Earlier this month, Donald Trump made a required filing with the Federal Election Commission that details his financial activities. That filing came after Trump and his representatives had indicated that the real estate mogul / presidential candidate has a net worth of approximately $10 billion. Continue reading →
By most metrics, this is a golden age for college endowments. Balances have soared thanks to an extended stock market rally. More than 40 institutions now have endowments of $2 billion or more. Seven have more than $10 billion, led by Harvard's $36 billion. Continue reading →
Since 2013, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has closed at a record high 95 times -- most recently on May 18, 2015. While it's impossible to predict the future, and while no single metric is without flaws, several fundamental valuation ratios indicate that the U.S. stock market is currently trading at a premium compared to its own history, compared to other countries and regions, and when considering future return projections. Below are 10 charts that make use of these valuation ratios and return projections to illustrate this point. Continue reading →
ETF Reference editor in chief Andy Hagans recently interviewed Charles Biderman, chairman and portfolio manager at TrimTabs Asset Management. TrimTabs is an institutional research firm focused on stock market liquidity. The interview was completed over email, in June of this year. Continue reading →
Published on . Posted in News and tagged HTUS, SPY
Hull Tactical Funds has made its first entry into the US ETF industry, launching a product that applies a proprietary model to the S&P 500. The Hull Tactical Fund (HTUS) is an actively-managed ETF that takes long and short positions in the S&P 500 -- typically through other ETFs -- depending on various macro and technical indicators. Continue reading →
ETF Reference editor in chief Andy Hagans recently interviewed Ethan Powell, chief product strategist at Highland Capital Management. Mr. Powell previously worked for Ernst & Young, in mergers and acquisitions. The interview was completed over email, in June of this year. Continue reading →
With the benefit of hindsight, the stock market makes perfect sense. Of course the rise of the Internet in the 1990s would be an economic boon. Of course credit markets were horribly overextended in 2008, resulting in a massive correction.
The same holds true at a micro level as well. In hindsight, the overwhelming challenges of companies that have gone belly up seem obvious. But at the time, the naive outlooks and ultimately disastrous business plans made sense to management and to investors. Although more inspired leadership may have saved some of these companies, incompetency alone isn't to blame. Sometimes the innovations and macroeconomic events that disrupt companies or even entire industries seem to happen overnight. Continue reading →
When the first bond ETFs began trading in 2002, the options were limited to relatively "plain vanilla" slices of the fixed income universe. In the subsequent 13 years, the bond ETF lineup has grown to include hundreds of products. And while the lion's share of the assets are still in funds that seek to replicate the Barclays Aggregate Index or provide exposure to Treasurys, more exotic bond markets are now packaged within the ETF wrapper as well. In addition to high-yield debt, investors can buy up portfolios of bonds from overseas issuers and individual states. Continue reading →