Tips and tricks for using ETFs

Tips and tricks for using ETFs

If you're thinking of using exchange-traded funds in your portfolio, there are thousands to choose from in North America. How do you go about figuring out which ones to buy? What are the pitfalls you should be worrying about? How do they compare with mutual funds?

Oliver McMahon, director of product management at iShares Canada, took your questions in a live discussion.

Just click on the live blog box below to replay the discussion. If you're seeing this on a smartphone, you might prefer to use this link.

Mr. McMahon has been with BlackRock since 1997. He spent four years as a portfolio manager with the firm’s Canadian equity hedge fund team and five years managing the Ascent UK quantitative equity strategies in London, England. He received his Chartered Financial Analyst charterholder designation in 2003 and holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Business Economics from the University of East London, England.

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Load up on gold ETFs In May

Load up on gold ETFs In May


Gold equities and related exchange traded funds listed on the TMX finally came alive this week after significantly underperforming the TSX composite index since the beginning of March. They are showing early technical signs of recovering from oversold levels (albeit they are in the red today amid the weakness in the broader market).

Canadian investors can choose between five ETFs when interested in entering the gold(GC-FT1,502.80-17.70-1.16%)sector. Each ETF has unique characteristics;

The most actively traded gold equity ETF in Canada is iShares S&P/TSX Global Gold Index fund(XGD-T22.38-0.37-1.63%) The fund tracks the performance of 64 precious metal stocks that make up the S&P/TSX Global Gold index. The index is capitalization weighted. Largest holding in order of weight are: Barrick Gold, Goldcorp, Newmont Mining, Kinross Gold, Anglogold Ashanti and Agnico-Eagle Mines. Management expense ratio is 0.55 per cent.

Horizons offers the BetaPro S&P/TSX Global Gold Bull + ETF(HGU-T12.38-0.43-3.36%) and the BetaPro S&P Global Gold Bear + ETF(HGD-T11.420.393.54%). Both are leveraged ETFs that track the S&P/TSX Global Gold index. The Bull ETF is designed to generate twice the daily upside performance of the index. The bear ETF is designed to generate twice the daily downside performance of the index. Management expense ratio is 1.15 per cent.

Horizons also offers the AlphaPro Enhanced Income Gold Producers ETF(HEP-T8.73-0.09-1.02%). The ETF tracks the performance of a portfolio holding 15 equally weighted senior global gold and silver producers. At or near the money listed call options are written against security positions. Option premiums and dividends earned by the fund are distributed to unit holders on a monthly basis. The strategy is enhanced by high implied volatility on the call options of senior gold producer stocks. Management expense ratio is 0.65 per cent.

Bank of Montreal offers the BMO Junior Gold Index ETF (ZJG-T19.36-0.30-1.53%). The ETF tracks a diversified portfolio of 32 junior gold stocks that make up the Dow Jones North American Select Junior Gold index. The Index is capitalization weighted. Largest holdings are Allied Nevada Gold, Detour Gold, Coeur D’Alene Mines, Alamos Gold, AuRico Gold and Nova Gold Resources. Management expense ratio is 0.55 per cent.

Seasonal influences for gold and gold stocks appear to be starting earlier than usual this year. Thackray’s 2011 Investor’s guide notes that the period of seasonal strength for the gold sector is from July 12th to October 9th and the period of seasonal strength for the gold equity sector is from July 27th to September 25th. The equity sector trade was profitable in 17 of the past 25 periods for an average gain per period of 6.8 per cent.

On the charts, the iShares S&P/TSX Global Gold index has a negative, but improving, technical profile. Intermediate trend is down. Units trade below their 50- and 200-day moving averages. However, short-term momentum indicators (Stochastics, RSI and MACD) are recovering from oversold levels and price relative to the TSX Composite index and gold turned positive this week.

Don Vialoux is the author of free daily reports on equity markets, sectors, commodities and Exchange Traded Funds. He is also a research analyst for JovInvestment Inc. Reports are available at www.timingthemarket.ca andwww.equityclock.com. Follow him on Twitter @EquityClock.

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Lloyds strategic review puts jobs at risk

Lloyds strategic review puts jobs at risk

New chief executive António Horta-Osório expected to unveil major cost-cutting drive this week

Up to 15,000 jobs face the axe at Lloyds Banking Group this week when new chief executive António Horta-Osório unveils plans to cut costs in an attempt to return the bailed-out bank to long-term financial health.

Presenting the outcome of his three-month strategy review on Thursday, the Portuguese-born banker will also signal his ambition to start paying dividends again next year when the EU ban on payouts to shareholders is lifted.

But analysts also expect him spell out the uncertainties he faces in achieving these goals – including international rules on how much capital banks must hold and the UK independent commission on banking's wish to see banks ring-fence their high street operations away from their investment activities.

The commission, chaired by Sir John Vickers, also wants Lloyds to divest more branches than the 632 the EU has already instructed the bank to sell, and is in discussions with Lloyds about how to bolster competition on the high street.

Horta-Osório wants to gather indicative bids for the 632 branches by July, to pre-empt any findings on the matter in the final Vickers report, which is due on 15 September.

