financials

Broadly speaking, big-name holdings in financial services exchange-traded funds, such as the Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE: XLF), delivered solid third-quarter earnings reports. Amid election year uncertainty and ongoing speculation about the timing of a rate hike from the Federal Reserve...

One of the more interesting events, at least for indexing nerds, recently occurred when the separation of real estate stocks from the financial services sector sparked the creation of an eleventh S&P 500 sector. So these days the Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE: XLF), the largest...

The financial services has been duly criticized this year for being a laggard in the face of still low interest rates, but the second-largest sector allocation in the S&P 500 has recently been improving. Over the past 90 days, the PowerShares KBW Bank Portfolio ETF (NYSE: KBWB) is up 5.4...

Fed fund futures now say traders are paring bets that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates later this month; but in August, inflows to financial services exchange-traded funds indicated otherwise. Financial services, the S&P 500's second-largest sector allocation behind technology...

India exchange-traded funds are lagging broader emerging markets indexes year-to-date, but that does not mean there is not momentum for the India trade. For example, the WisdomTree India Earnings Fund (ETF) (NYSE: EPI), one of the largest India ETFs trading in New York, is up an admirable 13.4...

It has been said throughout much of this year that the financial services sector, the second-largest sector weight in the S&P 500, has been a disappointment as the Federal Reserve has held off on raising interest rates. Still, traditional, diversified financial services exchange traded funds...

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...

Baird has downgraded Stellus Capital Investment Corp (NYSE: SCM) and New Mountain Finance Corp. (NYSE: NMFC) to Neutral from Outperform on valuation. The brokerage said BDC (business development company) valuations have rebounded meaningfully from earlier in the year. "Up from ~77 percent at the...

Barclays said Synchrony Financial (NYSE: SYF) remains its most attractive credit card stock following its recently announced capital plans. Last week, the company answered investors' biggest question when it announced its first dividend and buyback program ($0.13/share and $952 million,...

It’s a big week for big banks as they continue striving to deliver earnings in what is likely the harshest banking environment in history. Yet, Berenberg sees the potential for significant upside for selective bank investors ahead of Q2 earnings. U.S. banks face unprecedented regulation and...

BMO predicts an improvement in the system-wide fundamental credit quality over the next year-and-a-half and suggests "Value versus Growth" analysis remains the best way to generate investment ideas. BMO's call comes as the system-wide fundamental credit quality this quarter...

According to a report by Bloomberg, commodity-related revenue at the largest banks, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE: GS), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) and others, have plunged by a combined 40 percent year-over-year in the first three months of 2016. Bloomberg cited data from...

It is no secret that low, and even negative, interest rates throughout major developed markets are pinching financial services stocks and exchange-traded funds. The punishment extends beyond U.S.-focused ETFs. Negative interest rate policies (NIRP) should lower the cost of capital with the...

The S&P 500 is down again on Thursday following the release of unexpectedly hawkish Fed minutes from Wednesday. One sector, however, understandably demonstrated a strong initial surge following the news: big banks. But with the next potential rate hike still about a month away, what can...

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...