The largest U.S. high yield bond ETFs have seen sizable net outflows thus far in 2023, but in mid- March, there are positive signs. According to VettaFi’s investment sentiment analysis, high yield bond ETFs represented a higher percentage of the corporate bond fund traffic on VettaFi platforms in mid-March relative to a month earlier. In [...]

The post Chart of the Week: Advisors Looking to Understand High Yield Credit Risk appeared first on ETF Trends.

The upward momentum of markets in the first month of the year could be a sneak peek of potential winners on the other side of the Fed’s rate-hiking regime. Advisors overwhelmingly are looking to small-caps as the most attractive option in the next six-12 months as rate hikes ease and inflation falls. The Nationwide Russell [...]

The post Advisors Watching Small-Caps Should Consider NTKI appeared first on ETF Trends.

Experienced healthcare investors know several important facts regarding large-cap, blue-chip biopharma companies. First, these firms enjoy a limited amount of time when their blockbuster drugs corner a specific niche. Then, patent protections expire and generic competitors can join the party. Second, that creates pressure to ensure that pipelines are full with new potential blockbusters. Third, [...]

The post Innovation Is Crucial to Healthcare Sector Long-Term Growth appeared first on ETF Trends.

It may not be a repeat of the global financial crisis. Hopefully it won’t be, but recent stress in the global banking system is chasing many market participants to familiar safe haven assets. That includes gold, and the aforementioned bank duress largely explains why the largest gold-backed exchange traded fund is higher by nearly 3% [...]

The post Bank Calamity Renews Gold’s Safe Haven Status appeared first on ETF Trends.

With turmoil in the banking sector spreading to the broader market, many investors are seeking safety in large-cap stocks, including large-cap technology stocks. Within large-cap technology, semiconductor stocks have done particularly well as advances in ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence continue to be one of the only bright spots among a banking collapse, interest rate [...]

The post Semiconductor ETFs and the Tale of 2 Tech Stories appeared first on ETF Trends.

Amid escalating costs associated with combating climate change and achieving net-zero goals, some market observers believe there is potential for credit quality on corporate debt to suffer. That could highlight exchange traded funds such as the Calvert Ultra-Short Investment Grade ETF (NYSE Arca: CVSB). While CVSB is new to the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) [...]

The post Rising Climate Costs Could Hamper Corporate Bond Credit Quality appeared first on ETF Trends.

Mark McGrath knows how difficult it can be to arrange for retirement. Almost ten years ago, he saw his father struggle with losing his identity as a business owner after selling his store and retiring. It culminated in tragedy.  McGrath, a certified financial planner with Sweeney Bride in Squamish, Canada, wrote about his father’s passing [...]

The post Sweeney Bride’s Mark McGrath on the Challenges of Retirement appeared first on ETF Trends.

In a complicated quarter of 2023 so far, there have been a few investing styles and themes that have stood out as more durable than the others despite rising rates and bank crisis volatility. Foreign equities and value have each shown some positives, and it may not be too late to combine the two in [...]

The post Don’t Miss Out as Emerging Markets Value ETF Signals Buy appeared first on ETF Trends.

Economic uncertainty continues to equate to market uncertainty this year as advisors and investors weigh constantly evolving economic data and what it could mean for the Fed rate hiking path as it works towards reaching a terminal inflation rate of 2%. While it remains to be seen whether the U.S. will fall into recession and [...]

The post Seeking Income Within Equities: Nationwide’s Interchangeable ETFs appeared first on ETF Trends.

The Federal Reserve voted unanimously to raise interest rates by 0.25% Wednesday but a tonal shift in the message from the Federal Open Market Committee post-meeting indicates that there might be an end in sight for rate hikes sooner rather than later, given bank sector stress. Language in the press release indicates that the Fed [...]

The post Marathon Rate Hikes Could Be Nearing End appeared first on ETF Trends.

The banking crisis that has now claimed Credit Suisse has everyone evaluating bank-related risks across ETF portfolios. It’s a no-brainer that ETFs accessing financials and related segments to varying degrees are faced with risks associated with this crisis. It’s also pretty obvious that exchange-traded notes (ETNs) are in the line of fire as unsecured debt [...]

The post What to Know About ELNs in a Banking Crisis appeared first on ETF Trends.

As the bank crisis hots up for the U.S. ETF market, the contagion may now be impacting mortgages. The average rate on the 30-year fixed dropped to 6.57% at the start of this week, and as mortgage rates tend to follow the yield on the 10-year Treasury has also dropped due to the bank crisis, [...]

The post Real Estate ETFs Take Bank Hit, Volatility ETFs Ride appeared first on ETF Trends.

In its attempt to bring inflation down to 2%, the Federal Reserve announced its intention to raise interest rates by 25 basis points, raising the target range for the federal funds rate to 4.75% and 5%. While inflation has come down to 6% for the 12 months ended February from its peak of 9.1% in [...]

The post Fed Chair Expects “Bumpy” Road Ahead appeared first on ETF Trends.

Treasury yields are all the rage right now, but with the Fed’s rate hikes continuing this week, getting the right exposure to Treasuries is important. As eyes turn towards short-duration Treasuries, it may be worth revisiting the ABCs of FRNs, or floating rate notes a unique flavor of Treasury offering available via the WisdomTree Floating [...]

The post The ABCs of FRNs: Get Floating Rate Note Yields in USFR appeared first on ETF Trends.

As the month is nearing a close, volatility is a key theme in markets in March. March has seen about twice as many trading sessions in the tails (recording daily moves of at least 1%) compared to the past 20-year average. As advisors look for ways to reduce volatility in client portfolios, the night effect [...]

The post Volatility Is a Key Theme in Markets in March appeared first on ETF Trends.

The ALPS Equal Sector Weight ETF (EQL) offers unique exposure to the U.S. equity market. EQL provides equal access to each sector, offering a more balanced approach than funds tracking the cap-weight S&P 500, such as the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY), and has the added benefit of avoiding the potentially adverse impact of rallies or crashes [...]

The post How Does EQL Compare to SPY? appeared first on ETF Trends.

By now advisors have heard of the growing interest in international equities, and for good reason — lots of investors are looking for return that isn’t significantly exposed to U.S. equities teetering from rising rates and bank crisis volatility. For those looking to get deeper into the subject, recent research from Richard Bernstein Advisors (RBA) [...]

The post Why Compare U.S. and International Equities This Year appeared first on ETF Trends.

China has been the world leader for clean energy for over a decade, and continues to expand its renewable energy production as it works to curb still rising emissions and meet net-zero goals set forth by President Xi Jinping. Investors looking to capture the opportunities as demand for renewables within China continues to rise to [...]

The post China Dominates Global Renewable Energy, Invest with KGRN appeared first on ETF Trends.

By Chris Konstantinos, CFA, Director of Investments, Chief Investment Strategist SUMMARY Policymakers’ swift action should stem contagion risk from reaching large US banks, in our view. We believe implications include a less hawkish Fed, lower bank earnings, more regulation, and potentially lower economic growth. The stock market is likely to remain range bound in the [...]

The post Policymakers Come to the Rescue of Beleaguered Banks appeared first on ETF Trends.

Despite the weakness seen in the energy space last week as the banking crisis unfolded, nothing has changed for midstream fundamentals. Oil prices fell by approximately 5% each day on March 14 and 15 to levels not seen since December 2021. The commodity selloff and a general risk-off sentiment pressured energy stocks broadly, but some [...]

The post The Energy Transition Is a Big Opportunity for Midstream appeared first on ETF Trends.