ishares

With income investors still hunting for yield and developed markets' sovereign debt offering little in the way of impressive yields, emerging markets bonds remain a compelling avenue to juice current income. Exchange traded funds increase the accessibility of emerging markets bonds. The debut...

The premise is simple: in order for emerging markets stocks and related exchange traded funds to build on the impressive returns delivered in 2017, economic growth is essential. With the MSCI Emerging Markets Index up about 8 percent this year and several emerging markets ETFs adding assets at...

Sector exchange traded funds have become increasingly popular with advisors and investors. While broad market funds such as the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSE: SPY) give investors the benefit of diversity, sector funds allow users to overweight a specific group in an effort to identify potential...

Citi turned bullish on BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE: BLK) back in 2016, but the firm said its case for being aggressive on the stock no longer applies. The Analyst Citi's William Katz downgraded BlackRock's stock rating from Buy to Neutral with an unchanged $625 price target. The Thesis Citi...

High-dividend exchange traded funds struggled against the broader market last year. Just look at the iShares Select Dividend ETF (NASDAQ: DVY), one of the largest such funds. DVY trailed the S&P 500 by almost 700 basis points in 2017. Several of the S&P 500's highest-yielding sectors...

The iShares MSCI Peru ETF (NYSE: EPU), the only U.S.-listed exchange traded fund dedicated to Peruvian equities, is up 3.2 percent to start 2018. That is an admirable showing when considering the country's recent bout of political volatility. After pardoning former President Alberto Fujimori...

Last year was hard on value stocks, but not all exchange traded funds dedicated to the value factor turned in tepid performances. For example, the  iShares Edge MSCI USA Value Factor ETF (CBOE: VLUE) gained 22 percent, outpacing the S&P 500 Value Index by 670 basis points. With U.S. stocks...

Investors love low-cost exchange traded funds. Fortunately, ETF fees are declining, giving frugal investors plenty of choices for accessing multiple asset classes. When it comes to cheap small-cap ETFs, the Schwab US Small-Cap ETF (NYSE: SCHA) is one of the cheapest. With an annual expense ratio of...

The Dogs of the Dow strategy suggests investors buy the blue-chip index's 10 highest-yielding names at the start of a given year with the idea that the stocks can potentially top the broader market in the year ahead. “Dogs” strategies are not confined to the Dow or U.S. stocks, as...

The iShares MSCI Italy ETF (NYSE: EWI), the largest U.S.-listed exchange traded fund dedicated to Italian equities, jumped 28.5 percent last year, making it one of the best-performing single-country developed markets ETFs. Along the way, EWI outperformed the comparable Germany and Spain ETFs while...

Emerging markets are delivering for investors in 2017. The widely followed MSCI Emerging Markets Index is up 33 percent this year, and two emerging markets exchange traded funds — the iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (NYSE: IEMG) and the Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF (NYSE: VWO)...

Multifactor exchange traded funds are expected to be a future source of growth for the already fast-growing smart beta universe. Data suggest advisors and investors are likely to increase their use of multifactor ETFs in the years ahead. For now, many of the multifactor products on the market are...

By market capitalization and sheer population, the U.S. is by far the world's largest market for the technology sector. But there are plenty of viable, investable opportunities for technology investors outside the U.S. One of the primary ex-U.S. technology opportunities is Israel, the country...

One of the more obvious themes in the world of exchange traded funds this year is investors' overt preference for low-cost, ex-U.S. developed markets equity funds. Several of this year's top asset-gathering ETFs are broad developed markets funds that feature exposure to Asia-Pacific and...

It's easy for investors to get wrapped up in the conversation regarding fees on exchange traded funds. For investors planning to hold an ETF for a year, three years, five years or longer, fees matter. Investors' increasingly fee-savvy ways are prompting fund issuers to bring new,...