ETF Trends
06-18-2008, 10:21 AM
ETF Trends - Keeping a Grip on Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs)
http://www.etftrends.com/images/2008/06/16/2000999883.jpegThose who prefer investing with exchange traded funds (ETFs) mayhave bountiful choices to pick from, as there are several areas worthwatching for the latter half of 2008. Can you believe we're alreadyjust about halfway through the year?
1) The Federal Reserve has said it will keep interest rates stagnantfor now in an effort to keep the economy in recovery mode. But analystsexpect rising rates later in the year to help boost the value of theU.S. dollar.
For today, the dollar finished lower after another round of weak U.S. economic data was released, report Myra P.Saefong and Nick Godt for MarketWatch (http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/gold-futures-close-modestly-higher/story.aspx?guid=%7B3F9DE592-84A1-4752-B720-571CEA6FC8A7%7D).
An ETF to capitalize if the greenback turns it around? PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish (UUP (http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=uup&x=0&y=0)), which is down 3.4% year-to-date.
The dollar against the euro and the Japanese yen:
http://www.etftrends.com/images/2008/06/17/z_6.png (http://etftrends.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/06/17/z_6.png)
2) On the housing front, sales are still down, and inventory isrising, all the while home prices continue to fall. For the firstquarter of this year, they were down 14.1%.
Lowered prices are causing buyers to come out of the woodwork, asbargain hunters have sent home sales up 6.3% in April from March. Inbad news, housing starts fell to their 1991 lows, down 3.3% in May, Patrick Rucker for Reuters reports (http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/080617/usa_economy_housing.html).There have been mixed signals about the health of the sector across thecountry: in the Northeast, for example, housing starts jumped 61.5%.But starts in the Midwest were down 25%.
When the housing market is once again on solid footing, some of the funds investors can use to take part: SPDR S&P Homebuilders (XHB (http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=xhb)) and DJ Wilshire REIT (RWR (http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=rwr)). The funds are respectively down 5.7% and up 5.3% year-to-date.
http://www.etftrends.com/images/2008/06/17/z_7.png (http://etftrends.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/06/17/z_7.png)
3) China may be full of surprises for the last part of 2008, as they are still a growing nation despite recent hiccups.
Deutsche Bank's economist raised his 2008 and 2009 GDP forecasts to0.7% and 0.4%, respectively. Moreover, the recent quake should delivera boost as reconstruction begins.
As for the Olympics, plenty of countries have suffered a post-Olympics hangover, but that's not likely in China, say Alan Wheatley and Chris Buckley for Reuters (http://www.reuters.com/article/reutersEdge/idUSPEK25610120080609?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0).That's because Beijing accounts for just 3.7% of Chinese GDP, andOlympics-related capital spending was only 1% of nationwide investmentfrom 2003-2007.
Funds to watch if China mounts a firm turnaround in the second half of this year: iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 (FXI (http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=fxi)) and SPDR S&P China (GXC (http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=gxc%5C)), which are down 18.3% and 20.7% year-to-date, respectively.
http://www.etftrends.com/images/2008/06/17/z_8.png (http://etftrends.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/06/17/z_8.png)
complete story here... (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/etftrends-feed/~3/314609330/bears-with-horn.html)
http://www.etftrends.com/images/2008/06/16/2000999883.jpegThose who prefer investing with exchange traded funds (ETFs) mayhave bountiful choices to pick from, as there are several areas worthwatching for the latter half of 2008. Can you believe we're alreadyjust about halfway through the year?
1) The Federal Reserve has said it will keep interest rates stagnantfor now in an effort to keep the economy in recovery mode. But analystsexpect rising rates later in the year to help boost the value of theU.S. dollar.
For today, the dollar finished lower after another round of weak U.S. economic data was released, report Myra P.Saefong and Nick Godt for MarketWatch (http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/gold-futures-close-modestly-higher/story.aspx?guid=%7B3F9DE592-84A1-4752-B720-571CEA6FC8A7%7D).
An ETF to capitalize if the greenback turns it around? PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish (UUP (http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=uup&x=0&y=0)), which is down 3.4% year-to-date.
The dollar against the euro and the Japanese yen:
http://www.etftrends.com/images/2008/06/17/z_6.png (http://etftrends.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/06/17/z_6.png)
2) On the housing front, sales are still down, and inventory isrising, all the while home prices continue to fall. For the firstquarter of this year, they were down 14.1%.
Lowered prices are causing buyers to come out of the woodwork, asbargain hunters have sent home sales up 6.3% in April from March. Inbad news, housing starts fell to their 1991 lows, down 3.3% in May, Patrick Rucker for Reuters reports (http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/080617/usa_economy_housing.html).There have been mixed signals about the health of the sector across thecountry: in the Northeast, for example, housing starts jumped 61.5%.But starts in the Midwest were down 25%.
When the housing market is once again on solid footing, some of the funds investors can use to take part: SPDR S&P Homebuilders (XHB (http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=xhb)) and DJ Wilshire REIT (RWR (http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=rwr)). The funds are respectively down 5.7% and up 5.3% year-to-date.
http://www.etftrends.com/images/2008/06/17/z_7.png (http://etftrends.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/06/17/z_7.png)
3) China may be full of surprises for the last part of 2008, as they are still a growing nation despite recent hiccups.
Deutsche Bank's economist raised his 2008 and 2009 GDP forecasts to0.7% and 0.4%, respectively. Moreover, the recent quake should delivera boost as reconstruction begins.
As for the Olympics, plenty of countries have suffered a post-Olympics hangover, but that's not likely in China, say Alan Wheatley and Chris Buckley for Reuters (http://www.reuters.com/article/reutersEdge/idUSPEK25610120080609?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0).That's because Beijing accounts for just 3.7% of Chinese GDP, andOlympics-related capital spending was only 1% of nationwide investmentfrom 2003-2007.
Funds to watch if China mounts a firm turnaround in the second half of this year: iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 (FXI (http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=fxi)) and SPDR S&P China (GXC (http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=gxc%5C)), which are down 18.3% and 20.7% year-to-date, respectively.
http://www.etftrends.com/images/2008/06/17/z_8.png (http://etftrends.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/06/17/z_8.png)
complete story here... (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/etftrends-feed/~3/314609330/bears-with-horn.html)