According to ETFdb, a popular web site specializing in Exchange Traded Products, “the upcoming IPO highlights an interesting element of index-based exchange-traded funds: the waiting time between a public offering and inclusion within these products can vary considerably, and depend on a number of factors”.

As Exchange Traded Funds continue to change their “profile pic” (or holdings) to include Facebook, which will trade under the symbol of FB, let’s look at some ETFs that may potentially include FB in their lineup.

SOCL – Global X Social Media ETF may very well be the first to include FB in their holdings. With an inception date of November, 2011, it is a fairly new ETF.

QQQ – NASDAQ 100 ETF seems like an obvious choice although it may be approximately three months before it is able to include FB due to the “seasoning” period that new listings must endure before being added.

XLK – SPDR Technology ETF will be another potential buyer but in order to make it into the S&P Technology Select Sector Index, a company must be included in the S&P 500. That will likely take a while for Facebook.

Keep in mind that there are other Exchange Traded Products on the market that offer exposure to technology and each has their unique perspectives and characteristics. It is important to determine if they are appropriate for your personal portfolio.

Disclosure: Worth Financial Group Representatives may or may not hold a position in Equities and/or Exchange Traded Products mentioned.

Contact us if you would like to discuss your financial goals with a Worth Financial Group Representative.

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This is a post from Worth Financial Group: Which ETFs Will Friend Facebook?

The highly regarded Bill Gross, the co-chief investment officer and founder of Pacific Investment Management Co. (PIMCO) may or may not be shaking up martinis, but he is definitely shaking and stirring up the Bond industry.

The recently launched PIMCO Total Return ETF (BOND) charges annual expenses of just 0.55% and is managed by Bill Gross. By comparison, the $252 billion PIMCO Total Return Fund (PTTAX), which is also managed by Gross, charges 0.90% for the waive load shares. For cost conscious investors, going with BOND versus PTTAX adds up to almost a 40% savings in annual fees according to a recent article by Ronald Delegge of ETFguide.com

Financial advisors and their clients are being offered a potential bargain: Funds managed by established managers with rock bottom expense ratios in the form of Exchange Traded Funds.

Another advantage of BOND is its much smaller size. With just over $500 million in assets, Gross can invest in ways that a much larger fund like the PIMCO Total Return Mutual Fund can’t. For instance, BOND can potentially take sizeable positions in corporate bonds without disrupting or influencing the market, whereas his behemoth $252 billion Total Return Fund would likely be forced to use derivatives states Mr. Delegge.

Although investors should always read a current prospectus, recent holdings show BOND holding 294 bonds with an average effective maturity date of just over 7 years and the fund’s distribution yield at 1.44%. The bulk of assets are invested in U.S. government bonds and mortgage backed securities.

Keep in mind that there are other Exchange Traded Products on the market that offer exposure to Bonds and each has their unique perspectives and characteristics.  It is important to determine if they are appropriate for your personal portfolio.

Disclosure: Worth Financial Group Representatives may or may not hold a position in Equities and/or Exchange Traded Products mentioned.

Contact us if you would like to discuss your financial goals with a Worth Financial Group Representative.

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This is a post from Worth Financial Group: BOND Likes It Shaken, Not Stirred

It all went horribly wrong when the cord snapped about halfway into the jump. The terrifying moment was caught on video and she is seen hitting the water with her feet still tied before being swept towards rapids. She miraculously survived with some cuts and bruises.

Almost as thrilling, the Reserve Bank of Australia recently cut its benchmark rate by a larger-than-expected 50 bps to 3.75%, as “economic conditions have been somewhat weaker than expected, while inflation has moderated” according to a media release by the RBA.  As if attached to a bungee cord, the Aussie Dollar plunged while the Australian securities market bounced.

EWA, The iShares MSCI Australia Index Fund seeks to provide investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of publicly traded securities in the Australian market, as represented by the MSCI Australia Index.

FXA is the symbol for CurrencyShares Australian Dollar Trust which is designed to track the price of the Australian Dollar net of Trust expenses.

Although there is no official word, most would probably agree that anytime a bungee cord breaks and you are attached to it (whether it is in the market or on vacation) it is not a “G’Day, Mate”.

Keep in mind that there are other Exchange Traded Products on the market that offer exposure to Australia and each has their unique perspectives and characteristics.  It is important to determine if they are appropriate for your personal portfolio.

Disclosure: Worth Financial Group Representatives may or may not hold a position in Equities and/or Exchange Traded Products mentioned.

Contact us if you would like to discuss your financial goals with a Worth Financial Group Representative.

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This is a post from Worth Financial Group: Bungee Cord Jumping in Australian ETFs

Pairs trading with Exchange Traded Funds can also dance or doom depending on the combinations.

