SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) Rocked with Biggest One Day Outflow

SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) reported it experienced its biggest gold outflow of gold for one day since August 2011. Gold bullion held by the ETF fell by 20.77 tons on Wednesday when the market made a big correction.

Much of this was the result of the orchestrated move by the Federal Reserve to allow the appearance some of its members are questioning whether it should continue with its quantitative easing policy even if it doesn't reach its unemployment target.

A hedge fund rumor floated throughout the day that one had to sell a lot of gold to cover itself. That proved to be unfounded, although combined with the Fed minutes and uncertain economic outlook made for the perfect storm to drive the market and price of gold down.

After the outflow of gold, SPDR currently holds about 1,300 tons of gold. The highest amount it has held as in the last month of 2012, when the total reached 1,353 tons.

Most of this is benign, but it did plant the concern in some investor's heads that the bull gold run may be nearing an end; undoubtedly one of the reasons the Fed released the minutes.

SPDR Gold Shares closed Thursday at $152.62, gaining $1.18, or 0.78 percent.

Platinum, Palladium (PPLT) (PALL) (PGM) (PTM) (PTD) Close Week Up

Platinum and palladium prices closed Friday on a high, after a down week overall, with ETFS Physical Platinum Shares (NYSE:PPLT), ETFS Physical Palladium Shares (NYSE:PALL), iPath Dow Jones-AIG Platinum ETN (NYSE:PGM), UBS E-TRACS Long Platinum TR ETN (NYSE:PTM) and UBS E-TRACS Short Platinum ER ETN (NYSE:PTD) all closing up on Friday, with the exeption of UBS E-TRACS Short Platinum ER ETN, which closed level with Thursday's close.

Palladium futures for June delivery climbed $5.50, or 0.8 percent, to $716.30 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange. This week, the metal dropped 9.6 percent, the most since July.

Platinum futures for July delivery rose $8.20, or 0.5 percent, to $1,786.40 an ounce. This week, the price dropped 4.2 percent, the most since November.

ETFS Physical Platinum Shares (NYSE:PPLT) closed Friday at $176.66, gaining $2.26, or 1.30 percent.

ETFS and ETNs (UBR) (BIB) (EDC) (LBJ) (MLPL) May 6

The top-performing ETFs and ETNs on Friday included ProShares Ultra MSCI Brazil (UBR), ProShares Ultra Nasdaq Biotechnology (BIB), Direxion Daily Emrg Mkts Bull 3X Shares (EDC), Direxion Daily Latin America Bull 3X Shs (LBJ) and UBS E-TRACS 2x Long Alerian Infr ETN (MLPL), which finished in the 5-10 positions as measured by percentages gained.

ProShares Ultra MSCI Brazil (UBR) closed at $32.83, gaining $1.21, or 3.83 percent.

ProShares Ultra Nasdaq Biotechnology (BIB) closed at $77.40, up $2.68, or 3.59 percent.

Direxion Daily Emrg Mkts Bull 3X Shares (EDC) ended the day at $39.68, jumping $1.37, or 3.57 percent. Its up 39.25 percent over the last year.

Direxion Daily Latin America Bull 3X Shs (LBJ) closed Friday at $34.15, climbing $1.15, or 3.49 percent. Its up 24.82 percent over the last year.

UBS E-TRACS 2x Long Alerian Infr ETN (MLPL) closed at $35.62, rising $1.18, or 3.43 percent.

Top ETFS, ETNs (EPU) (EEN) (AGQ) (USV) (UBN) May 6

The top-performing ETFs and ETNs on Friday included iShares MSCI All Peru Capped Index (EPU), Guggenheim EW Euro-Pacific LDRs (EEN), ProShares Ultra Silver (AGQ), UBS E-TRACS CMCI Silver TR ETN (USV) and
UBS E-TRACS CMCI Energy TR ETN (UBN).

iShares MSCI All Peru Capped Index (EPU) closed at $44.69, gaining $2.74, or 6.53 percent. Its up 24.88 percent over the last year.

Guggenheim EW Euro-Pacific LDRs (EEN) closed at $21.00, up $1.00, or 5.00 percent. Its up 13.41 percent over the last year.

ProShares Ultra Silver (AGQ) ended the day at $186.56, jumping $7.22, or 4.03 percent. Its up 452.67 percent over the last year.

UBS E-TRACS CMCI Silver TR ETN (USV) closed Friday at $50.39, climbing $1.93, or 3.98 percent. Its up 116.34 percent over the last year.

UBS E-TRACS CMCI Energy TR ETN (UBN) closed at $16.92, rising $0.63, or 3.87 percent. Its up 19.78 percent over the last year.

Top Dividend (PFF) (PGX) (DHS) (LVL) (PSK) Yields for ETFs

Among the top dividend yields for ETFs are investment vehicles which hold a diverse basket of companies paying out dividends. The top dividend-yielding ETFs are iShares S&P U.S. Preferred Stock Index (PFF), PowerShares Preferred (PGX), SPDR Wells Fargo Preferred Stock (PSK), Guggenheim S&P Global Dividend Opportunities Index (LVL) and WisdomTree High-Yielding Equity Income (DHS).

