Neil Azous

Yes, that headline indicates that what follows is a discussion on French stocks and the iShares MSCI France Index (ETF) (NYSE: EWQ), the largest France exchange-traded fund listed in New York. Oui To EWQ EWQ is more than 20 years old and home to $284 million assets under management. It is the...

It is the second-largest sector weight in the S&P 500 and also the worst-performing corner of the benchmark U.S. equity gauge this year, but with Election Day finally here, it is possible the worst is behind the healthcare space. The Health Care SPDR (ETF) (NYSE: XLV), the largest healthcare...

Shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) are up nearly 23 percent year-to-date, and it seems like hardly a day goes by without a sell-side analyst upgrading his or her price target on the stock to $900 or $1,000. Of course, Amazon's ascent is good news for the funds with substantial weights in...

Against the backdrop of safe-haven demand for the yen, Japanese stocks and exchange-traded funds are struggling this year, but the scenario could improve in the fourth quarter. On the surface, many investors might criticize the lack of inflation, weak macro data and Japan’s corporate exposure...

Up nearly 12 percent year-to-date, the Technology SPDR (ETF) (NYSE: XLK) is the third-best sector SPDR exchange-traded fund this year. That alone implies XLK, the largest technology ETF by assets, merits another look, but there are more reasons to revisit XLK and rival technology ETFs. It's More...

There is often a fine line between legitimate value and value traps. Where the laggard financial services sector and its corresponding exchange-traded funds fall this year is up for debate, but there is no debating that the S&P 500's second-largest sector weight is a dud to this point in...

There was a time when “technology sector” and “dividends” did not belong in the same sentence, unless that sentence was saying the former did not deliver much of the latter. Times, of course, change, and when it comes to changing times for technology stocks and dividends,...

Emerging markets stocks and exchange-traded funds are thought to be strong performers this year, but the reality is the MSCI Emerging Markets Index is down 0.1 percent. Still, that is better than what investors became accustomed to diversified emerging markets benchmarks over the past few years....

Alright a couple of a caveats here. First, the Guggenheim CurrencyShares Australian (NYSE: FXA) has, until recent weeks, been one of the better-performing developed market currency exchange-traded funds this year. Second, it is not wise to turn leveraged ETFs, vehicles meant to be short-term...

Take a poll of investors who are familiar with low-volatility exchange-traded funds, of which data suggest there are plenty, and ask those investors what sectors they would use to build a new low-volatility ETF. Chances are those polled would say a low-volatility ETF should include consumer...

Among futures-based oil exchange-traded products, the United States Oil Fund LP (ETF) (NYSE: USO) gets the most attention. USO tracks front-month West Texas Intermediate futures, the U.S. benchmark oil contract. USO And BNO However, Brent futures are the global oil benchmark contract. Fortunately,...

There is no dearth of exchange-traded funds that have “benchmark” status, and plenty of those are believed to be sound gauges of risk appetite. One of the more overlooked ETFs in terms of gauging market sentiment and risk appetite might just be the Ishares MSCI Europe Fincls Sctr Indx...

If precious metals exchange-traded funds, such as the SPDR Gold Trust (ETF) (NYSE: GLD) and the iShares Silver Trust (ETF) (NYSE: SLV), were to be compared to high school sports teams, the gold funds would be the varsity team while SLV and friends would be the junior varsity squad. That is not so...

Sometimes, “better” is a relative term, but there is no denying the Vanguard Emerging Markets Stock Index Fd (NYSE: VWO), iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Indx (ETF) (NYSE: EEM) and other emerging markets exchange-traded funds are certainly acting better to start 2016 than they did in...

To say the United States Oil Fund LP (ETF) (NYSE: USO), which tracks West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures, is a flawed product is accurate and fair. Over the past three years, USO is down 77.1 percent, but the exchange-traded product remains a favorite, on both sides of the oil trade, of...