First Trust

Income investors looking for stocks that have achieved dividend achievers status do not need to confine their search to large-cap equities. A new exchange traded fund from First Trust provides a basket of mid- and small-cap stocks with dividend growth potential. The First Trust SMID Cap Rising...

Ex-U.S. developed markets stocks and exchange-traded funds have been popular destinations for investors this year as they search for value as the bull market in U.S. equities ages. With year-to-date ETF inflows already over $300 billion as of the end of August, ex-U.S. developed market funds are...

As has been widely documented, the technology sector is the best-performing group in the S&P 500 this year. Stocks with exposure to the booming cloud computing theme are a big reason why technology is soaring. Just look at the First Trust Cloud Computing ETF (NASDAQ: SKYY). The only exchange-...

With U.S. interest rates still near historic lows and other major developed markets sporting even more piddly sovereign debt yields, income investors continue embracing unique, high-yield asset classes such as preferred stocks. The universe of preferred exchange-traded funds grew Thursday with the...

The First Trust CBOE S&P 500 VIX Tail Hedge ETF, which debuted in 2012, is no more. That ETF has been rebranded into the First Trust Dorsey Wright People’s Portfolio ETF (NASDAQ: DWPP). DWPP tracks the Nasdaq Dorsey Wright People's Portfolio Index. That ETF always one of the three...

Sick of hearing about U.S. small caps and the relevant exchange-traded funds lagging their large-cap counterparts? It is understandable if investors feel that way, but it is concerning that the Russell 2000 Index fell 1.2 percent last week while the S&P 500 nudged modestly higher. As has been...

Since coming to market just over three years ago, the First Trust Dorsey Wright Focus 5 ETF (NASDAQ: FV) has proven popular with advisors and investors that follow Dorsey Wright's relative strength-based strategies. That sentiment is confirmed by FV's more than $2.4 billion in assets under...

Gone are the days when the First Trust Cloud Computing ETF (NASDAQ: SKYY) was assailed as a niche fund, too narrowly focused to make it in the hyper-competitive world of exchange-traded funds. SKYY turned six years old earlier this month, and the lone ETF dedicated to the fast-growing cloud...

Perhaps because it is not as glamorous as the technology or health care sector, the industrial sector does not often get the love it deserves. The same can be true of some of the exchange-traded funds dedicated to industrial stocks, but a sturdy industrial sector can be a positive sign for the...

It's simple math. It takes big gains to make up for big losses in financial markets. Actually, the gains have to be bigger than the losses to help investors just get back to even after incurring a big loss. Two new actively manged ETFs from Illinois-based First Trust operate on the premise that it...

Nearly 250 exchange-traded funds hit all-time highs on Tuesday. Included in that group were a slew of dividend ETFs, perhaps a sign that although financial markets are expecting the Federal Reserve to hike interest rates this year, the case for dividend-paying stocks remains firm. Up almost 4...

The financial services sector has been scorching hot over the past two months, and with the sector's earnings season in full bloom, some short sellers are taking the opportunity to prepare for pullbacks. Exposed: Between Bases That includes rising short interest in smaller, community banks that...

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...

With the low volatility, quality and value investment factors outperforming this year, it might be logical to assume momentum is struggling. FV: Gauging The Momentum Factor If the once beloved First Trust Exchange Traded Fund VI (NASDAQ: FV) is an accurate gauge, yes, momentum is struggling. Still...

First Trust, the seventh-largest U.S. issuer of exchange-traded funds, is already one of the largest purveyors of smart beta ETFs, including sector funds, added to its lineup of smart beta offerings last week with the addition of seven industry funds. The new ETFs from Illinois-based First Trust...