by Geoff Considine The yield of an asset is a key component of predicting future returns.  This is true for the yield on Treasury bonds as well as the dividend yield for stock indexes.  The yield on aggregate bond indexes is considered a good proxy for future expected returns.  The dividend yield of broad stock indexes has been [...]

Financial Times author, Ruchir Sharma, says that money flows into the emerging markets are more discriminate this decade. As the printing presses continue to hum, however, the question remains: where will the money go? 

A lackluster economic reading out of China contributed to a continuation of Wednesday's violent selloff and the major U.S. indexes were pointing sharply lower Thursday morning.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s Congressional testimony on Wednesday served as more evidence that the market is staying the QE course. The Fed will remain patient as it assesses the pace of economic improvement as policy makers take an ax to government spending and start sequester related lay-offs of federal and state employees.

The market only staged feeble bounce attempts in the afternoon after Fed minutes revealed more discussion about pulling back the reins on QE, but stocks did close slightly off lows due to a small push in the last half hour of the session.

Markets took their cue from Ben Bernanke today, as the chairman commented on the Fed’s monetary policy before the Senate’s Joint Economic Committee in Washington. Though Bernanke stated that the central bank will continue its current stimulus measures, he indicated that changes may be made, but when they will happen, he simply “does not know”.  The latest FOMC minutes reported today also reflected this sentiment, stating that a number of participants this month favored tapering the central bank’s $85 billion a month bond-buying program as early as the June meetings. Bernanke and the FOMC did, however, stress that no changes would be made without sufficient evidence of strong and sustained economic growth [see The Cheapest ETF for Every Investment Objective]. Global Market Overview: TLT Tumbles On Fed Tapering Fears, XLB Slumps Following Bernanke’s testimony and the release of the latest FOMC minutes, all three major U.S. equity indexes fell to close [...]

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In Congressional testimony on Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said that the central bank could begin winding down its $85 billion-per-month bond-buying program at one of its "next few meetings."

Minutes from the May FOMC meeting, however, showed that there is no consensus about when to begin pulling back

To better help investors allocate toward essential portfolio holdings, Blackrock’s iShares launched its line of “Core” exchange traded funds late last year. So far, the lower fees and broader market exposure have helped the new core offerings. The iShares Core S&P 500 ETF...

Alan Greenspan once said you only recognize bubbles after the fact.  This is another way of saying nobody ever pinpoints when the music is about to stop.  I’m bullish on stocks and contemporary art.  My assets nearly evenly spread between both classes so to hell with all the black swans.

Learn about a strategy you can use to get a little more upside, but protect yourself on the downside.

Symbols mentioned in this story: SPY, PG, IBM, JPM Exchange traded funds (ETFs) trade just like stocks, but instead of ''shares'' investors are actually buying and selling ''units''. These ''units'' can be traded back and forth just like stocks, but can also be created or destroyed to accommodate investor demand.

REITs have been the best performing major asset class since the market bottom in 2009, up over 200%.   What are the current drivers of REITs saying now across trend, yield curve, and valuation? 

By John Wasik (Reuters) – In a frantic search for yields, investors often turn toward relatively unknown products. Business Development Companies (BDCs) are one of latest vehicles to grab investor attention – and money. BDCs are companies that lend to young, thinly traded and often distressed companies that have credit ratings in the “junk” status. They are [...]

Also, the SPX appears likely to reach the target zone.

Here’s a look at the investments that make sense under today's trends—and those that decidedly don’t. Among those assets to avoid is gold.

Central banks of the UK and Japan are staying the course. Will the Fed follow?

Visit StreetInsider.com at http://www.streetinsider.com/news.php?st=p&id=8360025 for the full story.

Wall Street regained some of its momentum today as investors digested the latest commentary from two Fed officials. Helping boost equities were a pair of speeches from St. Louis Fed President James Bullard and New York Fed President William Dudley; Bullard commented that the central bank’s stimulus measures have been “effective” and expressed his continuing support of the program, while Dudley indicated that the Fed could change asset purchases in either direction. Meanwhile, investors remain somewhat cautious ahead of Ben Bernanke’s testimony before the Senate tomorrow and the release of the latest FOMC minutes [see The Cheapest ETF for Every Investment Objective]. Global Market Overview: Healthcare Shares Boost IHI And XLV Ahead of Bernanke’s testimony, all three major U.S. equity indexes rose to close in positive territory. The S&P 500 ETF settled 0.13% higher, with its underlying index on track for its biggest one-month point gain since October 2011. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF rose [...]

Click here to read the original article on ETFdb.com.

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There are three things investors should never bet against: one is the world's biggest fund manager, Ben Bernanke at the Federal Reserve Bank in Washington. The other is Mario Drahgi and the European Central Bank and most recently, the Bank of Japan.