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09-04-2008
 Global Players Must Watch the Dollar
By IAN SALISBURY
A strong dollar could mean weak returns for investors in overseas stocks.
Main Street investors poured billions into international stock funds during the past several years as the tumbling dollar turbocharged returns. Now that the dollar appears to be on the rebound, those investors face tough choices about whether to sell, hedge their bets or just stick it out.
Read more... »
08-18- 2008
Will Vanguard's Tweaks Lead To New ETF?
Written by Dan Serra
Vanguard has taken out its wrench and tinkered with its Total International Stock Index Fund (VGTSX) by throwing out the fund-of-funds concept and investing in individual stocks.
Now, could an exchange-traded funds version be close behind? Vanguard insists that's not the reason for its decision to make changes to the pioneering mutual fund's portfolio.
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05-22-2008
 State Street Bets Big On Emerging Markets
BY JESSE EMSPAK
INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY
Investors have another way to break up emerging markets as State Street adds to its SPDRs suite of exchange traded funds.
The firm launched SPDRs S&P Emerging Markets Small Cap ETF (EWX) this week.
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05-15-2008
Advisers Turn To ETFs That Track Industries
BY JESSE EMSPAK
INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY
Sector-focused ETFs are showing strong inflow as advisers buy them instead of stocks.
Tony Rochte, senior managing director at State Street Global Advisors, says the assets of broad-based ETFs are down because of the broader market.
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04-21- 2008
 Mortgage mess self-help
By John Shadegg and Herb Morgan
The United States Senate recently passed a bipartisan housing bailout plan with a $15 billion price tag. There's little likelihood the program won't grow and costs escalate dramatically as the legislation moves through the House Financial Services Committee under the leadership of Rep. Barney Frank, Massachusetts Democrat.
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04-21- 2008
Rest Of XTF Global Sold To Marco Polo
By Greg Morcroft & John Spence, MarketWatch
Marco Polo Network Inc., an electronic exchange which bills itself as the biggest platform for emerging markets stocks in the world, says it has purchased exchange-traded funds researcher and advisor XTF Global Asset Management LLC.
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03-04- 2008
Efficient Market Buying XTF SMA Assets
By Murray Coleman
Efficient Market Advisors, a pioneer in using exchange-traded funds in separately managed accounts, says it has agreed to purchase the accounts of a smaller New York-based money manager.
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02-01- 2008
 Analysts say financial, builder ETFs signaling buy
By Greg Morcroft & John Spence, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Some financial advisers and analysts specializing in exchange-traded funds say the financials and home-builder sectors are a screaming buy right now.
Despite a barrage of negative headlines last month, the financials sector managed to post a slight gain while the broad market shed 6%, leading some to recommend the Financial Select Sector SPDR (XLF:
Select Sector SPDR (XLF 27.58, +0.25, +0.9%) and others.
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01-31- 2008
PowerShares Launches Preferred Stock ETF
By Murrry Coleman
Investors interested in owning preferred stocks rather than more common share classes through exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have a new option.
The PowerShares Preferred Portfolio (AMEX: PGX) launched on Thursday. It follows last year's debut of the iShares S&P U.S. Preferred Stock Index Fund (AMEX: PFF).
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08-12- 2007
With Index Funds, Count Your Costs
By MURRAY COLEMAN
August 12, 2007
Buying a low-priced index fund isn't always as straightforward as it might seem.
At least 221 distinct varieties of index mutual funds are available today with five-year track records. Throw in some 500-plus exchange-traded funds, most of which are considered passive investing vehicles, and how do you sort through the maze of offerings?
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07-13- 2007
 Avoiding the damage of a corporate bond meltdown
Posted by: Aaron Pressman on July 13
Default rates on corporate bonds hit a 25-year low last year. Meanwhile, the extra yield paid by junk bonds over the rates of ultra-safe U.S. Treasury securities, the yield premium, hit an all-time low this year. And now you have some investors pointing to similarities between lax underwriting standards for subprime mortgages and the easy credit terms available to leveraged buyout borrowers. With the economy slowing and long-term interest rates ticking up, companies that borrowed too much will have trouble repaying their debt.
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02-19- 2007
ETFs wade into a dead pool
New funds keep coming, but a market downturn could force some to liquidate
By John Spence, MarketWatch
BOSTON (MarketWatch) -- The booming exchange-traded fund business keeps churning out new products, but some of these fledgling funds might not have much of a future -- particularly if surging stocks take a breather.
Many ETF providers are stuffing the development pipeline with new offerings that track slimmer market segments and use increasingly sophisticated approaches. For instance, there are ETFs for water companies, environmentally friendly firms and corporate spin-offs.
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02-13-2007
Niche Investing Eats Into ETF Returns
By John Spence
Exchange-traded funds are doing a reasonable job of tracking the indexes they are designed to follow, but a trend toward niche products is eating away at investors' returns, new research suggests.
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10-13-2006
One Manager Gets Out Of Bonds, Buys Stocks
By Murray Coleman
INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY
Herb Morgan stepped away from a 15-year career as a fund executive to start his own firm.
That was in 2002. Now he's president and chief investment officer of Efficient Market Advisors.
The San Diego adviser specializes in exchange traded fund portfolios for high net-worth and institutional investors.
Read more »
9-15-06
Stupid Investment of the Week
Oil ETF not so much black gold as dark muck
By Chuck Jaffe, www.marketwatch.com
Read more »
9-12-06
UPDATE: How To Buy ... ETFs
By John Spence, www.easybourse.com
Read more »
7-12-06 Do You Know What's in Your ETF?
When Scott Sacknoff designed the index for the PowerShares Aerospace & Defense
Portfolio, an exchange-traded fund, he had a difficult decision to make: whether to
include commercial satellite companies.
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2-13-06
The latest upstart in the evolving exchange-traded fund business is a set of ETFs linked to indexes that claim superiority over standard market benchmarks. Proponents of these new measures say their sophisticated, proprietary strategies can identify winning stocks.
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2-05-06 An Intriguing Twist on Stock Indexing
Good things have come to those who equal weight.
Equal weighting is a strategy that gives the same importance to each and every stock in an index.
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9-06-05
The Problem With Vanguard ETFs
As a money manager, I am constantly looking at data trying to find statistical relevance for asset classes which could justify their inclusion in my managed portfolios.
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6-29-05
Travelers' tales
Investors favoring international, emerging markets ETFs
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3-21-05
Keeping it simple
Many financial advisers are reluctant to recommend market-tracking investments like exchange-traded funds. Doing so is often seen as an implicit acceptance of mediocrity.
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12-6-2004
Over 10 years, most active funds underperform their benchmarks
Actively managed mutual funds consistently underperform their benchmark indexes by about 3 to 1, a new study shows.
Read more... » (requires free account with investment news)
10-25-2004
Using ETFs for tax loss harvesting
How some savvy financial advisers are minimizing taxes
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8-29-2004
Spreading risk with ETFs
Four funds that can boost returns and smooth volatility
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8-22-2004
Using ETFs for total market exposure
Two-step strategy offers complete stock and bond coverage
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7-23-2004
Mutual-fund math shines up returns
The average returns of stock mutual funds are often underwhelming. Turns out, they are also overstated.
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3-17-2004
Deciphering Funds' Hidden Costs
The battle over the fees the mutual-fund industry charges its customers is coming to a head.
Read more... »
Please check back often for the latest mentions.
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