iShares Russell 2000 Index (IWM)

All Comments on IWM

  • commenter
    najdorf
    Jul 11 11:25 PM
    Hedge Funds Moving Into a New Marketplace [view article]
    The (misnamed) IQ fund should be able to lock up the market of "investors" who would like to pay 1.6% expenses to hold widely-known ETFs with expense ratios of .11% (Vanguard Bond). My head spins at how many stupid ideas I've just learned about from this one fund.

    What's the value in tracking 9,000 hedge funds? I mean, maybe the top 10, 100 or 1000 have some market-beating potential, but how is it even conceivable to anyone that hedge funds 1000-9000 are going to outperform mutual funds or indexes?

    How does holding a bunch of ETFs lead to tracking hedge funds? Hedge funds reveal little information about what they do with a long time lag, trade frequently, and engage in strategies you can't get with an ETF. If you could match hedge fund returns by investing in some of the most popular ETFs according to a mathematical formula, why wasn't somebody already doing this?

    Let's assume that a hedge fund index is reasonable and possible. This fund isn't even doing it! They're changing weightings monthly according to some sort of ill-explained modeling.

    The guy that runs this company thinks hedge funds are an asset class (quoted in linked article). He must know this isn't true. Hedge funds are a managerial strategy. The asset classes are listed right above here in the holdings - bonds, REITs, stocks, currencies, commodities, etc. These are the same things anyone invests in, usually at much lower expense levels than this fund. What matters is strategy, and this fund has one of the most dubious ones I've ever seen (unless we're talking about a strategy for managerial enrichment).     Reply
  • commenter
    pitaking
    Jul 10 01:15 AM
    Wednesday Outlook: Bulls Storm In [view article]
    Gabe, can we call your rally dead? Reply
  • commenter
    User 114285
    Jul 09 09:07 PM
    Wednesday Outlook: Bulls Storm In [view article]
    Gabe, the week's not over dude.... Reply
  • commenter
    sieraromero
    Jul 09 08:28 PM
    Wednesday Outlook: Bulls Storm In [view article]
    would you please add silver to your charts. thank you! Reply
  • commenter
    FrankM
    Jul 09 12:37 PM
    Choosing Your Portfolio Risk Tolerance [view article]
    I have read most of your articles, they have answered all of my questions but these:

    How about leverage, or lack of leverage - cash. If we have a risk free return on the Y axis, we can reduce risk in an efficient way by combining cash and something close to a P75 portfolio in a linear fashion; on a line from the risk free return on the y axis tangent to the efficient frontier. Like wise the line would extend to the right, above the frontier, allowing higher returns with less risk by using leverage. So shouldn't we be concerned with finding the portfolio that provides the steepest line (Sharpe ratio?) and then adjusting our risk/return with leverage or cash? Of course its not that simple, our loan rate would not be the risk free rate and leverage might not be good for a long range strategy, but how about options or levered ETFs? Also if the left side of the efficient frontier was high enough we could combine a risky portfolio with cash, no need for leverage. We also have the problem of what to use for cash, a MM or maybe short bonds, if they are held to maturity and not marked to market.

    You optimize the asset mix by hand, using experience. How about using Monte Carlo to do the optimization, try many random combinations (0%-100%) and pick among the winners? Might take a while, but my computer is not used while I sleep!
     Reply
  • commenter
    kkin365
    Jul 09 08:56 AM
    My Website
    Wednesday Outlook: Bulls Storm In [view article]
    Excellent presentation. Unfortunately, the author is too shy in giving us his view and strategy. How is a novice to interpret the action? Reply
  • commenter
    jackh
    Jul 09 08:52 AM
    Wednesday Outlook: Bulls Storm In [view article]
    Let's see here, if the consumer is 70% of the economy and cars aren't selling, or houses, or other big consumer items, stocks are prepped for a multi year rally???

