The S&P 500, the Dow Jones and the Nasdaq Composite added about 13.2%, 11.9% and 17.3%, respectively, in the past three months. Against this backdrop, we highlight a few top ETF stories of the fourth quarter.

This is a passive investment strategy that allows investors to take advantage of major corporations at one go and minimizes stock-specific risks.

The S&P 500 continues to defy gravity in the upside down market the Fed has wrought, closing the trading week ending on April 24, at 2,837, which is 21% above its March 23, low and 16% below its February 19, pre-coronavirus high.

A look at the mixed success of buyback investing.

Both these funds experienced volume levels that were more than double their average for the most recent trading session. This could make these ETFs ones to watch in the days ahead to see if this trend of extra-interest continues.

Given the series of challenges that the stock market is expected to go through this year, value investing seems a good choice.

Direxion has launched an interesting suite of relative value ETFs.

Numerous academic studies have shown that value stocks delivered higher returns with lower volatility compared with growth stocks, over the long term, in almost all the markets studied. Therefore, they should be a part of any ‘core’ portfolio.

Growth stocks may resume their upward trajectory, but the recent volatility has shown how quickly two years of outperformance versus value can quickly reverse.

News from Washington put some fear in investors and on Wednesday the markets saw their steepest one-day decline in roughly eight months. Keep in mind that events in Washington may make for news fodder but mostly don’t affect your portfolio.

There are plenty of events – across asset class and regions – that could prove to be game-changers this year. In view of this, we intend to highlight a few ETF trends that are likely to be prevalent in 2017.