SeekingAlpha ETFs (Free subscription) | 2 hours ago
Michael Johnston submits: Despite an abundance of action on Monday, most major benchmarks finished the day little changed. In a reversal of recent trends on Wall Street, a series of seemingly-positive announcements failed to spark any sort of rally. News of a much smaller-than-anticipated bailout loss started the day, and reports of reduced consumer debt and more upbeat earnings projections...
SeekingAlpha ETFs (Free subscription) | 2 hours ago
Michael Johnston submits: Over the past two years, the primary focus of world leaders has been the series of economic crises that have threatened to erase years of progress and growth. With all available resources dedicated towards avoiding a prolonged downturn, many social and environmental issues have been moved to the back burner. Now, with a seemingly stable recovery underway, issues...
Michael-In-Norfolk - (Free subscription) | yesterday
I got my first launch into activism back in 2003 when a former roommate had a guy contact me about someone he suspected was a national "ex-gay" who had appeared in a Christian Right newspaper and TV blitz in 1998. It turned out that the gay in question was Michael Johnston , one time protege of Jerry Falwell and other far right gay-haters, who had been sleeping around the Hampton...
SeekingAlpha ETFs (Free subscription) | yesterday
Michael Johnston submits: Last month, Geary Advisors made its entrance into the ETF industry with the launch of the Oklahoma Exchange-Traded Fund ( OOK ), the first state-specific ETF available to U.S. investors. While the unique investment strategy of this ETF may have caught investors’ eyes initially, the truly interesting part of OOK is its risk and return profile. With a long...
SeekingAlpha ETFs (Free subscription) | yesterday
Michael Johnston submits: In the wake of the recent global recession, many investors have looked to Asia to lead the way to recovery. Emerging economies such as China and India have continued to expand at impressive pace, while Australia was recently one of the first developed markets to raise interest rates. But among these hot zones, Japan remains mired in an economic slump that is...
SeekingAlpha ETFs (Free subscription) | 12/06/2009
Michael Johnston submits: Unemployment was the story of the day on Friday, as a report from the Labor Department showed that unemployment unexpectedly declined to 10.0% in November. Only 11,000 jobs were shed in the U.S., the best monthly showing since December 2007. Economists had predicted a loss of 125,000 jobs and an unemployment rate holding steady at 10.2%. The news sent risky...
Abnormal Returns (Free subscription) | yesterday
... have reduced the fund’s fees to 0.20% which is highly competitive with other specialized ETFs. Michael Johnston at ETF Database takes an in-depth look at the fund in light of the results of a backtest of the fund’s underlying index. He comes away generally impressed with the fund’s (theoretical) past performance and finds it a cheap way to play the energy sector. Johnston writes:...
Eolake Stobblehouse blog (Free subscription) | 12/06/2009
Michael Johnston has made another intelligent article , questioning the need for more sharpness always. One of his commenters said: ""The sharper the better" is a truism that plagues the photography world and chatter like a disease." Yeah. Our minds too. Mine at least. I know better. Many of my favorite pictures in the world are not sharp at all. And yet I can't seem...
SeekingAlpha ETFs (Free subscription) | 12/04/2009
Michael Johnston submits: Anxiety over Friday’s jobs report dominated trading on Thursday, as investors worried that disappointing numbers could lead to a holiday shopping season even worse than last year . Elsewhere, Ben Bernanke received solid support from lawmakers, but criticism of the Federal Reserve was rampant in a hearing on Capitol Hill. Outside of Japan, which got a boost...
SeekingAlpha Energy Stocks (Free subscription) | 12/04/2009
Michael Johnston submits: In a cruel twist for countless investors, one of the most popular ETF investments of 2009 has also been one of the worst performers. Most equity ETFs and bond ETFs have posted huge gains this year, with several international ( HAO and RSX , just to name two) and sector-specific equity funds (such as PKOL ) gaining more than 100%. Even among commodity exchange-traded...
SeekingAlpha ETFs (Free subscription) | 12/04/2009
Michael Johnston submits: Thursday was a relatively uneventful day on Wall Street, with investors clearly looking ahead to a critical jobs report due out Friday morning. Analysts expect the monthly release to show that employers cut 125,000 from payrolls during the month of November, far fewer than the 190,000 jobs lost in October, but still a meaningful increase in the number of out-of-work...
SeekingAlpha ETFs (Free subscription) | 12/04/2009
Michael Johnston submits: The rise of the ETF industry has helped to establish commodities as the “fourth asset class,” making investments in natural resources available to more investors than ever before. Commodity exchange-traded products have attracted almost $29 billion in cash through the first 11 months of 2009, making this space one of the main drivers of growth in...
SeekingAlpha ETFs (Free subscription) | 12/04/2009
Michael Johnston submits: The rise of the ETF industry has helped to establish commodities as the “fourth asset class,” making investments in natural resources available to more investors than ever before. Commodity exchange-traded products have attracted almost $29 billion in cash through the first 11 months of 2009, making this space one of the main drivers of growth in...
SeekingAlpha Retail Stocks (Free subscription) | 12/04/2009
Michael Johnston submits: A critical five-week stretch for retailers has gotten off to a slow start , and news that November sales results missed analyst expectations have added further weight to an already sagging sector. Retail sales reports from the Black Friday weekend have done little to inspire confidence, and now many retailers are reporting that they came up short on analysts...
SeekingAlpha ETFs (Free subscription) | 12/03/2009
Michael Johnston submits: The National Stock Exchange has released the latest facts and figures on the ETF industry for the month of November, and the results continue to impress. Total ETF assets increased to $752 million, an increase of more than 6% over October results. Strong performances from equity markets played a major rise in the asset uptick, but cash inflows were a major contributor...
