Alternative ETFs

Equal Weighted ETFs to Counteract the Apple Effect

April 9, 2012

Every alternative has its costs. Exchange-traded funds make investing less expensive, arguably less thoughtful, and certainly much less profitable for the investment management industry. From the perspective of an individual investor, these are all very good things. We often miss what the popularity of indexing tends to hide. Separating the Index from the Investment BusinessInsider […]

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ETF Spotlight: PowerShares Buyback Achievers ETF (PKW)

March 18, 2012

Buybacks are back in play. Looking to boost shareholder value, a number of companies have announced share repurchase agreements to buy back shares on the open market. Betting on one’s own company is usually a safe bet for executives, one which increases the earnings per share for a firm, and allows for a very good […]

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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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Strategy to Combine High Dividend Yields, Options Income and Price Stability

January 8, 2012

I came across an interesting article on SeekingAlpha where the author suggests a strategy for exploiting the high yields of the Dogs of the Dow (I recently wrote on the 2012 Dogs of the Dow) mixed with selling long-dated options (LEAPS) on those positions. Using Dow stocks also tends to minimize the risk of outright […]

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Volatility ETNs Soared Last Week…In an UP Market

November 6, 2011

Even though the S&P500 (SPY) closed the week with a respectable 2.4% gain, volatility ETNs (Exchange traded notes) showed huge gains for the week ranging from 19%-40% depending on the type of ETN.  For a bit more on how the volatility index works, the VIX is the CBOE’s market volatility index which derives its volatility […]

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Social Media ETF – There Can Be Only ONE…

August 22, 2011

The Social Media ETF is here, or so it’s called.  Recently, Global X filed with the SEC (source) to launch a Social Media ETF which will be based on the The Solactive Social Media Index which is representative of business ventures involved social networking, file sharing, and other online media applications. The holdings will be […]

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3 ETFs to Watch Following Shocking US Credit Downgrade

August 7, 2011

Unless you happen to be coming back from a weekend in the wilderness, Friday night S&P downgraded the US credit rating one notch (see list of AAA Countries remaining).  Obviously, markets will be quite volatile this week following this momentous news.  Over the weekend, the Saudi stock market had opened over 5% down.  As of […]

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Physical Silver Trust Premium Collapses – Pairs Trade Returns 10%

May 5, 2011

With the various precious metals ETFs out there and the volatility we’re seeing in the markets now, there are opportunities to exploit market inefficiencies that appear and disappear rather quickly (see more on arbitrage investments).  But investors that are agile can benefit as these scenarios repeat themselves somewhat frequently.  In the past, I benefited from […]

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6 Ways to Protect Your Assets from Impending Deflation

August 5, 2010

There’s more talk now about an impending deflationary period than we’ve heard in several years and the thing about this churn is that even if we don’t truly experience textbook extensive deflation, the sentiment alone could easily drive investors in droves into assets that perform well during periods of deflation.  For the uninitiated, think of […]

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