February 2012

Best ETFs of February 2012: Investors Boosting Oil, Asian Markets

February 29, 2012

The markets had no problem picking a direction in February – up! Investors enjoyed improving economic data in the United States while Greece and Europe once again fell out of the news cycle for a very timely boost in morale. Investor appetite was especially strong for tech and energy, which you’ll see in the following […]

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Israel: Stock Market Returns Win on Risk-Adjusted Return

February 26, 2012

There was an interesting article in BusinessWeek this weekend highlighting how Israel’s risk-adjusted return over the past 10 years bested all other developed markets.  Overall, the Israel market as defined by the Tel Aviv 25 returned 161% including dividends vs. the “lost decade” in much of the rest of the developed world markets.  Rounding out […]

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Do Leveraged ETFs Create Volatility? No – All ETFs Do

February 19, 2012

Leveraged ETFs are under fire for creating volatility in the stock markets, especially in the last hours of trading. The story goes that traders move through large positions in leveraged exchange-traded funds which then permeate through prices for individual securities. The argument certainly has plenty of merit – leveraged funds do pass on volatility into […]

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OptionsHouse Review

February 12, 2012

I had the pleasure of using OptionsHouse as a broker for well over a year. As a light volume options trader and investor, I found their products and services to be some of the best. Heavy option traders would benefit even more from an OptionsHouse account. OptionsHouse Commissions and Fees Where OptionsHouse stands out from […]

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Europe Fears Caused Retail Investors To Miss An Epic Market Rally. Lessons Learned

February 9, 2012

If the past few months have not been a lesson in strategy over tactics, I don’t know what is. While the mainstream media has pounded viewers with negative news, US equities have been on a complete tear, putting the NASDAQ at highs not seen for the past decade. Just year-to-date, the NASDAQ (QQQ) is up […]

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Contango Explained

February 5, 2012

Exchange-traded fund investors use ETFs for any number of reasons. Many use them for their simplicity, others know that low ETF fees bring about higher, long-run returns. What many investors seem to forget, however, are the unique risks that come with underlying portfolios that make up any ETF. Now that commodities are on fire – […]

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