financial services

The financial services has been duly criticized this year for being a laggard in the face of still low interest rates, but the second-largest sector allocation in the S&P 500 has recently been improving. Over the past 90 days, the PowerShares KBW Bank Portfolio ETF (NYSE: KBWB) is up 5.4...

It is no secret that low, and even negative, interest rates throughout major developed markets are pinching financial services stocks and exchange-traded funds. The punishment extends beyond U.S.-focused ETFs. Negative interest rate policies (NIRP) should lower the cost of capital with the...

This year is barely more than four months old, but it is not a stretch to say investors are tired of hearing about the negative impact low interest rates are having on financial services stocks and the relevant exchange-traded funds. The Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE: XLF), the largest...

A flattening yield curve and diminishing expectations that the Federal Reserve will be able to raise interest rates multiple times this year are among the factors dragging on U.S. bank stocks and the relevant exchange-traded funds. If higher interest rates really are efficacious for bank stocks,...

On Monday, 13 exchange-traded funds hit 52-week lows and four, or nearly a third, were financial services funds. Members of that dubious quartet were ETFs with significant exposure to regional banks, an industry that has seen rapidly eroding share prices in recent weeks. The SPDR KBW Regional...

It wasn't supposed to be this way for financial services exchange-traded funds. The Federal Reserve raised interest rates last month, doing so for the first time in nearly a decade, and market observers widely expect a couple of more rate hikes this year. Conventional wisdom dictates higher...

This year was meant to be a profitable one for U.S. banks. The U.S. Federal Reserve finally raised interest rates at the end of 2015, something many saw as a positive catalyst for the financial sector going into 2016. However, so far, banking stocks have gotten off to a rocky start, as investors...

Cryptocurrencies like bitcoin have had a lot of negative attention over the past year, as several hacking attacks and scams have painted the coins as an unsafe way to make transactions. However, blockchain, the ledger-like system that bitcoin runs on, has received a great deal of praise across...

Over 500 exchange-traded funds, nearly a third of the entire U.S. ETF universe, hit 52-week lows on Wednesday, and plenty of emerging markets ETFs were part of that dubious group. The Market Vectors Egypt Index ETF (NYSE: EGPT), the lone ETF dedicated to North Africa's largest economy, was part...

Shares of Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE: WFC) have declined 16.74 percent over the past six months, dropping to a low of $48.21 on January 19. Susquehanna’s Jack Micenko has upgraded the rating on the company from Neutral to Positive, with a price target of $56. Falling the pullback in...

As big name banks report this earnings season, one theme has become painfully clear: cost cutting. Problems stemming from China's weakening economy and the tumble in commodity prices have left big name banks to fend for themselves by controlling the only thing they can – their own costs....

Financial services stocks and exchange-traded funds have disappointed in the wake of the Federal Reserve's December interest rate hike, the first such action by the U.S. central bank in nearly a decade. For example, the Select Sector Financial Slct Str SPDR Fd (NYSE: XLF), the largest...

Dividend investors know how the story goes. Prior to the global financial crisis, bank stocks were some of the most reliable dividend payers among U.S. equities. Not only that, but major banks were also dependable dividend growers and decades of dividend growth from U.S. banks made the financial...