Friday, April 19, 2024
Recently I received a note from a long-time subscriber asking what was going on with the Dividend Hunter recommended preferred stock ETFs. During the Covid crash, these ETFs and preferred shares in general were a great buy. With lower risk than regular shares, pre-fixed dividends, and fire-sale prices, those of my Dividend Hunter subscribers who […]
The recent strengthening of the U.S. Dollar has put pressure on risk assets. Looking at recent momentum of the dollar we may be approaching a top. A reversal could benefit sectors that have been getting crushed by a stronger dollar. In today’s video we look at one sector and on equity in particular that could […]
Options are commonly used as hedging instruments, especially options on indexes and ETFs. The iShares MSCI EAFE ETF (EFA) is a popular asset allocation ETF which invests in stocks in developed countries ex US. As such, it makes for a good product to hedge with (using options), since it tracks the global equities market fairly […]
It was the most challenging week in recent memory for blue chip retailers, with inflation and supply chain constraints hurting earnings and scaring away investors. Options action was mixed in Consumer Staples Select SPDR ETF (XLP), the leading retail sector ETF. One massive put spread that traded in XLP options during the week appears to […]
The market has been in a significant downtrend this year, but the ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK) has been hit even harder. ARKK is down 60% year-to-date as it holds some of the most speculative stocks from the past several years. However, several options trades last week appear to be from traders opening up bullish positions […]
With all the global uncertainty in the financial markets these days, gold has been a popular investment. One way to gain gold exposure is by using VanEck Gold Miners ETF (GDX). Gold miners are expected to thrive with gold trading around $1,900 per ounce. One trader sold a large block of puts last week in […]
Markets are in disaster mode. Since the end of April, the Dow is down about 3,000 points thanks to fears of inflation, recession, and rate hikes; the war in Ukraine; and nervous traders running for the exits. Unfortunately, should the Dow fail to hold support dating back to February, there’s no support until we drop […]
The Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) is a heavily traded ETF that tracks the Nasdaq-100. It’s been a tough year for QQQ as the predominantly tech-weighted index has seen plenty of selling of its largest components. QQQ is down almost twice as much for the year as the S&P 500. However, a covered call trader made […]
Gold has been a popular investment with inflation concerns currently a headline topic. The SPDR Gold Shares ETF (GLD) is one of the most popular methods for investing in gold. The heavily traded ETF is backed by physical gold. One thing GLD doesn’t do is pay a dividend. To generate a form of cash flow […]
As we tally up our investment results for the first quarter of 2022, this headline from Bloomberg sums up what happened to many investors: This doesn’t have to be true for you as an individual investor, but first, let’s see how the major market averages did for the quarter. Dow Jones: -4.5% Nasdaq: -9.08% Russell […]