Past performance does not predict future performance and pairs trades can lose their affection for each other just like a Varsity Cheerleader and the Captain of the Football team.

Pairs are usually in two sections:

•        Pairs that tend to move in the same direction
•        Pairs that tend to move in opposite directions

An example of pairs that have shown movement in the same direction could be Gold (GLD) and Silver (SLV). If an investor thought that Gold was going to rise but didn’t want to over-allocate in one ETF, they could put part of a position in GLD and part in SLV.

An example of pairs that have shown opposite directional movement could be the S&P 500 (SPY) and the U.S. Dollar. UDN is designed to gain value if the U.S. Dollar drops in value. In the past, when the U.S. Dollar has moved down, the S&P 500 has increased in value. If an investor thought that the S&P 500 was going to rise, they might take a long position in both the SPY and the UDN.

Keep in mind that there are other Exchange Traded Products on the market that offer exposure to a high correlation to a variety of markets and each has their unique perspectives and characteristics.  It is important to determine if they are appropriate for your personal portfolio.

Disclosure: Worth Financial Group Representatives may or may not hold a position in Equities and/or Exchange Traded Products mentioned.

Contact us if you would like to discuss your financial goals with a Worth Financial Group Representative.

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This is a post from Worth Financial Group: Finding A Date For The Prom With ETFs

Here in the United States of America, real gross domestic product (GDP) increased 3.0 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011 after increasing 1.8 percent in the third quarter, according to estimates released on March 29, 2012 by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.  Many in the investing world perceived this to be good news.

Recently the Chinese announced their GDP and in its latest forecast the World Bank has cut its outlook for China from 8.4% to 8.2%. While this growth rate seems enviable, it is a 13-year low. That is what I mean by everything being “relative”!

Three Exchange Traded Funds that are designed to track indices in China include iShares FTSE China 25 Index Fund – FXI, iShares MSCI Hong Kong Index Fund – EWH, and SPDR S&P China ETF – GXC.

Keep in mind that there are other Exchange Traded Products on the market that offer exposure to China and each has their unique perspectives and characteristics.  It is important to determine if they are appropriate for your personal portfolio.

Disclosure: Worth Financial Group Representatives may or may not hold a position in Equities and/or Exchange Traded Products mentioned.

Contact us if you would like to discuss your financial goals with a Worth Financial Group Representative.

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This is a post from Worth Financial Group: Thou Shall Not Covet Thy Neighbor’s GDP

While the markets are trying to determine if the Glory Days are over in equities, we will take a look at our own “E” Street band of potential issues.

E – Europe – Spain and Portugal have put Europe back on the front page of the headlines. ETFs to watch could include the MCSI European ETF, VGK, which is designed to rise in value on positive news coming out of Europe. Proshares offers a leveraged, inverse ETF, EPV, which offers exposure to a potential increase in value if the European Index declines in value. Keep in mind that EPV is rebalanced daily and many prefer to leave leveraged, inverse ETFs to an experienced investor.

E – Earnings – This week is start of earnings season and all eyes will be on the bellwether companies. ETFs to watch may include IWB, iShares Russell 1000 Index Fund. If Apple continues to climb, the ETF QQQ which has held approximately 17% of Apple in the holdings may be worth watching.

E – Employment – Jobs, jobs, jobs or lack of them will continue to make headlines. If we see poor unemployment reports, the overall market can potentially get nervous. An ETF to watch may include SPY, which is designed to track the S&P 500. One inverse ETF designed to rise in value if the S&P 500 falls in value is the ProShares ETF, SH.

E – Easing – “QE 3” or easing by the Federal Reserve is off the table until it is back on the table! If a third round of quantitative easing makes an appearance many eyes will watch the ETF, TLT which tracks the Barclays Capital U.S. 20+ Year Treasury Bond Index.

So will the market be Born To Run or will it be Dancing in the Dark? It remains to be seen, but we will be actively evaluating our own “E” Street.

Keep in mind that there are other Exchange Traded Products on the market that offer exposure to a variety of markets and each has their unique perspectives and characteristics.  It is important to determine if they are appropriate for your personal portfolio.

Disclosure: Worth Financial Group Representatives may or may not hold a position in Equities and/or Exchange Traded Products mentioned.

Contact us if you would like to discuss your financial goals with a Worth Financial Group Representative.

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This is a post from Worth Financial Group: The E-Street Band of ETFs

iShares MSCI Mexico Investable Market Index Fund (EWW) appears to be taking a walk on the beach as it has been steadily rising since the first of the year.  As it approaches the 52 week high, investors need to determine whether the fund will continue the momentum and break through to new highs or view it as resistance and pull back.

