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Here is the ETF Professor's ETF Watch List for Wednesday July 20, 2011. The Market Vectors Coal ETF (NYSE: KOL) looks ready to rally. Tech earnings plays: Technology Select Sector SPDR (NYSE: XLK) and the First Trust NASDAQ CEA Smartphone Index Fund (Nasdaq: FONE). The Guggenheim Global Shipping ETF (NYSE: SEA) continues to struggle. Emerging markets plays of the day: Market Vectors Russia ETF (NYSE: RSX), iShares MSCI Thailand Investable Market Index Fund (NYSE: THD) and the Market Vectors Indonesia ETF (NYSE: IDX). Forex play of the day: CurrencyShares Australian Dollar Trust (NYSE: FXA).

The Bulls Tried to Charge the All Important 50 Day Moving Average Today and Failed In the face of ongoing disappointing economic news, major indexes rallied in an attempt to overtake the all important 50 Day Moving Averages but fell back to close lower in a failed test of the widely watched level. We can expect more attacks in coming days and the outcome will set the tone for near term market direction. Dow Jones Industrials: (NYSE: DIA) Hi: 12,440 50 DMA: 12407 Close: 12,394 High above 50 DMA, Close below: FAIL —————————————————- S&P 500 (NYSE:SPY) Hi: 1325 50 DMA: 1326 Close: 1320 High at 50DMA, Close below: FAIL ————————————————– NASDAQ 100: High: 2321 50 DMA: 2337 Close: 2310 High below 50DMA, Close below 50DMA: Fail Economic news was poor, again, with the MBA Mortgage Index printing at +1.1 compared to +7.8 last month and April Durable Goods collapsing to -3.6% from a prior reading of +4.4% in April which was also a decline from March’s reading. Also, nervousness continues in Europe over the fate of Greece as the Euro declined...

Direxion, the eleventh-largest U.S. ETF issuer, has filed plans with the SEC to introduce nine new India-specific ETFs, which would double the number of ETFs tracking the world's second-fastest growing major economy if they all come to market. Direxion plans to introduce the IndiaShares ETFs, which include the following funds: IndiaShares Fixed Income Shares IndiaShares Mid & Small Cap Shares IndiaShares Consumer Shares IndiaShares Energy & Utility Shares IndiaShares Financial Shares IndiaShares Industrial Shares IndiaShares Infrastructure Shares IndiaShares Materials Shares IndiaShares Technology & Telecommunication Shares Direxion, more known for its leveraged and inverse offerings, currently issues two India-specific ETFs: The Direxion Daily India 2X Bear Shares (NYSE: INDZ) and the Direxion Daily India 2X Bull Shares (NYSE: BULL). The IndiaShares offerings would significantly expand Direxion's non-leveraged lineup, which currently includes only one ETF: The Direxion Airline Shares (NYSE: FLYX). There are currently 43 ETFs offering some exposure to India, the lowest amount of the four BRIC nations, but if the nine Direxion funds are...

Silver was all the rage in April as “white gold” has soared and worked its way into a parabolic frenzy, but now May seems to have brought a different tone to this overheated market. In the chart above, you can see how silver has exploded since early February and now is approaching what could be the last phase of an impressive bull market. Price acceleration like this tends to bring out the day traders, speculators and a high degree of public interest, and usually these are warning signals that come with the end of most bull markets and eventually lead to the loud popping of the bubble. On Sunday, May 1st, 2011, silver futures experienced something of a “flash crash” in Asia trading, dropping as much as 12% in just minutes before eventually recovering some of that loss. This type of volatile action can be the signal for a blowoff top, and with the assassination of Osama Bin Laden, one can expect that...

It's practically the national past time of Wall Street. That is asking “Who's next?” Who's next to be acquired? What stock will be the next (insert legendary stock here)? And while it is arguable that silver's run is anywhere close to complete, it seems like a good time to ask: Who or what is the next silver? More specifically, what are the ETFs investors may want to take a look at that have the potential to even sniff the almost 157% returned in the past year by the iShares Silver Trust (NYSE: SLV)? In no particular order, here's a list of intriguing candidates. 1) Market Vectors Rare Earths/Strategic Metals ETF (NYSE: REMX) REMX is home to some of the same issues, both good and bad, that an ETF like SLV has had deal with on the way up. On the bad side, rare earths bears are vocal in their skepticism regarding the ascent of rare earths prices. For the bulls, rare earths prices...

