5 Best Financial Stocks To Watch Right Now

The Federal Reserve laid out definite plans to move away from quantitative easing last week, and the stock markets kept marching along.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, in fact, is set to end the year with its biggest percentage gain since 1996. If the index ends 2013 above 16,422.11, it will top its 25.32% gain of 2003, making it the Dow’s best year since 1996 (when it climbed 26.01%).

But don’t crack open any champagne for a longer-term uptick in the markets, says Mohamed El-Erian, CEO and co-CIO of PIMCO.

“Central bankers have good reason to be more cautious about declaring victory at this stage. And the rest of us would be well advised to ask why,” he declared in an opinion piece in the Financial Times on Thursday.

Quantitative easing, El-Erian points out, “is widely believed to have significantly bolstered asset prices and, to a lesser extent, helped the real economy too.” And central bankers have made it clear that “policy interest rates would remain floored for quite a while.”

10 Best Dow Dividend Stocks For 2015: iShares Morningstar Small-Cap Value ETF (JKL)

iShares Morningstar Small Value Index Fund (the Fund) seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the Morningstar Small Value Index (the Index). The Index measures the performance of stocks issued by small-capitalization companies that have exhibited value characteristics as determined by Morningstar, Inc.'s (Morningstar) index methodology. Index constituents are drawn from the pool of liquid, United States-domiciled stocks that trade publicly on the NYSE, the AMEX or NASDAQ.

The Morningstar index methodology defines small-capitalization stocks as those stocks that form the 7% of market capitalization between the 90th and 97th percentile of the market capitalization of the stocks eligible to be included in the Morningstar US Market Index (a market index that represents approximately 97% of the market capitalization of publicly traded United States stocks). The Fund uses a representative sampling strategy in seeking to track the Index.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Todd Shriber, ETF Professor]

  Unusual volume (at least 5X ADV): QuantShares US Market Neutral Anti-Beta ETF (NYSE: BTAL), iShares 10+ Year Credit Bond ETF (NYSE: CLY), iShares Morningstar Small Value ETF (NYSE: JKL) and the PowerShares Dynamic Energy ETF (NYSE: PXI).

5 Best Financial Stocks To Watch Right Now: SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY)

SPDR Trust, Series 1 (the Trust) is a unit investment trust. The Trust is an exchange-traded fund created to provide investors with the opportunity to purchase a security representing a proportionate undivided interest in a portfolio of securities consisting of substantially all of the common stocks, in substantially the same weighting, which comprise the Standard & Poor's 500 Composite Price Index (the S&P Index). Each unit of fractional undivided interest in the Trust is referred to as a Standard & Poor's Depositary Receipt (SPDR).

The Trust utilizes a full replication approach. With this approach, all 500 securities of the Index are owned by the Trust in their approximate market capitalization weight.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jim Pyke]

  Vanguard is a well known leader for cost effective investment solutions for retail investors. I've been using their products for almost 10 years now. Vanguard offers two well known dividend stock ETFs: the Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF (VIG) and the Vanguard High Dividend Yield Index ETF (VYM). These ETFs provide above market yields with potential upside. This past Friday (June 14), VIG closed at $67.72, with a trailing twelve month dividend of about $1.43, which provides a yield of 2.1%. In comparison, VYM closed at $57.36 with a trailing twelve month dividend of about $1.63, offering a yield of 2.8%. The SPDR S&P 500 Trust ETF (SPY), as a proxy for the broader market, closed at $163.18 with a trailing twelve month dividend of about $3.18, offering a yield of 1.9%. In terms of holdings, VIG has 147 stocks, while VYM has almost 400.

• [By Adam Levine-Weinberg]

  One way to grow your retirement savings is by investing in low-fee index funds, such as State Street's (NYSE: STT  ) ETF that tracks the S&P 500 index: SPDR S&P 500 (NYSEMKT: SPY  ) . State Street invented the ETF concept two decades ago and remains a leader in the ETF market, with index funds tracking individual S&P 500 sectors as well as the full index. (State Street has actively managed funds, as well.)

5 Best Financial Stocks To Watch Right Now: iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT)

iShares Lehman 20+ Year Treasury Bond Fund (the Fund) seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the long-term sector of the United States Treasury market as defined by the Lehman Brothers 20+ Year U.S. Treasury Index (the Index). The Index includes all publicly issued, the United States Treasury securities that have a remaining maturity greater than 20 years, are non-convertible, are denominated in United States dollars, are rated investment grade (Baa3 or better) by Moody�� Investors Service, are fixed rate, and have more than $150 million par outstanding. Excluded from the Index are certain special issues, such as flower bonds, targeted investor notes, state and local government series bonds, and coupon issues that have been stripped from assets that are already included in the Index.

