Last December’s sell-off and the more recent declines in the global equity markets serve as a reminder that the historic decade-long bull market for U.S. stocks cannot continue unchecked.
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One of the key themes I’m watching for in 2019 is a continuation of the equity volatility we saw in 2018. The return of volatility may have caught some investors off-guard, having grown complacent in the relatively docile 2017.
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February’s increased volatility impacted both equities and fixed income, reminding all investors of the havoc that shifting interest rates can have on their portfolios. The correction occurred as U.S. bond yields headed higher, signaling a sell-off in the debt markets while also making equities less appealing.
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Our goal on the PowerShares ETF Capital Markets trading desk is to help our clients experience smooth and efficient ETF trades. In this blog series, I’m highlighting some of the most common guidance we provide. Today, I’m going to look at volatility – how it can distort the bid-ask spread, what to look for and how to get help.
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In my last blog post, I covered how to get the right price when trading ETFs. Now, we turn to the second part in this ETF trading series – timing.
It’s often said that exchange-traded funds (ETFs) “trade just like a stock”, but there are a few differences that can make buying and selling ETFs a little tricky, even for experienced investors. Here at Invesco, our PowerShares ETF Capital Markets help desk fields daily questions from advisors and institutional investors about how to trade ETFs more efficiently. I’ve compiled a few of the most common suggestions from those calls into a series of four blog posts.
Despite explosive growth in the use of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the last decade, a few persistent myths about them remain. On our ETF capital markets desk, for example, we often hear from advisors with liquidity concerns. The idea that volume equals liquidity persists among many investors, and advisors get a lot of questions about this from their clients. Let’s dispel this myth by looking a little deeper at the role of the market maker in ETF trading.
Bonds serve a crucial role in helping investors reach their investment goals. They generate income, provide a measure of principal protection and can mitigate volatility.
Thanks in large part to the popularity of smart beta and factor-based strategies, adoption of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) has grown rapidly in recent years. Some have even speculated that the growth of ETFs is skewing the valuations of certain stocks. I do not believe that is the case. Below, I explain why.
In today’s low-yield environment, fixed-income returns are uninspiring. Many advisors are looking to diversify beyond traditional fixed-income asset classes, and senior loans are an attractive floating-rate option for some investors.
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Recently, one of Invesco’s funds – Trimark International Companies Fund – was singled out for praise as an example that true active management can outperform. While the kudos were well-deserved for the team, it appeared as part of a commentary that was otherwise unsympathetic to active management.
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Modern behavioural science is revolutionizing fields as diverse as medicine, government policy and sports management. Nowhere does it have more potential to add value than in the field of finance, in my opinion. Case in point: smart beta factor-based ETFs.
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The S&P 500 Index has gained over 11%, since the U.S. presidential election, but recently we’ve seen the first +1% daily decline in the S&P 500 Index in over three months.1
Income-oriented stocks can provide investors with numerous advantages – including the potential for high, recurring income, a possible inflation hedge and added portfolio diversification. And while diversification does not ensure a profit or protect against loss, dividend stocks can serve as a significant source of investment returns. In fact, over the past two decades, dividends have contributed more than 40% to S&P 500 Index investors’ total returns.1
Income can be tough to find in today’s market. And for many investors, a monthly dividend payment is their primary investment goal. With domestic opportunities offering fewer diversification benefits, many investors are looking beyond the local markets for dividend income with greater diversification.
Factor investing has attracted a lot of attention from investors and media recently, but its roots can be traced back to the 1960s. As innovators in the factor-investing space, we believe in pushing the boundaries of portfolio construction with factor-based methodologies that go beyond traditional indices, allowing investors to target specific risk/return objectives with more precise portfolio-building tools.
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With interest rates at historic lows, investors entering retirement may be struggling to secure adequate income from their investments – particularly where capital preservation is also a priority.
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Investors tracking market-cap-weighted indices may be exposed to several flaws inherent to that approach. A rules-based Fundamental Index® approach focuses on the strength of the underlying business by looking at sales, cash flow, dividends and book value.
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We hosted two experts from S&P Dow Jones Indices for an in-depth conversation about low-volatility as an investment factor. In this final installment of the interview, we discuss different advisor views on low volatility, how it pairs with other factors and how it can be used in portfolios.
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Late summer has not been fruitful for the low-volatility factor. From July 6 to September 9, the S&P 500 Low Volatility Index has fallen by 4.67%, while the S&P 500 Index gained 1.70%.1 This is in sharp contrast to the second quarter, when the low-volatility index returned 6.75%, and the broad-market index returned 2.46%.1 Naturally, some investors are wondering what’s behind the shift.
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