It’s no secret that the U.S. Dollar has been in freefall and investors of all stripes can profit from both the dollar’s fall and its eventual turnaround, when, not if, that comes. The dollar has been hammered in recent months by the Federal Reserve’s zero interest rate policy and “quantitative easing,” along with budget deficits and the recognition that the United States apparently is hoping that a weak dollar will help boost our struggling economy. Taking a look at the U.S. Dollar chart we can see how far the Mighty Buck has fallen. From the chart you can see the steady decline over the past ten years and that the Dollar is approaching multi-year lows set back in 2008 at the peak of the financial crisis. The warning last week from Standard and Poor’s regarding U.S. debt and a potential downgrade if we don’t get our fiscal house in order further strengthened the argument that the dollar has farther to fall, as a currency’s...

Japan was back in the news late last week as yet another earthquake hit the country in approximately the same region as the big one in March. This one was far smaller and apparently did much less damage; however, the Nikkei and global currency markets reacted strongly to the event, falling precipitously as the news came out and then rebounding sharply on Friday as damage was less severe than expected. Investors and traders in the Japanese sector have been on a wild ride lately and certainly this can be expected to continue as aftershocks, political, psychological and economic, continue to hit. As I look at this market, I prefer not to speculate but take a longer term view, and what I see is that, long term, recent events cannot be good for this powerful island nation, the third largest economy in the world, or for its trading partners including the United States. Here Are The Bearish Facts: 1. The world’s third largest economy will...

In like a lamb, out like a lion is an old adage applied to the month of March, but when it comes to ETFs, the lion roared for nearly the entire month. At least when it comes to new product introductions. Thirty-eight new funds found their way to market last month and the total of exchange traded products trading on U.S. exchanges is now approaching 1,200. Global X was among the most active issuers last month, introducing five new ETFs, including the Global X Argentina ETF (NYSE: ARGT), the Global X Oil Equities ETF (NYSE: XOIL) and the Global X Pure Gold Miners ETF (NYSE: XXXX). PowerShares was no slouch either, rolling out seven new funds including the PowerShares Senior Loan Portfolio (NYSE: BKLN) and a suite of ETFs offering exposure to German, Italian and Japanese debt. Other noteworthy new ETFs to hit the market in March included the Market Vectors Colombia ETF (NYSE: COLX), the second Colombia-specific ETF, the IQ Global Agribusiness...

Since the series debuted in 1962, 22 "official" James Bond movies have been produced. Did you know that three of the titles mention gold? Of those three, "Goldfinger" is probably still the most-well known and that film, the third in the 007 series, is still widely regarded as one of the best in the series. Basically, the villain, Auric Goldfinger, wants to loot Fort Knox for its gold. Fast-forward almost 50 years since the movie was made and plenty of conspiracy theorists openly say there isn't even any gold in Fort Knox. Maybe Auric Goldfinger would need to consider some ETFs if he was around today. So with that, this week's ETF Showdown compares two equity-based gold ETFs that might just appeal to Goldfinger himself. When discussing gold ETFs that track equities rather than featuring physical holdings of the commodity itself, that means we have to talk about gold miners and that leads us to the Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSE: GDX),...

In the future they might coin this the “Bernanke Effect” or maybe the great commodity bubble of 2011. The truth is that commodity prices are rising…dramatically. You might have started to notice this disconnect in your grocery store shopping or in gasoline prices, but if you were to ask our government they would tell you that a basket of goods consumed (CPI) is rising modestly. How modest do these numbers appear to you? Sugar and Corn? Those are luxury goods. If the basic ingredients to food are skyrocketing, then prices of food will eventually have to keep pace which will directly hurt consumers. Of the 853 ETF’s that I looked at, which unleveraged funds do you think had the greatest return over that same time period? It is not a trick question: Are you noticing a theme? My conclusion is simple: this time is NOT different. Commodity prices cannot go up forever and China will not continue to support the market regardless of prices. What...