A severe food shortage is on its way, according to famed investor Jim Rogers. Food inventories are the lowest in decades and "[m]any farmers cannot get loans to buy fertilizer now, even though we have big shortages developing," he said.
Charles Schwab will likely come in below analysts' estimates when it releases fourth quarter earnings on Thursday. Among its problems: a slowdown in trading volumes and an acceleration of money market fund fee waivers.
Retail investors who think they're missing out on the big money because they don't have a million bucks to get into a hedge fund should consider themselves lucky. Hedge funds had their best year in a decade in 2009 -- and yet they couldn't even beat the broader market.
As ETFs absorb more money and attract more scrutiny, an independent trade organization may be necessary for their operators, both to market the popular new products and to educate consumers and advisers about their possible risks.
There's one word to describe the exchange-traded bond fund business and market in 2009 -- booming. Indeed, last year more than $39 billion flowed into long-only bond ETFs, while more than $26 billion flowed out of long only U.S. stock ETFs. Can fixed-income investors expect more of the same in 2010?
Providers of exchange-traded funds and notes had a strong 2009 and the new year is shaping up to bring more of the same. But what's good for ETF companies isn't necessarily good for investors.
Exchange-traded funds have never been more popular. They're passively managed, which makes them cheap, like mutual funds, and they trade all day long, like stocks. But Wall Street greed might make ETFs the next good investment vehicle to go bad.
There was a time not long ago when nobody knew what an ETF was. Now, just when you've gotten accustomed to ETFs, you've probably begun hearing a bit of buzz around their cousins, the ETNs: exchange-traded notes. Here's what every investor should know.
