Heythere

Checking In on the Dent Tactical ETF

Like his research, don't like his investing. Dow 40,000, now Dow 5,000? He's all over the place.

Why You Shouldn't Hold Leveraged ETFs Long-Term

squark62, there are other media outlets and blogs in the world besides Seeking Alpha. This is a great site, but please don't use it as your only research source. There have been multiple articles on Ignites, Wall Street Journal, IndexUniverse, Morningstar, etc. The companies have already publicly announced their rewriting of the funds' prospectuses, which is evidence enough of the massive media presence of this issue.

Why You Shouldn't Hold Leveraged ETFs Long-Term

This has been discussed frequently the last 6 months, if you don't get it, you shouldn't be investing in non-stock/bonds ETFs.

WDavid, there are similar risks w/ -1x ETFs; however, they are relatively small compared to the +/- 2/3x funds.

Kunst, it depends on when you are holding them. Had you been holding FAS (3x long) the last 11 months, you would be down 56%, whereas the index is up 17%. If you started your position in the end of June and sold in the end of September, you would have been up 78%, whereas the index was up 24%. Do you notice the wide disparity in its performance? Anyone can get great performance and claim that these funds are great over the long-term, but the truth is, you need to be able to accurately predict both the market trend and the volatility. Congrats for doing well, but this will not be consistent.

iShares Proposes Two New Corporate Bond ETFs

For Investment Grade ETFs, you are definitely forgetting CSJ (1-3 years) and CIU (intermediate term). These funds have been growing steadily, currently at $3.8 billion and $1.8 billion, respectively. Obviously they are not as large as LQD, but they launched 5 years after LQD.

I do agree with your broad comment though, there are not enough bond funds, specifically on the international side.

Keeping Unemployment Numbers Real

I think the term "getting less bad," which is used by 95% of market analysts and economists, is quite possibly one the dumbest statements ever created. How can getting less bad translate into the end of the recession?? Using U-3 unemployment and a decline in jobless claims is an awful measurement. Maybe part of the reason for the decline in jobless claims is that the amount of employed workers which are used in this calculation is declining. How about using the jobless rate, include those that have given up on finding work, include those that have moved from full-time to part-time.

All analysts seem to focus on indicators that favor signs of a recovery, which will lead to an even larger correction when everyone finally faces the fact that the world of the working class and middle class, which actually create value in the economy, rather than paper value (which gets the largest compensation), is becoming signficantly worse.

Ignorance is bliss.

Will DENT Dent ETFs’ Low-Cost Image?

In your Fund of Funds comments, you forget to include QAI and MCRO by IndexIQ Advisors. Both of these ETFs state a total expense ratio of 75 bps. The issue with this quoted expense ratio is that it does not include the expenses the fund will pay to its ETF holdings. Including this, the company expects a total expense ratio of 100 to 110 bps. Still nowhere near the DENT fee, but I feel that the future expenses for more "unique" themes/strategies will lie somewhere between the two.

Despite Dedicated ETFs, No Reliable Way to Play Natural Gas

"I own some BJS shares. I wish there was a better way to play the price of natural gas than UNG and GAZ. Both rely on natural gas futures, not the price of natural gas itself. Thus, neither FCG nor ENY reliably track the price of natural gas because of contango."

FCG does not track the price of natural gas because it is not a pure play on natural gas. Many of the companies that it holds are not solely dedicated to the natural gas business. In addition, you also are exposed to a layer of corporate risk, which further enhances the tracking error of a stock ETF to an underlying commodity.

UNG and GAZ are the only two funds impacted by the effect of contango/backwardation, not FCG and ENY.

Even if contango narrows, you still have to deal with the fact that UNG closed at a 16% premium. Since the fund will now start issuing new shares at the end of the month, the market price will converge with the NAV. If natural gas falls, you will experience an additional loss of 16%. If natural gas appreciates, then you may either stay flat, and not experience the potential appreciation, or you may actually lose money. *all of these impacts are assuming that you enter positions now*

Is Wells Fargo Regretting Its Wachovia Acquisition?

I would expect, with a title like this, that you would provide a little more substance to your argument. Don't say "winner's curse" without providing anything to support that statement. Also, aren't all banks (ex-GS of course) under intense regulatory scrutiny?

Could the reason that they were the last to repay TARP be that they decided to take a little more time to resolve some internal issues as opposed to just repaying immediately to save face with the public?

Colonial Bank Failure Highlights the Problem

Great article. My only problem is the reference to Mary Antoinette. She was in touch with the masses, and was merely guilty by association, which was why the French to this day sincerely regret her beheading. I know, this is quite a silly note.

Are GLD and SLV Legitimate Investment Vehicles?

You are a complete idiot. they do hold physical gold. individual investors and work with APs to get physical gold. 100% of GLD is in physical gold. GLD has a .99 correlation with gold spot. Talk with the PMs to get accurate information instead of speculating. DO YOUR RESEARCH. SLV is structure the same way.

People like this author try to stir up the markets for their own benefit (similar to Bill Gross and PIMCO), so how about you do everyone a favor and sit on your hands.

Goldman's Blowout: Time to Play Financial ETFs Again?

don't know where you are getting your charts from, but all three have crossed the 200 and 50

Bullish Crude Oil ETFs Showing Strength

With regards to commenting on the "quadruple" inverse of the gain for DTO, you may want to indicate that you are referring to the nominal amount. The fund is performing as it is supposed to, which is -2X the % return, not the nominal amount.

Why Is Congress Reinstating the Uptick Rule?

Interesting article that has received some interesting comments. 1. I do believe that the uptick rule should be reinstated, b/c it is another form of recovering investor sentiment. If they feel that the market is receiving more regulation, that will promote the removal from this absurd increase in the National savings rate. 2. The claim that those that short are not investors is a ludicrous statement. When was it defined that in order to be an investor, you can only buy or sell shares? Why can't you gain when the market turns down. Shorting maintains equilibrium in the markets. 3. Yes, naked shorting is bad, it lead to the downfall of BSC and LEH. I hope that the discussion of investigations into the trading activity is more than just "talk" and those that participated are brought to justice. I believe that the distruction of two financial giants is on the similar level, if not worse, as the Madoff scandal.

All-in-all, you can make arguments on both sides of the table. I don't believe there is a right answer to this issue so we should just respect everyone's opionion.

"Knibb High Football Rules!" Who knows there that is from? Just have to have fun with everything going on right now.