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Editor’s
Note: The following is a roundup of what others are writing about
exchange-traded funds, index mutual funds and indexes. This column is updated
throughout the day by IndexUniverse.com’s staff.  Suggestions are welcome by sending comments
or links to:
<!–
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//–>mcoleman@indexuniverse.com. 

Look Who’s Talkin’

You’ve heard it all before. But
for the uninitiated, we’re providing a link to our own Matt Hougan, who was
grilled by reporter Trang Ho for this Q&A appearing in Investor’s Business Daily on Tuesday.

Hougan comes through, providing
what IU.com readers have become accustomed to — unblinking analysis and fiercely
independent commentary on everything relating to ETFs.

You can see the story here.

The Obama Portfolio

Don’t worry, it didn’t take this
long for someone to propose a portfolio based on the election of Barack Obama.

Already in the past two weeks,
dozens of articles have implored investors to take advantage of the election of
a new president. This one’s a bit dated,
first appearing on Kiplinger.com four days ago. But it rises to the top of the
pack as writer Laura Cohn takes a rather level-headed look at a
so-called “Obama Portfolio.”

It starts with a warning
that history isn’t on the side of those betting on such trends. But conceding a new administration will bring heightened speculation,
Cohn takes an educated stab.  And even
though she mainly talks stocks, the article does include ETF alternatives for
fund investors who prefer safety in numbers. See the story here.

Playing Defense With Sector ETFs

In an interesting look at
various strategies to play defensively in this roller coaster market, southern
California-based portfolio manager and advisor Gary Gordon looks at the Sabrient
Defensive Equity Index ETF (NYSE: DEF). Although it’s designed for times just like these, he finds that some of the fund’s traditionally defensive sectors aren’t providing much of a cushion right now.

Included in Gordon’s analysis is
a look at taking a different approach using ETFs targeting
separate sectors. He notes that DEF’s all-in-one portfolio hasn’t significantly
outperformed the SPDR Trust (AMEX:
SPY) by more than a few percentage points.

The analysis developed by Gordon,
whose portfolio strategies have been profiled on IU.com in the past, can be found here.

Seven ETFs For Tuesday

Okay, it’s a slow news day so
far, so we’ll bite. Here are TradingMarket’s seven ETFs to watch entering a new
trading day, given some downgrades in key sector leaders.

Hey, we don’t write this stuff …
for the brave at heart, or professional trader, check here.

The Dark Side Of Leveraged ETFs

It’s probably not surprising to
many investors that value-minded and long-term oriented analysts at
Morningstar.com aren’t real hip on ETFs and index funds that use leverage.

But here’s a new piece by Wenli
Tan that adds more fuel to the fire. The author looks at an often overlooked
problem with how these funds work in the real world. The article explores something called negative
compounding, which can really undercut a leveraged ETF’s returns over time. The
story provides some specific examples using index funds and ETFs.  You can read it here.

Fundamental ETFs Under The Microscope

Radio talk show host and
index-minded writer Ron DeLegge takes a look at fundamental ETFs and how they’re
faring in the latest bear market.

Among others, he checks into the
PowerShares FTSE RAFI 1000 (NYSEArca: PRF) and other FTSE RAFI-based ETFs. DeLegge also makes a pitch for Index Strategy
Maps, an idea pioneered by Rick Ferri. See the article here.

Health Care & Pharmas At Near-Term Bottoms?

On his blog, Chris Perruna  makes a case that health care and
pharmaceutical stocks have bottomed. Using charts of related indexes and ETFs,
he’s advising not to trade blindly, but to move selectively in those two
sectors, at least on watch lists.

In case you haven’t heard of
Perruna before, he’s an advocate of William O’Neil’s  CAN SLIM trading methodology. Of course, he’s
the stock broker turned data researcher and publisher of Investor’s Business
Daily. You can check Perruna’s take on the system here.

Target-Date Retirement ETFs

Kyle Waller, IU.com columnist
and savvy ETF analyst at Wiser Wealth Management, looks at the new  target-date retirement funds by Barclays
Global Investors.

Although a short piece, it
offers some basic breakdowns of the new funds that might prove helpful to some.
See it here.

Big S&P 500 Drop

For technical investors, an
extremely short and yet extremely interesting post can be found at Bespoke
Investment Group’s site. The well-known research group, which we’ve often cited
in articles at IU.com, try to put the S&P 500’s extended fall below the key
200-day moving average into perspective.

It does just that in very short
order. Without further ado … click here.

Last 5 posts by IndexUniverse Staff

• Duration: The Looming Scandal - February 9th, 2010
• Equity Outflows - February 8th, 2010
• CNBC: Hougan On GLD, TIP And More - February 8th, 2010
• ETFs To Worry About - February 8th, 2010
• Fortress Vanguard - February 5th, 2010