Having earned a reputation as a cost-cutter at Spanish bank Santander, Horta-Osório, the City believes, will set out plans to axe an extra £1bn of savings, on top of the £2bn a year already being achieved as a result of the takeover of HBOS during the 2008 banking crisis.

Some 28,000 posts have already been lost as a result of the integration, and analysts estimate that another 15,000 jobs will now be cut.

Lloyds would not comment, but at a recent select committee hearing, Horta-Osório said his strategy would be "evolutionary", and that it would involve retrenchment of the bank's international operations. The Scottish Widows insurance operation is also expected be retained, and Horta-Osório has begun to rejuvenate the Halifax brand – inherited from HBOS – and position it as a competitor to Lloyds' high-street operations.

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Rachel Weisz Marries Daniel Craig

Rachel Weisz Marries Daniel Craig

Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz, who star as a married couple in a forthcoming film, have tied the knot in a secret wedding ceremony in New York.

James Bond star Craig was reported to have "top-secretly married" Weisz at a low-key ceremony with just four people present on Wednesday.

Slate PR, which represents Craig, confirmed the pair had married with only Craig's teenage daughter, Ella; Weisz's five-year-old son Henry and two family friends as guests.

The company did not offer any more details of the ceremony or about the couple, who met on the set of Dream House, due to be released later this year. The film is about a family who learns of the brutal murder of former residents of their seemingly idyllic new home. The pair had been quietly dating, and no information has been released about the honeymoon or why the ceremony was kept secret.

Craig, 43, rose to international stardom in 2006 when he became the sixth actor to play Bond. He will take on the role of the suave secret agent for the third time in the 23rd film, which will be released in October next year. His other film credits include Elizabeth, Layer Cake and forthcoming film The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

Weisz, 41, has appeared in films including The Mummy and About A Boy.Her role in 2005 film The Constant Gardener earned her an Oscar for best supporting actress.

Weisz's son is from a previous nine-year relationship with the Black Swan director Darren Aronofsky.

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Lyme disease isn’t only tick-borne disease

Lyme disease isn’t only tick-borne disease

Lyme disease isn’t the only reason to be on the lookout for ticks anymore. Babesiosis, a relatively new and possibly fatal infection is sweeping the northeast. Although only six cases were reported in 2001 in the Lower Hudson Valley, 2008 brought 119 cases of the tick-borne illness to the area ABC reports, illustrating the speed of the disease’s spread.

Unlike Lyme disease, the illness’s malaria-like symptoms frequently go unnoticed and when they are experienced, they usually consist of a low fever, chills and fatigue. Dr. William Schaffner, head of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical School explains the malady, saying, “For the most part, it doesn’t know how to make us sick. If you are young and healthy you may never know you have an infection and it comes and goes all by itself.”

While many victims regain their health without ever knowing it was in danger, the illness does pose a potentially deadly threat to patients whose immune systems are already compromised. The co-author of the paper that introduced the disease, Dr. Gary Wormser, reports that 1in 20 people hospitalized for the infection die because its impact is so variable. “Some people get over it spontaneously and other people get really sick,” Wormser tells ABC.

And this, the Daily Weston argues, is the scariest part of babesiosis. It can go completely unnoticed. The CDC reported that babesiosis is the infection most commonly transmitted through blood infusions, and samples are not systematically screened for the infection so detection of the illness depends solely on asking donors about their health.

Researchers are currently working on improving the treatment of babesiosis, and patients can currently expect to receive a combination of antibiotics and the malaria drug quinine. But the best way to defend oneself from babesiosis and other tick-borne diseases, like Lyme diseas, is prevention. ABC suggests having someone check your body for ticks after spending time outside and always using tick repellent. 

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Lyme Disease Skyrockets

Cases of Lyme Disease have tripled between 1992 at 10,000 cases nationally to almost 40,000 in 2009.

95% of Lyme Disease cases occur in 12 states: Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Maryland, Minnesota, Maine, New Jersey, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin. To complicate matters, as infection rates rise, a second, similar infection has been cropping up where Lyme Disease first became prominent- called Babesiosis. Babesiosis is slightly different, harms red blood cells and can mimic malaria in its symptoms.

As Americans increasingly make their way outdoors- and unfortunately, into the realm ticks occupy- CBS offers these tips to avoid Lyme Disease and Babesiosis-carrying ticks:

Avoid wooded, bushy areas with high grass, and stick to the center of hiking trails.

Use bug repellants that contain 20 percent or more of DEET on skin, or ones that contain permethrin on clothing. Some clothes are pre-treated with permethrin and can protect from ticks through 70 washes.

Even these measures can’t guarantee a tick won’t bite, so hop in the shower within two hours of returning from the outdoors to double-check and wash off any creepy crawlers.

If you find a tick latched on, use a fine-tipped tweezers to steadily lift it off – steady is the key word since twisting and jerking can break off parts of the tick, leaving it in your skin.

Clean the area with rubbing alcohol, or soap and water after removing the tick.

Don’t forget to check your pet- they’re at a high risk for bites, and ticks are harder to find under all that fur.

Have you ever had a close call with a deer tick?

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