is some bullish pressure building up in the background. Looking at ...
NEW YORK (Market Intellisearch) -- In today's trading session, the shares of iShares Russell 1000 Value Index crossed above the 50-day moving average indicating a likely bullish trend. Recent ...
Shares of IWD touched the 50-day moving average from below but failed to break through the widely watched resistance line. If the stock price remains below the critical 50-day moving average, then ...
iShares Russell 1000 Value Index (IWD) [Chart - Analysis - News] gained some ground during trading yesterday, but it appears there is some bearish pressure building up in the background. Looking ...
Jun 18, 2010 (SmarTrend(R) News Watch via COMTEX) -- iShares Russell 1000 Value Index (AMEX:IWD) is currently trading 151.20% above its May 6th low of $23.40. Investors are looking to see if this ...
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