VIX-ETPs: Buyer Beware!!

Social media and social-financial media sites can be a scary place. Be it Twitter (TWTR), Seeking Alpha or StockTwits, they might be better understood to have a caveat emptor (buyer beware) sticker attached to the various social platforms. I participate and have participated in all of these venues in order to gather resources and disseminate…

Fed, PCE & Nonfarm Payrolls: S&P 500 Earnings Forecast Takes Big Leap

About half the S&P 500 companies have reported first-quarter results last week.  Approximately 80% of those companies reporting results surpassed analysts’ earnings estimates, better than the 74% four-quarter average. And earnings outperformance was substantial, with companies surpassing average estimates by 9.4%, above the average of 5.1%, according to FactSet data. For the week, however, the…