Investment strategies

With low rates likely to persist, advisors will have to choose between a low return, currency-hedged, indexed global bond portfolio, or one that incurs greater risk and higher cost in pursuit of larger returns.

As advisors work to diversify client portfolios, they may need to pay more attention to the percentage devoted to emerging market equities versus emerging market debt.

The active versus passive debate extends beyond the U.S. market to international investing as well, says advisor and Financial Planning contributor, Allan Roth.

The Internal Revenue Service has published 2010 statistics on foreign trusts indicating an increasing interest in foreign investment by U.S. taxpayers, and the impact of changes made in 1996 to information reporting requirements.

Vanguard is establishing an intermediary business in Hong Kong. Along with the new business unit, Vanguard also said the announcement of its first locally domiciled product offering in Hong Kong is imminent.

Why do investors need foreign stocks or funds? Why not just buy U.S. companies that do a great deal or even most of their business overseas? A number of factors make international companies and funds attractive.

Before you begin reaching out to a potential client, know the rules of their home country.

While ETFs open the door to the entire foreign stock universe, they can also substantially alter sector weightings.

While many Americans are comfortable investing in foreign multinational companies whose brands are household names in the U.S., the prospect of owning smaller overseas equities can be intimidating.

There are a number of issues advisors should make sure are addressed before putting a client in international equities.

As global growth slows, emerging markets economies are catching up. And the result is a global paradigm shift of historical proportions.

A bias toward domestic investment is understandable, but the U.S., big as it is, is not the world. We exist in a global economy and for advisors and their clients to restrict their thinking to within our borders means missing out on some tremendous companies and potentially lucrative investments.

Direxion has added two new leveraged exchange-traded funds: the Direxion Daily Brazil Bull 3x Shares (BRZU) and Direxion Daily South Korea Bull 3x Shares (KORU), to its portfolio.

The debate over whether large banks are still "too big to fail" has spread like wildfire in recent months.

Some U.S. trade competitors may see efforts to boost liquidity as intentional manipulation of the dollar.

European investors also turned negative, although their pessimism was less pronounced. Asian institutional investors grew slightly more optimistic.

Nuveen Investments has launched two new dividend-focused funds.

The index maven at Standard & Poor’s shies away from predictions, but expects one of two scenarios: one optimistic and the other pessimistic. And he likes index funds.

Recent statistics show that fears that the country's growth will come to a standstill are unfounded.

Two former UBS executives are determined to change how investors access emerging markets by targeting specific sectors and themes.