Shlomi Cohen submits: On Thursday, network chip maker EZchip (Nasdaq: EZCH) will report results, and I expect that for the first time in the company’s history, it will move to double digit quarterly revenue of over $10 million. In the second quarter, there was a drop to $6.7 million, after its largest customer, Juniper Networks (Nasdaq: JNPR), temporarily halted orders and used up the chips in its inventory. In addition, it turned out then that Juniper planned to use self-developed chips, rather than EZchip’s, so that in a few quarters, Cisco (CSCO) - through Marvell (MRVL) - will become EZchip’s biggest customer. The interesting thing is that in parallel with EZchip's results on Thursday, Juniper is holding a press conference with announcements of new launches to mark the share's move from Nasdaq to the New York Stock Exchange, under the same symbol. In honor of the event, it is even unveiling a new corporate logo.Complete Story »
Shlomi Cohen submits: Morgan Stanley analyst Mary Meeker spoke about mobile Internet-connected devices at the Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco. She expects that we are at the beginning of a massive technology revolution of the mobile Internet, led by Apple’s (AAPL) mobile devices the iPhone and iPod Touch, two devices with the highest growth rate ever in the history of new launches.According to Meeker, the revolution will be ten times greater than the desktop Internet revolution, and it is expected to grow at a much faster pace. Surrounding the revolution, all of today’s wireless technologies will flourish: WiFI, GPS, 3G, Bluetooth, and others.Complete Story »
Michael Johnston submits:Tuesday was an interesting day on Wall Street, as investors reacted to the unveiling of a controversial bailout plan, a welcome rise in home prices, and a major setback for comprehensive health care reform. The Dow eked out a gain thanks largely to a rally in IBM shares, but most broad-based indexes were down.The ETFdb 60 Index, a benchmark that includes the entire universe of assets available through exchange-traded products, dropped 4.92 (0.5%) to close at 999.51. Tuesday marked the third consecutive losing session and a monthly low for the benchmark. Complete Story »
Larry MacDonald submits: An International Monetary Fund (IMF) working paper released this month asks: Is the Canadian Housing Market Overvalued? The study concludes that house prices in Alberta and British Columbia are now only 8% overvalued while house prices in Ontario, Quebec, and Saskatchewan are close to equilibrium (as of end of the second quarter of 2009). Complete Story »
Michael Johnston submits:IndexIQ, a pioneer in the hedge fund ETF industry, has expanded its product line to include two new ETFs designed to provide protection against inflation: the IQ CPI Inflation Hedged ETF (CPI) and IQ ARB Global Resources ETF (GRES). These ETFs hit the market at a time when investors are becoming increasingly concerned about the intermediate and long-term impact of massive stimulus plans implemented to combat the recent recession. Although deflation is a more immediate concern, worries about runaway inflation over the next 24 months have investors seeking out options to provide a real return and protect their assets. Inflation-protected securities funds such as TIP and WIP have seen huge surges in popularity as investors look to establish inflation hedges. But these products have never been truly tested in a hyperinflationary environment. Moreover, according to IndexIQ (pdf), TIPS may have a higher correlation to bonds than inflation and higher levels of volatility than CPI in certain environments.Complete Story »
Casey B. Mulligan submits: Last spring I suggested how it was a bad sign that the Chicago Bulls were willing to sell me 180 tickets, rather than the usual 90.Now, with little effort, I have been able to find people who would like to use the extra 90 (and share proportionally in the cost).Complete Story »
By Chad BrandAlthough I am not an aggressive buyer of stocks in general nowadays (the U.S. market has rarely been this overbought in the short term), that does not mean bargains do not exist. After analyzing dozens of third quarter earnings reports so far and listening to company conference calls this month, it is clear that certain sectors still have negative sentiment despite relatively strong cash flows. In an overextended market, those areas can still be a focus for investors on the long side.Healthcare, Financials, and Telecommunications are three sectors in which I still favor searching for bargains. Fears over Healthcare reform are clearly overblown. Whatever final bill passes the Senate and is signed by President Obama is quite likely to increase the number of Americans enrolled in the health insurance market, which in turn means more people being covered and having access to doctors and medications. Given the current outline of the legislation, it is hard to see how the health insurers and the drug companies will be meaningfully hurt by this reform. If anything, the demand for their products and services will get a bump. And yet, investors can still buy leading firms in these two industries for single digit forward P/E multiples.Complete Story »
By John Addison My test drive of the new Ford (F) electric car for 2011 demonstrated that Ford is building an electric car that millions will want. The Ford Focus EV prototype provided a quiet and smooth drive for a prototype. One Ford engineer indicated that he was going beyond a 60-mile daily range in Michigan without nearing battery depletion.Complete Story »
Tom Lydon (ETF Trends) submits: The American Reinvestment and Recovery Act was formed with a lot of money to be allocated and spent giving certain ETFs a boost, but it appears there are other loopholes to face. Under the Recovery Act, counties are allocated large sums of low-interest bonds to give to private projects. However, there are pros and cons to the Obama administration’s efforts to stimulate the economy. Investment projects — especially for infrastructure and new technologies — produce limited, delayed results. Programs intended to keep people afloat seem to do the most to lift the economy, states Charles Euchner of The New York Times.Complete Story »
Tom Lydon (ETF Trends) submits: After a year of aggressive stimulus measures, China’s economy, along with related ETFs, seem to have come out of the financial crisis better than many other countries. But there are some minor issues that need resolving. The joblessness attributed to the weakened export-oriented industries has been supplemented by job opportunities in infrastructure-related employment, writes Ted Plafker for The New York Times. Exports dropped 22% in the first half of 2009 compared to the same period last year.Complete Story »
Tom Lydon (ETF Trends) submits: As the global recovery has surged, the shipping sector and related ETFs have clipped along at a slower but steadier pace. Some say that shipping may ultimately be a more reliable indicator of a recovery.Activity in the shipping sector can send strong, indisputable signals about the state of the global economy. What’s the message it’s sending now? The signals seem to be mixed:Complete Story »
Tom Lydon (ETF Trends) submits: As the ETF industry grows, new and increasingly more esoteric product types are appearing. Do they have a place in your portfolio? A few experts weighed in on the topic during a webcast earlier this month.David Hoffman and Evan Cooper for Investment News report on how certain industry insiders feel about non-traditional ETFs in portfolios. The excellent and informative full webcast can be viewed in Investment News’s archives.Complete Story »
Tom Lydon (ETF Trends) submits: President Barack Obama unveiled an initiative to help fund the largest energy grid modernization in United States history. The investment could have a wide-ranging impact on ETFs. The Obama Administration has announced that it’s investing $3.4 billion in order to fund this project. Through the plan, 100 private companies, utilities, cities and manufacturers will receive grants ranging from $400,000 to $200 million inorder to build a smart energy grid, reports Lynn Sweet for The Chicago Sun-Times. So far, these awards are the largest Recovery Act awards ever made on one day.Complete Story »
