Paul Weisbruch

Of life's many fields of endeavor, financial markets are among the most fertile grounds for the flawed logic that the longer something behaves in a particular way, the more likely it is that the trend will reverse. That is interesting because financial markets also brought us the logic that...

Ten-year Treasury yields are off just under 2 percent to start 2017, emboldening some bond bulls. Data confirm as much. Recent Prowess January was the best month of inflows to fixed-income exchange-traded funds since February 2015, as global bond ETFs hauled in $16.6 billion, according to recent...

The Financial Select Sector SPDR (NYSE: XLF), the largest exchange-traded fund tracking the second-largest sector weight in the S&P 500, has been on fire since Election Day, but closed slightly lower Tuesday. Upsides For XLF? Still, some data points suggest professional traders are expecting...

Broadly speaking, value stocks crushed their growth counterparts last year. The average growth mutual fund gained just 1.7 percent last year, severely lagging the average gain of 14.6 percent for value mutual funds, according to CFRA Research. The iShares Edge MSCI USA Value Factor ETF (iShares...

The iShares MSCI Brazil Index (ETF) (NYSE: EWZ) was one of 2016's best-performing single-country exchange-traded funds, but as was the case with many emerging markets ETFs, EWZ wilted in the fourth quarter as financial markets digested the results of November's U.S. presidential election. ¡...

As is usually the case, the VanEck Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSE: GDX) and the VanEck Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (NYSE: GDXJ), the two largest gold miners exchange traded funds by assets, had interesting years in 2016. All That Glitters After soaring out of the gates to place as two of the best...

Mid-cap exchange-traded funds have been among this year's best-performing broad market ETFs. Broadly speaking, mid-cap ETFs have also been prolific asset gatherers, but that trend is changing as 2016 draws to a close. DON And MDY The WisdomTree MidCap Dividend Fund (ETF) (NYSE: DON) and the...

As is the case with other precious metals exchange-traded funds, the year-to-date performance by the iShares Silver Trust (ETF) (NYSE: SLV) looks pretty good. SLV, the largest silver ETF by assets, is up 13.5 percent year-to-date, but looks can be deceiving. The rising dollar, the Federal Reserve...

The Federal Reserve's final meeting of 2016 kicks off Tuesday, and many market observers believe an interest rate hike of at least 25 basis points is a sure thing. With that in mind, investors are heading to some predictable destinations in the exchange-traded funds landscape. Trend Plays Out...

Sector exchange-traded funds are increasingly important parts of investors' portfolios, and that sentiment includes both professional and retail investors. These ETFs can help investors steer clear of a familiar dilemma that confounds legions of investors: identifying the right stock in the...

Among sector exchange-traded funds, the Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE: XLF) gets plenty of notoriety. Those are the breaks for the largest ETF tracking the financial services sector, which is now the third-largest sector weight in the S&P 500 following the separation of real estate...

The Consumer Staples Select Sect. SPDR (ETF) (NYSE: XLP), the largest consumer staples exchange-traded fund by assets, is up 6.4 percent year-to-date. That sounds pretty good until put into the context that XLP resides about 5.2 percent below its all-time high set in July and recently has shown...

There are plenty of total market exchange-traded funds on the market, and many are large in terms of assets under management — meaning it would be inaccurate to call these funds obscure. However, some do fit the bill as overlooked. Total Market ETFs That is the case with the iShares Core S...

It was not long ago that the PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish Fund (NYSE: UUP) was the king of currency exchange-traded funds. This year, thanks in large part to the Federal Reserve's refusal to raise interest rates, the dollar and UUP have almost been reduced to court jester status. What...

Sometimes what looks like a niche exchange-traded fund when it debuts reveals itself to be a credible concept. That might just be what is happening with the Amplify Online Retail ETF (NASDAQ: IBUY), which is just five months old. In reality, the concept of an ETF dedicated to online retail and e-...