My Investing Notebook » etf

Defense ETFs

Stanley — Tue, 25 May 2010 14:16:53 +0000

Some good quality Defefense ETFs

Fidelity Select Defense & Aerospace (FSDAX)
iShares Dow Jones US Aerospace & Defense (ITA)
Source: Kiplinger’s

ETFs That Fight Inflation

Stanley — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 13:16:57 +0000

Coming from the Feb 2010 SmartMoney magazine.

iShares Barclays TIPS Bond (TIP)
1-5 Year US TIPS Index (STPZ)
IQ CPI Inflation Hedged (CPI)

Betting on Stock Market Downturn

Stanley — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 16:07:58 +0000

It’s not easy to be in the stock market in the past few days and weeks. I had a feeling that the stock market recovered a bit too high too soon. I should have capitalized on that. How? By betting that it will correct itself. How do you do that? By “shorting,” which is a way to make money when a stock goes down: you’re basically betting that a stock will go down, and when it does, you make money. I just discovered that there are now ETFs designed specifically for that purpose. That’s a very good investor’s resource, in my opinion.

Here are a few ETFs that do the “shorting” for you:ProShares Ultrashort ( (QQQ)) – rewards a fall in the Nasdaq;Proshares Ultrashort S&P 500 ( (SDS))- rewards a fall in the S&P benchmarkProshares Ultrashort Dow 30 ( (DXD)) – rewards the fall in the bluechip industrials.

Rydex recently rolled out eight new ETFs, half of which offer double-inverse plays on the energy, financial, health care and technology sectors. The Rydex Inverse 2x Select Sector Financial ( (RFN)) – up more than 8 percent in light Thursday trading.

Keep in mind that “shorting” can cause unlimited losses: if stocks go up, you lose. But these ETFs do limit the risk somewhat and that is a very good think.

Reference

Shorting Stocks Could Be Way to Play This Market, cnbc.com article

Some technology ETFs; CLUB

Stanley — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 18:39:58 +0000

Being well diversified is the key to long-term investing. If you were not, you probably learned from the recent correction. I began moving towards big, dividend paying, safe companies for some time. As a result, my portfolio is in good shape after the correction. The fact is, though, the economy is slowing and might even go through a recession. It doesn’t mean that there are no good picks. Actually, the best time to buy is during market downturns.

Here are some of the stocks and ETF that I’m currently looking at. I think technology is a good place to be in the near future. There is decent growth and the stocks do not look overpriced. I am going to have to pick on technology oriented ETF and invest in it.

Software and Technology ETFs

Software ETF ( (SWH))

iShares S&P GSTI Software Index Fund ( (IGV))

PowerShares Dynamic Software ETF ( (PSJ))

Technology Select ETF ( (XLK))

Town Sports Intl ( (CLUB))

Strong membership growth; profits should follow.

International ETFs

Stanley — Mon, 02 Oct 2006 21:56:41 +0000

I am just looking over the 2006 Semi-Annual iShares MSCI Series report I received today. I’m thinking, US economy will slow in the next year or two. Looking at the markets outside of US, I might want to invest in other assets.

For instance, iShares Australia Index (EWA). 1 year return: 15.83%; 5 year return: 148%.

Brazil Index (EWZ): 1 year: 70%; 5 years: 187%

Canada Index (EWC): 1 year: 33%; 5 years: 103%

Mexico Index (EWW): 1 year: 45%; 5 years: 194%

Those are some impressive returns. I like Canada and Australia indexes: stable countries with very good results. I should have invested in Brazil when it went down a year or two ago; same with Mexico.