NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Developing economies have been on the offensive, enacting wide-scale easing of monetary policy, which has pushed money into American markets.

While many have cited the lack of economic support as a reason for risk assets to pull back, markets are getting comfortable with the "new normal." The new normal brings with it lower growth measures, around 2% growth in gross domestic product, and overall acceptable, yet not remarkable, economic readings.

For investors, the real importance lies in beating or missing expectations. Markets price in expectations, and whether a company or an economy over-performs or underperforms that measure indicates future price movement. ...

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Last week was a good week for the U.S. stock market and its major indexes. However, macro-economic data and technical factors put a potential damper on this week. Last week's gains need followthrough before the bulls can celebrate new highs.

For the week, the S&P 500 gained 1.7%, the Nasdaq Composite climbed 2.3% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1%.

All three major stock market indexes and their related ETFs -- SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust, PowerShares QQQ Trust, Series 1 and SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETFremain below their recently recorded all time highs which now demarcate significant resistance levels....

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Treasury yields may hit 2%, but Greywolf Equity Technician Mark Newton does not think the bond bubble has burst yet.

NEW YORK (ETF Expert) -- The S&P 500 is above 1500. CBOE S&P 500 Volatility is sitting near 15-year lows. And 88% of iShares S&P 100 component stocks are above respective 200-day moving averages.

Normally, you might hear more discussion about complacency and/or an imminent selloff. Instead, you're hearing more about the "Great Rotation" out of bonds and into stocks. In fact, if Laszlo Birinyi or Jeremy Siegel have your ear, we've just barely begun an exuberant stage for equities.

Bullish prognosticators certainly do have a mound of evidence to fall back on. Consider the iShares 20-Year Treasury Bond Fund . Its current price is well below short- and long-term trendlines. And the 50-day recently crossed below the 200-day ... a price movement pattern known as a "death cross." (Note: The last "death cross" for TLT occurred more than two years ago.) ...

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Jim Cramer believes Ben Bernanke can only buy so much more in bonds - ultimately Congress has to act to help the economy.

Jim Cramer had been leaning positive to a deal being reached for the fiscal cliff, now he says the calendar is working against that.

Jim Cramer had been leaning positive to a deal being reached for the fiscal cliff, now he says the calendar is working against that.

NEW YORK (ETF Expert) -- Why do some ETFs succeed and why do others fail? The question certainly seems harmless enough. What's more, this was the topic of my recent presentation at the Global Indexing & ETFs Conference in Phoenix. As I prepared to speak, I found myself questioning the nature of success. Should I link success to risk-adjusted returns? Should I talk about the ETFs that raised the most assets in the shortest time span? Would it make sense to praise the vehicles that had the most "buzz" in the institutional money management arena? I brought a yellow pad with pages of "talking points" up to the podium, but I didn't use one-tenth of the material. Instead, I began to chat in a casual manner. What makes anything or anyone successful? If you're talking about a person, a product, a business, a team or even a country, the key ingredients are the same: One part innovation, one part motivation and one part "right place, right time." Think about the United States of America itself. Success is directly attributable to a radical new idea -- individual rights rather than the divine rights of kings. Unfairly taxed settlers must have been exceptionally determined to risk life and limb, battling against the well-organized British army. The fact that soon-to-be Americans were over-matched didn't seem to matter. Simply stated, it was the right time and place for highly motivated folks to launch an innovative and brand new system of government. If we apply the same criteria to the world of ETFs, we recognize that an excellent idea must be accompanied by great timing and phenomenal fund provider commitment. It's not enough to open up shop and declare your "Small Cap Emerging Markets Materials and Infrastructure ETF" a masterpiece; rather, the offering must be one that will endure. Below, I compiled a number of new ETFs that deserve a "most successful" moniker. Each investment possibility came to market within the last 12-15 months. More importantly, you won't find any of them on a "Deathwatch" list in 2013. 1. SPDR Barclays Capital Short Term High Yield Bond . Before March of 2012, if you wanted access to a diversified basket of short-term high yield corporates, you had to go with a single year in the Guggenheim BulletShares series. Not that there's anything wrong with that. On the other hand, the folks at State Street designed SJNK with greater trade-ability and one-stop access to the asset class in mind. Can $520 million inflow in eight months be wrong? Certainly. Yet, SJNK's 338 holdings with an average maturity of just 3.5 years makes a 5.2% SEC yield reasonably compelling. (Note: At present, investors are paying a 50 basis point premium over the net asset value.) 2. WisdomTree Emerging Market Corporate Bond Some people may be thinking... do we really need another bond fund? Couldn't you just use PowerShares Emerging Market Sovereign or iShares Emerging Market Bond ? There's certainly a case to be made that country debt is the only bond exposure one needs out of Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. On the flip side, the yields on developed world country debt -- America, Britain, Germany, Japan -- are rather unappealing. Unless your pursuit is the return of your capital alone, 1.2% from iShares 7-10 Year Treasury may not cut it. EMCB is the original dollar-denominated emerging market corporate bond fund. The fund of 30 holdings offers an average maturity of seven years with a 4.1% distribution yield. Granted, a 0.6% expense ratio is a disappointment. Nevertheless, those who wish to expand their income asset horizons into corporate bonds tied to emerging economies now have the opportunity to do so. 3. Emerging Markets MSCI Minimum Volatility Fund . Low-volatility funds may lose some of their luster in a raging stock bull. But don't expect investors to abandon "New Normal" thinking anytime soon. In fact, as long as there is a place for ETFs... as long as people want "trade-able" alternatives to buy-n-hold mutual funds... expect money managers to employ the revolutionary concept. The iShares launch of EEMV actually occurred in late 2011. In one year's time, EEMV has amassed $675 million in assets under management. And why not? Here is a fund with a reasonable cost of ownership (net expense 0.25%), less beta risk than Vanguard Emerging Markets, and a greater focus on non-cyclicals like consumer staples. ...

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NEW YORK (TheStreet Ratings) -- Each month, the ETF Industry Association) analyzes the assets under management and the net cash flow data for a growing list of U.S. exchange-traded funds. Net cash inflows totaling $17.1 billion in July brought ETF net cash inflows year-to-data up to $93.0 billion.

Overall assets under management in exchange-traded products, covering 1,486 exchange-traded funds and exchange-traded notes, surged by $55.7 billion in July to end at $1.21 trillion. All of the asset and flow data included in this article was released on Thursday, August 2nd by the ETF Industry Association.

Total net inflows to U.S. equity exchange-traded products accelerated in July reaching $14.2 billion for the month. U.S. equity funds represent the largest recipient of new money at $36.9 billion year-to-date surpassing the inflow to fixed income funds. $2.9 billion flowed into SPDR S&P 500 adding to the year-to-date net inflow of $3.5 billion. PowerShares QQQ pulled in a $528 million net cash flow in July along with $855 million into SPDR DJIA , $1.6 billion into iShares Russell 2000 , $823 million into iShares S&P 100 , and $540 million into iShares S&P 500 . ...

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NEW YORK (ETF Expert) -- The average debt-to-GDP ratio for developed nations is about 100%. In the U.S., the ratio is close to 105% when one includes debt that is held in government accounts.

The average debt-to-GDP ratio in emerging-market countries? Typically, you're looking at something less than 40%. Without question, from a perspective of country credit, the emergers are far more capable of paying back the money that they borrow.

Of course, fear is quite adept at trumping fact. In the May-June swoon, investors dumped emerging-market assets of all types, opting for the perceived safety of Treasuries and the dollar. ...

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