    I don't think so!     Reply
  • commenter
    Sidj
    Jul 09 08:33 AM
    Wednesday Outlook: Bulls Storm In [view article]
    A couple weeks ago the Royal Bank of Scotland warned about a potential plunge in the markets, but that a rally could occur in early July first. Might this be it? Reply
  • commenter
    jotenn
    Jul 09 06:48 AM
    Wednesday Outlook: Bulls Storm In [view article]
    This rally was a good chance to add to shorts, which is what I did. Good luck in getting a sustained performance in this market, unless oil drops below 130 and keeps on dropping.... Reply
  • commenter
    hedge dude
    Jul 09 04:55 AM
    Wednesday Outlook: Bulls Storm In [view article]
    When you hear that kind of argumentation, you understand why the market is so inefficient.... Don t dream Gabe... Staglation fear is spreading... look at the different CPIs, PPIs in all the different economies. High oil prices doesn t come from speculation, you ve got structural issues now, supply issues more than demand issues. Accordingly, it will weigh on costs.... And the main problem is cost inflation that will accelerate inevitably. It means that central banks will raise rates now. China is not anymore a safe haven as well. Finally, if you look at the earnings growth estimates for this year (excluding financials), you still have 14% growth ! How could you believe it is sustainable?... So the street has to revise down.
    If you look at technicals, that s not good as well. All the rebounds are weak and driven by short covering, but mutual funds are not ready to buy this market in this context because there is no catalysts...     Reply
  • commenter
    Chris N
    Jul 09 02:47 AM
    Replicate The Yale Endowment With These ETFs [view article]
    Excellent--looking forward to following up... Reply
  • commenter
    Kyrriana
    Jul 09 02:06 AM
    My Website
    Tracking Mean Reversion After Bad Months [view article]
    It would be interesting to combine a mean reversion approach based on valuations by coupling it with asset classes that have historically shown strong positive or negative correlation. I've been trying to come up with an adequate algorithm but it's quite tricky and can leave you exposed to higher risk. There is a website (www.assetcorrelation.c...) that publishes up to date correlation matrices each day for the past few months that I've been tracking and things have been quite out of whack recently. Reply
  • commenter
    ForecastS.Co
    m
    Jul 09 01:33 AM
    My Website
    Wednesday Outlook: Bulls Storm In [view article]
    Today (July 8, 2008)’s Last Two Hours’ Rally

    What a prudent trader looks for are extreme values before putting in his trades. But the market does not always oblige by steadily heading towards those extreme values, positive or negative.

    The readings in SPY and QQQQ were mildly positive as of yesterday, July 7, 2008. It would have been better if there were no rally during the last two hours today, if a stronger, more sustainable rally is to become more likely.

    As it is, we now have a premature rally, that began during the last two hours of today’s trading. This also means that the movement will likely be limited before a re-test of the recent low ensues.



     Reply
  • commenter
    pitaking
    Jul 09 01:16 AM
    Wednesday Outlook: Bulls Storm In [view article]
    Gabe, you are crazy. How would an implosion in Europe and emerging markets signal record rally? This market is still going lower, it's a good oppertunity to add to your SDS, DXD ect...Love the charts, this is the best thing on this site. Reply
  • commenter
    gabe
    borenstein
    Jul 09 12:54 AM
    My Website
    Wednesday Outlook: Bulls Storm In [view article]
    This is only the beginnig of the unprecedented rally.The recession that most of the experts are referring to ,statistically does not exist(two consecutive quarterly declines in the GDP).
    Market "Bears " will have to adjust their positions(short)to reflect the true state of economy(deceleration),... a wishfull thinking(recession).
    Short covering is only a partial argument for the stock market rally.
    The ultimate "engine" responsible for the record equity rally will be the Great Economic European and Emerging market implosion,driven by the high rates and the record leverage in these geographic/economic areas.The flight to quality(dollar) that will follow ,will overwhelm the "shorts" and the experts.     Reply
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