The Fund invests in sectors, such as consumer staples, telecommunication services, materials, and consumer discretionary which are common themes in emerging markets.

If you book a trip, walk on the beach, sip a Margarita, and try some guacamole all in the name of research in this ETF, feel free to give us a call and let us know what you think!

Keep in mind that there are other Exchange Traded Products on the market that offer exposure to the Mexico and each has their unique perspectives and characteristics.  It is important to determine if they are appropriate for your personal portfolio.

Disclosure: Worth Financial Group Representatives may or may not hold a position in Equities and/or Exchange Traded Products mentioned.

Contact us if you would like to discuss your financial goals with a Worth Financial Group Representative.

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This is a post from Worth Financial Group: Spring Break for Exchange Traded Funds

We all need food to live and making the correct food choices can be difficult. There are certainly areas of the globe that must deal with a shortage of food rather than abundance but the central theme is that we all need food!

The ETN with the symbol FUD tracks UBS Bloomberg CMCI Food Index Total Return. It measures the collateralized returns from a basket of 11 futures contracts from the agricultural and livestock sectors. The commodity futures contracts are diversified across three constant maturities from three months up to one year.  Another fund that is intended to reflect the performance of the agricultural sector is the PowerShares DB Agriculture Fund with the symbol DBA. Both funds are listed in the Agriculture Commodity sector.

Whether you are running on a treadmill to work off your last meal or driving through the fast food line to take in your next meal, it is interesting to think about the agriculture products that go into our food.

Keep in mind that there are other Exchange Traded Products on the market that offer exposure to the agriculture markets and each has their unique perspectives and characteristics.  It is important to determine if they are appropriate for your personal portfolio.

Disclosure: Worth Financial Group Representatives may or may not hold a position in Equities and/or Exchange Traded Products mentioned.

Contact us if you would like to discuss your financial goals with a Worth Financial Group Representative.

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This is a post from Worth Financial Group: Exchange Traded Products for Those That Like to Eat!

First released in 1985, the Clapper allows its user to activate up to two appliances using sequences of claps. A remote control device did essentially the same thing, but apparently it was just too exhausting to occasionally have to get up and find the remote control device!

UBS, the issuer of two unique ETNs may be trying to attract the couch potato in all of us with their “risk on / risk off” offerings. The term “risk on / risk off” is a term that has become popular recently as highly correlated assets can potentially move together when overall markets rise and other correlated assets can potentially move together when investors seek safer havens.

ONN, the symbol for ETRACS Fisher-Gartman Risk On ETN Profile and OFF, ETRACS Fisher-Gartman Risk Off ETN Profile consists of a mix of long and short positions in various asset classes whose overall value is expected to rise when the outlook on markets and the broader economy is positive and to decrease when such outlook is negative.

The two ETNs or Exchange Traded Notes are fairly new issues with an inception date of November 30, 2011. Time will tell whether ONN and OFF will continue to attract investors or go the way of the “Clap on / Clap off” – The Clapper!

Keep in mind that there are other Exchange Traded Products on the market that offer exposure to diversified markets and each has their unique perspectives and characteristics.  It is important to determine if they are appropriate for your personal portfolio.

Disclosure: Worth Financial Group Representatives may or may not hold a position in Equities and/or Exchange Traded Products mentioned.

Contact us if you would like to discuss your financial goals with a Worth Financial Group Representative.

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This is a post from Worth Financial Group: Exchange Traded Products For Couch Potatoes

“The government will use the unique global opportunity of St. Patrick’s Day to bring that message to all our key global markets and to Ireland’s many friends around the world,” he said in a statement.

1737 was the first year St. Patrick’s Day was celebrated in America in Boston, Massachusetts. The first official St. Patrick’s Day parade was held in New York City in 1766. As the saying goes, on this day “everybody is Irish!” Saint Patrick is most known for driving the snakes from Ireland.

EIRL is the ETF issued by iShares that tracks the MSCI Ireland Capped Investable Market Index Fund. It seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the MSCI Ireland Investable Market 25/50 Index.

Investors willing to participate in the Ireland ETF have been as elusive as a four-leaf clover with an average daily volume of approximately ten thousand shares.  Although volume can be a less important indicator for ETFs, many investors prefer a higher average volume.

Keep in mind that there are other Exchange Traded Products on the market that offer exposure to Ireland and each has their unique perspectives and characteristics.  It is important to determine if they are appropriate for your personal portfolio.

Disclosure: Worth Financial Group Representatives may or may not hold a position in Equities and/or Exchange Traded Products mentioned.

Contact us if you would like to discuss your financial goals with a Worth Financial Group Representative.

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This is a post from Worth Financial Group: Will Irish Eyes Smile on the Ireland ETF?