ETFs

While a number of investors shy away from Facebook’s volatile stock, others are anxiously awaiting the action, looking for alternative ways to invest in the social media network.

JPMorgan's multi-billion dollar loss is triggering questions from investors regarding the strength and stability of the financial sector, placing pressure on bank-sector ETFs.

Emerging markets are attracting investors' attention as rapid growth offers new investment opportunities.  

Assets in money-market funds slid by $14.78 billion in the week ended Wednesday, as investors withdrew money from nearly all asset categories, according to the Investment Company Institute.Money-market funds have seen mostly outflows this year, reflecting concerns about exposure to weak European assets.Total funds settled at $2.567 trillion in the latest week, according to ICI.Overall retail-fund levels decreased by $1.86 billion to $890.79 billion.

Marathon Oil Corp.'s (MRO) first-quarter earnings fell 58% from the year-ago period that included contributions from its former refining and marketing business, missing analysts expectations.Marathon reported a profit of $417 million, or 59 cents a share, down from $996 million, or $1.39 a share, a year earlier, when it still had large refining operations.

Investments in the mining industry in Brazil are set to reach $75 billion between 2012 and 2016, a record for a five-year period, Brazil's Mining Institute Ibram said Wednesday.Mining will be the biggest area of private-sector investments in the country during the next five years, said Ibram's president Jose Fernando Coura at a mining meeting in Bahia state in northeast Brazil.

DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

Following the first-quarter’s strong performance, some tech stocks are beginning to give back recent gains. Slower-than-expected earnings from a few of the sector’s bellwether stocks is hitting the market, casting a cloud over what has been an upbeat earnings season. 

As the global population grows and emerging markets thrive, fund managers are turning the potential water crisis into a profitable business.   

The global ETF industry is off to its best start to a year ever, attracting record inflows of more than $67 billion during the first quarter, a 57% increase from one year ago. 

This week marks the first anniversary of Scottrade’s FocusShares, the online brokerage family’s 15 exchange-traded funds that track Morningstar indices. 

The battle among exchange-traded fund providers is heating up as sponsors slash fees to stay competitive.

Although dividend-paying stocks are underperforming the S&P 500 index so far this year, analysts say there’s still room for high-quality stocks.

Actively managed exchange-traded funds are back in the spotlight this week, with the world’s largest bond fund, PIMCO Total Return now available as an ETF. 

The rising price of oil is sparking a rally in energy sector ETFs.

Investors are coming off the sidelines in early 2012 after many fled during the market turmoil last year. One particularly hot spot has been ETFs. 

Exchange-traded funds are generally seen as a tax-efficient asset class, but investors need to be cautious about so-called distributed capital gains taxes as the end of the year draws near. 

Various ETFs can make a small or large part of your portfolio, and they come in all different types. Figuring out where to begin can be overwhelming, but here is a guide on how to choose the right ETFs for you:

Not all target date funds are created equal.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has launched a broad, agency-wide review of exchange-traded funds to ensure they are adequately transparent and not fueling market volatility, a top agency official told lawmakers on Wednesday.

Gold will stay strong due to a lack of alternative havens for investors operating in a slowing global economy, top performing commodity fund managers told Reuters after taking a defensive approach and going into cash during September's gold sell off.