Jeremy Schwartz

There are two certainties in life, death and taxes, and there are two certainties when it comes to income investing. First, dividends are great. Second, steadily rising dividends are even better. Simple math dictates that, over long-term time frames, stocks exhibiting positive dividend growth...

The proverbial they say it has been a bad year for emerging markets equities and ETFs. They are correct, but only to a limited extent as it has been the largest developing markets and the corresponding ETFs that have been real laggards. By focusing on large-cap emerging markets stocks and some of...

A hallmark of many of the most popular dividend ETFs focused on U.S. equities is that these funds are usually tilted heavily toward large-cap stocks. Venerable dividend-payers such as Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP) and Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) are among the most...

The rise of China's shadow banking system and increased concerns about non-performing loans in the world's second-largest have prompted some global investors to be skittish about Chinese bank stocks. Although it is fair to say emerging markets financial services firms are riskier than their U.S...

Hedged currency funds have proven to be one of the popular sub-segments of the ETF universe in 2013. That much is highlighted by the fact that the WisdomTree Japan Hedged Equity Fund (NYSE: DXJ) is the world's leading ETF in terms of 2013 inflows. The statistics highlight the allure of the U....

Market rallies often have at least a few doubters and plenty of late arrivals to the party. Investors that fall into either category do have some options, though, including highly popular low volatility ETFs. However, conventional wisdom holds that those looking to skirt volatility should also...

Amid a spate of dividend increases by a plethora of blue-chip companies, 2013 is proving to be another good year for income investors. Not surprisingly, the ever-growing field of dividend ETFs, now home to about 50 funds and close to $70 billion in assets under management, and investors in those...

The rally in U.S. equities has, in large part, been lead by defensive sectors such as consumer staples and health care. As a result, valuations for stocks in these sectors are looking a tad frothy. For example, the Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR (NYSE: XLP) currently sports a price-to-earnings...

Well-documented have been the struggles of some emerging markets ETFs to start 2013. Among diversified funds, the two largest emerging markets ETFs, the Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF (NYSE: VWO) and the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index Fund (NYSE: EEM), are each off nearly two percent year-...

In the wake of Spanish equities tumbling on allegations of graft aimed at Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and Italian stocks coming under pressure on speculation that Silvio Berlusconi will win that nation's upcoming election, controversy again surrounds the European investment thesis. Declining...