Diversification Tips From Marc Faber [View article]
It is possible to buy a small piece of farmland and rent it out, the same way many investors buy small houses and rent them out. See, for example, agrinuity.com.
Diversification: 10 Investments That Don't Correlate With the S&P [View article]
It's almost too obvious to mention, but in the interest of completeness I'd include CASH as a non-correlated investment, along with very short term bonds and the like.
Actual farmland might be uncorrelated, but I don't have the tools to check. Ditto for farmland companies, of which I only know a few (say, CRESY, BLERF, TRGAF, etc.).
Beware of the TIPS Spread in Deflationary Times [View article]
Doesn't a 10-year fixed bond have the same "Guaranty", as you call it, as a 10-year TIPS bond? Since they both return the same principal at maturity and have the same credit risk, any difference in pricing must be accounted for by the expected interest payments.
A Ticking Time Bomb Under Emerging Market ETFs? [View article]
Ron has a good point. However, while the entire universe of investors must hold the stocks according to their market weight (the definition of market weight is total stock held), it may be true that the universe of index-tracking funds may hold them in different proportions. If true a reshuffling of the indexes will change supply and demand.
For example, the big developed-international ETFs (EFA, VPL, VGK) have total holdings of 35B, while the big emerging-market ETFs (EEM, VWO) have total holdings of 58B. Those are nowhere near market weights.
"Oil ETNs, like regular stocks, are taxed depending on short-term or long-term capital gains rates, with gains or losses taxed at 60% long-term and 40% short-term, writes Don Dion for TheStreet."
This is an error. It's not true, and Don Dion of TheStreet did not say that. Read the original article for a proper description of the tax treatment. ETNs are taxed as stocks, period; there is none of that 60%/40% nonsense that ETFs trigger.
Commission-Free ETFs Enable Portfolio Building Using Asset Allocation Strategies [View article]
Part of the ETF's expenses are for marketing, and these arrangements are one way of spending that money. So, for example, iShares gives Fidelity money exchange for their agreement not to charge commissions.
I don't see the problem. Which would you rather have -- a market with normal volatility that slowly goes up year-after-year, or the same market with occasional hour-long spikes down to near zero every year or so. Personally, I'd prefer the latter.
Going Flat For Safety [View article]
Van Eck's New BONO ETF: Where Are the Details? [View article]
USD 57.5%
MXN 15.1
BRL 13.0
COP 8.9
EUR 5.5
I find that kind of screwy. It would be more useful if they maintained either 100% foreign currency exposure or 0%.
June ETF Roundup: Launches and Filings for the Month [View article]
Diversification Tips From Marc Faber [View article]
Diversification: 10 Investments That Don't Correlate With the S&P [View article]
Actual farmland might be uncorrelated, but I don't have the tools to check. Ditto for farmland companies, of which I only know a few (say, CRESY, BLERF, TRGAF, etc.).
Consider Inverse ETFs for 2011 Investment Strategy [View article]
Power Up Your Portfolio With Uranium [View article]
SPDR S&P Global Natural Resources ETF Launched [View article]
Beware of the TIPS Spread in Deflationary Times [View article]
Understanding Cheese as a Commodity [View article]
A Ticking Time Bomb Under Emerging Market ETFs? [View article]
For example, the big developed-international ETFs (EFA, VPL, VGK) have total holdings of 35B, while the big emerging-market ETFs (EEM, VWO) have total holdings of 58B. Those are nowhere near market weights.
The Long and Short of Oil ETFs [View article]
This is an error. It's not true, and Don Dion of TheStreet did not say that. Read the original article for a proper description of the tax treatment. ETNs are taxed as stocks, period; there is none of that 60%/40% nonsense that ETFs trigger.
New Fund From State Street: Corporate Bond ETFs Go International [View article]
Commission-Free ETFs Enable Portfolio Building Using Asset Allocation Strategies [View article]
No, ETFs Are Not Perfect [View article]