ETFs

The aerospace and defense industry is a thriving segment of the economy that is fed billions of dollars annually. iShares U.S. Aerospace & Defense ETF (NYSE: ITA) ITA provides exposure to 38 U.S. companies that manufacture commercial and military aircraft, in addition to other defense...

Faster than expected growth in China services industry data led to a rally of more than three percent in the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index on Tuesday.  This jump marks a new year-to-date high for Chinese equities and underscores strong fundamentals in this massive Asian economy. Some...

The investment community has long been fascinated with the stock-picking prowess of billionaire investors such as Warren Buffett or Carl Icahn. Until recently, the easiest way to access the best ideas of these rock star investors was to purchase their holding companies, such as Buffett’s...

The steep drop in the markets this week was a wake-up call for investors who might have become accustomed to a sense of complacency in stocks this summer.  The SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSE: SPY) fell 1.97 percent on Thursday amid heavy selling pressure and followed that up with additional...

ETFs are leading the revolution in offering investors new ways to access capital markets through unique indexes and low-cost strategies.  This year alone there have been more than 100 new ETFs brought to market that are continuing to fuel the trend of investors eschewing mutual funds in...

AltaVista Research was founded in 2004, as a means of providing expanded research and coverage of the exchange-traded fund universe.  The firm takes a unique approach to analyzing fundamental aspects of ETFs that help financial advisors and sophisticated investors make portfolio management...

Earlier this year, First Trust launched a unique momentum-based strategy that selects five underlying sector or industry ETFs according to a relative strength-ranking system.  This index was developed by Dorsey, Wright & Associates as a method of objectively selecting the best...

With earnings season in full swing, the release of new ETFs can often be buried under a deluge of company announcements.  However, several interesting new products have recently hit the market that will offer investors unique and diversified exposure in a variety of sectors. Well-known...

Australia offers a plethora of investment opportunities, thanks in part to its thriving financial and natural resource-based economy.  However, one of the most compelling reasons to invest in the Land Down Under may be for the dividend income.  The most prominent ETF that tracks...

The high yield bond market has continued to reap the benefits of low interest rates and a hunger for yield that has fixed-income investors climbing down the credit ladder. This healthy demand has helped push prices in many junk bond ETFs to all-time highs, which in turn has pressed yields near...

On Wednesday, Compass EMP will release three new smart beta volatility ETFs designed to select holdings according to fundamental and volatility rankings.    These new funds will be the first foray into the ETF world for Compass EMP -- a firm that is traditionally known as a mutual...

The hotly-anticipated initial public offering of GoPro (NASDAQ: GPRO) this week is one of the largest consumer electronics debuts of the decade. Shares surged more than 30 percent on Thursday from its IPO opening price of $24 per share, as the company raised $427 million in cash. The initial...

The technology sector has been on a roll during the first half of 2014, and semiconductor stocks in particular have been on fire.  The high demand for advanced computing power has led to strong earnings and rocketing share prices for a variety of well-known companies including Intel Corp (...

While the pre-summer doldrums have seen stocks slowly grind higher, many investors are looking ahead to key economic data that may provide clues as to the next move in equities.  The relative dearth of major releases this week has everyone’s sights set on May retail sales data, which...

One of the biggest advantages of ETFs over mutual funds is their overall transparency.  ETF providers continually update portfolio holdings on their websites, which is often information that's hard to find for most traditional mutual funds. In addition, several independent ETF...