ishares

Gold and the corresponding exchange traded funds are encountering some fourth-quarter lethargy. Slack in demand is one reason why the once-soaring commodity is retreating in the latter stages of 2017. Over the past month, the SPDR Gold Shares (NYSE: GLD), the world's largest ETF backed by...

In the world of exchange traded funds (ETFs), there are funds dedicated to share buybacks and plenty dedicated to dividends. A few ETFs combine both avenues of shareholder rewards. The newest entrant is the aptly named iShares U.S. Dividend and Buyback ETF (CBOE: DIVB). The iShares U.S. Dividend...

Rock-bottom pricing in the exchange traded funds universe has long since traversed the emerging markets space. These days, investors can consider a number of low-fee products to gain exposure to developing economies, including the increasingly popular iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (...

As issuers of exchange-traded funds continue pushing the envelope when it comes to lower fees, an increasing array of market segments are getting cheaper for investors to access. No longer are low-fee equity funds solely reserved for the large-cap space. Investors can tap smaller stocks, including...

When it comes to fee battles in the world of exchange-traded funds, such tussles usually take place among issuers. Several major brokerage firms have made it cheaper for investors to trade ETFs by offering commission-free programs, an arena that's proving to be a new frontier of cost tussles....

One of the primary reasons exchange-traded funds continually take market share from actively managed mutual funds is lower fees. Data confirm as much. Just look at this year's most popular ETFs in terms of new assets added. Many of those funds can be considered “cheap” as they have...

The value factor is lagging its growth and momentum rivals in a big way this year, but that does not mean obituaries for value stocks should be written. Some exchange-traded funds dedicated to value stocks offer long-term promise, particularly at a time when the value factor is doing what it is...

Even with many U.S. equities, investors are getting international exposure whether they know it or not because many large- and mega-cap U.S. companies are legitimate multinational firms that derive significant portions of their sales overseas. That is true of scores of big-name U.S. companies...

Seasoned emerging market investors know that even supposedly diversified emerging markets exchange-traded funds are heavily allocated to Chinese stocks. Those allocations stand to increase following MSCI's June announcement that China A-shares, the stocks trading in Shanghai and Shenzhen, will...

BlackRock Inc. (NYSE: BLK), parent company of iShares, the world's largest issuer of exchange-traded funds, bolstered its fixed-income footprint Thursday with the debut of four new bond funds. Two of those new products are smart beta funds while the other pair focus on environmental, social and...

Equity-based exchange-traded funds are still the kings of the ETF universe, a throne unlikely to be relinquished anytime soon, but data suggest bond funds will be integral components of ETF growth. Increased adoption among financial advisors is seen as a significant growth frontier for bond ETFs....

Interest rates are expected to continue rising in the United States with many market observers believing the Federal Reserve will follow up its March interest rate increase with one or two more rate hikes later this year. However, income investors are still looking for yield beyond U.S. government...

Among single-factor exchange-traded funds, the offerings focused on value were among those able to outperform broader, capitalization-weighted benchmarks in 2016. Investors rewarded value's resurgence by sending billions of dollars of fresh capital into value ETFs, and for some value ETFs, that...

Last year was another banner year of growth for the exchange-traded funds industry. Here in the United States, the world's largest ETF market, ETFs gathered $279 billion in new assets on their way to a record assets under management tally of $2.549 trillion at the end of the year, according to...

Investors continued pouring assets into exchange-traded funds last year, sending global ETF assets under management to another all-time on the heels of record asset gathering of $375 billion. Predictably, those trends benefit the largest ETF issuers, including BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE: BLK)'s iShares...