etf

Lithium stocks have soared over the past 18 months as investors bet growing demand could lead to supply shortages.

Lithium is mostly used for industrial applications, such as glass, ceramics and lubricants, and to a minor extent for battery manufacturing and in consumer electronics....

Here are three new ETF launches. Each uses “quanitative modelling.” That may make their investment approach sound scientific; however, in our view, it will likely detract from their long-term returns. Many ETFs that use a socalled “black box” to pick stocks find the approach works only for a while, or in retrospect....

VANGUARD U.S. REIT ETF $84 (New York symbol VNQ; TSINetwork ETF Rating: Conservative; Market cap: $35.1 billion) provides exposure to a selection of U.S. real estate investment trusts (REITs). The fund does that by tracking the MSCI U.S. REIT Index....

The Thai economy is emerging from the slump caused by the political turmoil of 2013-15. During that period, a military coup ousted the country’s prime minister and installed a military-led government.

As a result, economic growth fell sharply as exports and tourism plummeted....

The ETF world is diverse, with a fund for every kind of investment strategy. That includes ETFs for those Canadians who want to invest in companies committed to protecting the environment and helping social causes. Here are two such funds:

ISHARES MSCI KLD 400 SOCIAL ETF $97 (NYSE symbol DSI; TSINetwork ETF Rating: Aggressive; Market cap: $932.5 million) avoids companies that derive a significant portion of their business from alcohol, tobacco, gambling, civilian firearms, nuclear power, military weapons, adult entertainment, and genetically modified organisms.

The fund invests in large U.S....

Investors are increasingly concerned about the high fees charged by many mutual fund managers, and rightly so: studies suggest that the average U.S. large-cap mutual fund underperformed the S&P 500 index by about 1.6% per year over the past 20 years. The Canadian market likely mirrors that.

A 1.6% underperformance per year may not sound like much, but fees wear away at investment outcomes....

Automakers increasingly rely on lithium and rare-earth elements to make batteries for their electric vehicles (EVs). In 2017, share prices for producers of those minerals jumped on speculation EV sales will eventually lead to shortages (see Supplement, page 10)....

The U.S. is the world’s largest ETF market, with a wide range of funds—from those focused on domestic or global equities to those focused on bonds, commodities or, even, hedge fund strategies. Canadians investing in U.S.-listed ETFs must keep several factors in mind:

• In the case of U.S.-listed ETFs that hold international assets, the foreign currency exposure may be hedged back to the U.S....

HORIZONS ACTIVE A.I. GLOBAL EQUITY ETF $25 (Toronto symbol MIND; TSINetwork ETF Rating: Aggressive; Market cap: $5.0 million) invests in major global equity indexes primarily available through North American-listed ETFs.

However, the fund’s portfolio manager is, in fact, a computer....

The growing commercial use of robots and computers with sophisticated learning and problem-solving skills will change manufacturing and service sectors over the next decade (see supplement page 9). Here is a look at two exchange-traded funds that provide easy access to those companies now leading the development of robotics, artificial intelligence and automation.

ROBO GLOBAL ROBOTICS AND AUTOMATION INDEX ETF $40 (Nasdaq symbol ROBO; TSINetwork ETF Rating: Aggressive; Market cap: $1.9 billion) invests in companies that use extensive robotic and automation technologies in their manufacturing processes or are directly involved in making and distributing those robotics as well as artificial intelligence and automation systems....