Index Funds, Where Are We Now?
While following important economic news as it continually streams through headlines, its akin to wrapping your mouth around a fire hose to quench your thirst; however it’s essential to consider how these developments are affecting your investments. Take a look at how a couple of major indexes and index funds have performed since the beginning of the year…
PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish (NYSE:UUP) -1.53%
U.S. Equity:
SPDRS S&P 500 Index (NYSE:SPY) -1.22%
Technology:
PowerShares QQQ (Nasdaq:QQQ) 0.94%
Europe, Australia-Asia iShares MSCI EAFE Index (NYSE:EFA) -15.77%
Energy:
United States Oil (NYSE:USO) -1.82%
Precious Metals:
iShares Comex Gold Trust (NYSE:IAU) +9.57%
Fixed Income:
iShares Barclays 7-10 Year Treasury (NYSE:IEF) +12.70%
The Market:
The S&P 500 index, as tracked by the SPDRS S&P 500 Index fund, has fluctuated over the year; however, this fund did start to rise in recent months as investors moved in. From the beginning of the year to now, the S&P 500 (as well as the DJIA) has at times seen gains of close to 10%. However, for 2011 the performance has just below zero. (For a complete guide, check out our Index Investing Tutorial.)
Pullbacks and Producers
Gold futures prices, followed by the iShares Comex Gold Trust fund, have continued to trade at record highs. IAU has recently settled at $15.70.
Technology is currently flat compared to the beginning of the year as top PowerShares QQQQ fund holdings like Apple (Nasdaq:AAPL), Qualcomm (Nasdaq:QCOM) and Google (Nasdaq:GOOG) are all flat as well.