The goal of the top dividend-yielding ETF, iShares S&P U.S. Preferred Stock Index (PFF), is to attempt to track price and yield performance of the S&P U.S. Preferred Stock Index. As of March 31, the annual dividend yield on iShares S&P U.S. Preferred Stock Index was 7.35 percent. Ford Motor (NYSE: F), General Motors (NYSE: GM) and HSBC Holdings Plc (NYSE: HBC) are among the major dividend companies held by PFF>

Next is the PowerShares Preferred (PGX), which as of March 31, the annual dividend yield was 6.65 percent. PGX, in general, reflects the results of The BofA Merrill Lynch Core Fixed Rate Preferred Securities Index. Among the major financial institutions followed here are JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM), Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) and Barclays (NYSE:BCS).

The SPDR Wells Fargo Preferred Stock (PSK) is the next top dividend-yielding ETF, with an annual dividend yield of 5.83 percent, as of March 31. This attempts to mirror the Wells Fargo Hybrid and Preferred Securities Aggregate index. The top three dividend ETFs are those that primarily hold preferred stock of companies.

Next in line is the Guggenheim S&P Global Dividend Opportunities Index (LVL), which has an annual dividend yield of 5.53 percent, as of March 31. The Guggenheim S&P Global Dividend Opportunities Index tracks the performance of the S&P Global Dividend Opportunities Index. That includes common stock of companies like National Retail Properties (NYSE: NNN), Penn West Petroleum (NYSE: PWE) and Franklin Resources (NYSE: BEN).

Last, is the number five ETF as far as measured by dividend yields, which is WisdomTree High-Yielding Equity Income (DHS), which has an annual dividend yield on DHS was 3.8 percent. It attempts to mirror the performance of the WisdomTree Equity Income index, which includes equities like Chevron (NYSE:CVX), AT&T (NYSE:T), Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ).

BlackRock (BLK) Can Launch Actively Managed ETFs Says SEC

The iShares division of BlackRock (BLK) has been given permission by hte SEC to launch actively managed ETFs instead of only tracking ETFs, guided by certain benchmarks.

In an order dated today, regulators say that BlackRock can issue a “series of certain actively managed open-end management investment companies to issue shares” through purchases and redemptions of large blocks called creation units.

Ishares is the dominant player in the ETF field. Its diversification into active ETFs comes as some of its most popular index-based funds such as its Emerging Markets ETF (EEM) and the Russell 2000 Index Fund (IWM) face increasing competition from Vanguard and others.

BlackRock has indicated in previous filings that it plans to roll-out an active broad-based bond ETF that will use a fund-of-funds approach based on existing iShares products. It’s also expected to do much the same with its first equities fund that will use managers rather than indexes to make investment decisions.

BlackRock was trading at $185.18, gaining $1.48, or 0.81 percent, as of 12:06 PM EDT.




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Be Cautious with (QABA), (KRE), and (IAT) ETFs

Investors need to be extremely cautious when considering investing in ETFs such as First Trust Nasdaq ABA Community Bank Index Fund (Nasdaq:QABA), SPDR KBW Regional Bank Industry ETF (NYSE:KRE), and the iShares Dow Jones US Regional Banks Index Fund (NYSE:IAT), as they include regional banks that could be failing.

There's some good news in the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s latest quarterly report. The banking industry had a profitable year in 2010, its first since 2007. The FDIC expects fewer banks to fail this year than last. The amount banks set aside last quarter for bad loans declined 50% year over year. The deficit -- yes, deficit -- in the FDIC's deposit insurance fund improved to $7.4 billion exiting December from $8 billion exiting September.

The bad news? Last year, the FDIC shut down 157 banks, an 18-year high. The FDIC's list of "problem" banks -- at risk of failing -- grew during the fourth quarter, to a whopping 884 from 860. That's nearly 12% of U.S. banks. About 21% of banks remain unprofitable.

Oh, and a primary reason profits improved in 2010 was because less money was set aside for bad loans. Well, duh. Upcoming regulations like debit interchange fee ceilings have the potential to hurt profit-rich fees. Loan demand is weak. Insisting borrowers actually be creditworthy is also limiting new loans. Even though the steep yield curve creates a great profit environment for banks, profits are still pretty wimpy.

Small and midsized banks are particularly risky. The FDIC doesn't disclose which banks are on its problem list, but its failed bank list is full of community banks

First Trust Nasdaq ABA Community Bank Index Fund closed Monday at $24.51, down $0.32, or 1.28 percent. SPDR KBW Regional Bank Industry ETF closed at $25.95, down $0.22, or 0.84 percent. iShares Dow Jones US Regional Banks Index Fund (NYSE:IAT) closed down at $24.42, losing $0.25, or 1.02 percent.




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Cash-hungry Funds Pressure Gold Down for Seventh Straight Session

The gravity of the financial crisis continues to pull gold down rather than up, as it plunged Friday for the seventh session in a row, with investors looking to the U.S. dollar for safety rather than the proven precious metal.

Today December delivery for gold fell by $16.80 to end at $787.7 an ounce, a 2.1 percent drop on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. For the week that's an 8.3 percent fall.

What is causing the gravitational pull on gold is the huge size of deleveraging across the world, which is battering everything, including commodities. This has caught a lot of analysts off guard who have expected gold to perform as the typical safe haven it usually is.

Funds desperate for cash are being forced to sell off their gold assets, even as they were hoping to keep them.

While most still think that inflationary pressures should eventually bring the gold price back up, the extraordinary circumstances now playing themselves out make it impossible to really know which way things will go; there's too much we don't know and too many complexities involved for anyone to be able to project with certainty.

That leaves us with probabilities but no surety.