The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) will hold a policy meeting on Tuesday, December 1st. General consensus is that the RBA will hike rates 25bps to 3.75%. In light of the emergence of the Dubai debt crisis, Tuesday’s RBA policy meeting takes on added importance for the global markets and risk sentiment. The Dubai debt [...]

Morningstar submits: By Bradley Kay Over the last few years, ETFs have been introducing individual investors to a rapidly expanding universe of potential diversifiers at a tiny fraction of the fees charged by actively managed hedge funds. One such "hedge-fund-light" strategy is the “carry trade,” one of the oldest strategies in finance, in which an [...]

Michael Johnston submits: Effective December 1, the Financial Regulatory Authority (FINRA) will implement new margin requirements for leveraged ETFs and uncovered options overlying leveraged ETFs. Under Regulatory Notice 09-53, which was first released in August of this year, margin requirements for leveraged and inverse leveraged funds will increase significantly beginning on Tuesday. “In general, FINRA [...]

Barclays (the proprietor of iShares ETFs) has just introduced a new leveraged exchange-traded vehicle known as the ETN+ notes. First, it is important to note that these products are not technically ETFs, but ETNs. ETN stands for Exchange-Traded Note as opposed to ETF which stands for Exchange-Traded Fund. An ETN is a debt obligation of [...]

AP – Investors shook off some their worries about the strength of holiday sales and Dubai’s financial problems, and extended the stock market’s big November gain. Related Reading:Stock Market Trends: Ho-Ho-No.Trading Earnings: Are You Ready for a Pillow Fight?Stock Market Trends: ba, ba, ba Bennie and the BearsStock Market Trends: Out Fishing for Sucker-FishStock Market [...]