The Index is a market capitalization-weighted index. The Fund invests in a representative sample of the securities in the Index, which has a similar investment profile as the Index. The Fund�� investment advisor is Barclays Global Fund Advisor.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  But bond investments have seen huge losses. Consider how broad-based the bond-market massacre has been:

  Broad measures of the overall bond market have shown definite signs of weakness, with iShares Core U.S. Bond (NYSEMKT: AGG  ) falling more than 3% since the end of April and the actively managed PIMCO Total Return (NYSEMKT: BOND  ) down almost 4% over that time frame. Longer-term-focused bonds have posted even worse results, with iShares 20+ Treasury (NYSEMKT: TLT  ) having fallen more than 8% since late April. Inflation-protected bonds are generally seen providing some defense against rising interest rates, but iShares Barclays TIPS Bond (NYSEMKT: TIP  ) has fallen by more than 7%. Even niche areas of the bond market have seen big losses, with the municipal-bond-focused iShares S&P Municipal Bond (NYSEMKT: MUB  ) down almost 5%, while the emerging-market bond ETF WisdomTree Emerging Markets Local Debt has fallen 10%.

  A combination of factors has led to some of these declines, with the strong U.S. dollar hurting international bonds. But the driving force behind all of the drops comes from rising interest rates, and investors need to understand the threat that those rates pose to the future of their bond investments.

• [By Matthew McCall]

  The yield on the 10-year Treasury is back below three percent and falling in early trading as investors prepare for the Fed artificially holding interest rates low well into 2014. The drop in the yield caused by the rally in bonds that has the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (NYSE: TLT) up 0.6 percent to the best level in two weeks.

• [By Tom Aspray, Senior Editor, MoneyShow.com]

  So far, in 2013, the Asset Performance chart shows that the Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF (VWO) is still down 8.4% for the year, but it was down over 19% in June. It has risen above the dismally performing bond market (TLT) and gold (GLD). This week's plunge in gold has dropped its yearly performance to -21%, but it was down over 27% in June. I reviewed both gold and the gold miners in last Friday's column.

5 Best Financial Stocks To Watch Right Now: Global Cash Access Holdings Inc. (GCA)

Global Cash Access Holdings, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides cash access and data intelligence services and solutions to the gaming industry in the United States and internationally. Its cash access products and services include Casino Cash Plus 3-in-1 ATM, a cash-dispensing machine that offers patrons to access cash through ATM cash withdrawals, point-of-sale debit card transactions, and credit card cash access transactions; check verification and warranty services, which allow gaming establishments to manage and reduce risks on patron checks that they cash; QuikCash, a non-ATM cash access kiosks; and money transfer services. The company also offers cash access equipment, such as full service kiosks, a multi-function patron kiosk for cash access into self-service kiosks for slot ticket redemption and bill breaking services, as well as jackpot kiosks. In addition, it provides information services, such as Central Credit, a gaming patron credit bureau that allows g aming establishments in credit-granting decisions; QuikCash Plus Web and QCPXpress that are cash access transaction processing systems for cashier operations; QuikReports, a browser-based reporting tool that provide access and analysis of information on patron cash access activity; and QuikMarketing/Casino Share Intelligence database services, as well as various Xchange Xplorer products. Further, the company offers cashless gaming products comprising QuikTicket that allows cash access transaction to be completed with a bar coded ticket in lieu of cash. Global Cash Access Holdings, Inc. sells its products and services primarily through direct sales force to traditional land-based casinos, riverboats and cruise ships with gaming operations, gaming establishments operated on Native American lands, pari-mutuel wagering facilities, and card rooms. The company was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Kell var popups = dojo.query(".socialByline .popC"); popups.forEach(func]

  Shares of Global Cash Access Holdings Inc.(GCA) traded 9% lower to $7.22 premarket after the company disclosed it would no longer be providing payment services for casino operator Caesars Entertainment Corp.(CZR)

• [By Seth Jayson]

  Global Cash Access Holdings (NYSE: GCA  ) reported earnings on May 7. Here are the numbers you need to know.

  The 10-second takeaway
  For the quarter ended March 31 (Q1), Global Cash Access Holdings missed slightly on revenues and missed estimates on earnings per share.

• [By Evan Niu, CFA]

  What: Shares of Global Cash Access (NYSE: GCA  ) have plunged today by as much as 10% after the company reported first-quarter earnings.