There have already been 41 announced U.S. deals worth an estimated $47.5 billion in November.  Those who stand to benefit from this trend are large Wall Street banks and some boutique financial firms, states Jessica Papini of The Wall Street Journal.

An increase to access to capital markets is what most think is driving the pickup in the M&A market. The industry suffered over the past year as a result of the financial crisis and the inability of firms to access the capital markets. (Click here for more on capital markets).

For more stories on financials, visit our financial category.

There will soon be two ETFs to play activity in corporate mergers and acquisitions.

IndexIQ will soon be launching the IQ ARB Merger Arbitrage ETF (NYSEArca: MNA), which tracks a basket of companies with publicly announced takeovers, says Benzinga. Merger arbitrage is purchasing stocks of targets for takeover for less than what the transaction price will be, then theoretically pocketing the difference.

This rebound in M&A could also benefit the SPDR KBW Capital Markets ETF (NYSEArca: KCE), which is up 40.7% year-to-date.  KCE holds stocks that stand to benefit from an increase in M&A activity, such as Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) and Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS); GS is 9.9% and MS is 8.1%.

Kevin Grewal contributed to this article.

• According to the Bank of Japan (BOJ), “Japan’s economy has started to pick up” and the economy is “likely to improve gradually,” writes Myra P. Saefong for MarketWatch. The BOJ left rates steady at 0.1%, which is not having much of a stimulative effect on economic activity.

• The Japanese Central Bank stated that public investment, exports and production are all on the increase, as stated in China View. Exports and production are expected to rise when other countries recover and begin to buy again. (Domestic industries are benefiting from new political party).

• The Central Bank has hopes that this is the beginning of a two-tiered economy based on high domestic demand and greater foreign exports. The Democratic Party of Japan is aiming to change the Japanese economy into one centered on domestic demand. (Japan’s new dominant political party).

Private consumption and housing investments remain weak. Furthermore, corporate profits, employment and income all remain depressed.

For more information on Japan, visit our Japan category.

• PowerShares FTSE RAFI Japan (NYSEArca: PJO): down 1.2% year-to-date

• iShares S&P/TOPIX 150 Index (NYSEArca: ITF): up 1.6% year-to-date

• iShares MSCI Japan Index (NYSEArca: EWJ): up 1.6% year-to-date

Max Chen contributed to this article.

Vanguard

Vanguard Group Inc. is already the largest U.S. stock and bond mutual fund manager, and now the firm has set out to conquer the ETF industry, one sector at a time. Charles Stein for Bloomberg reports that Vanguard is the third-largest sponsor of ETFs, and has captured more than 30% of the money flowing into the business this year by charging an average fee of 0.15%; the industry average is 0.54%.

Vanguard now has $77 billion in ETFs, after inflows of $17.8 billion this year. The firm’s share of the market rose to 11%, up from 8.5% at the end of last year. (How to choose ETFs).

Their strategy of charging the lowest in fees is garnering the interest of many investors who are educated on the possibility that fees can cut into principal and earnings. (What else is important when selecting ETFs?).

But Vanguard has something else interesting at play: the firm’s founder, John Bogle, has been vocal in his criticism of ETFs. His chief complaint is that they encourage short-term trading. Bogle stepped down as Vanguard’s CEO in 1996.

For more stories about ETFs, visit our ETF 101 category. Among Vanguard’s lineup of funds include:

• Vanguard Emerging Markets ETF (NYSEArca: VWO): up 68.6% year-to-date
  

• Vanguard Europe Pacific ETF (NYSEArca: VEA): up 25.3% year-to-date

• Vanguard REIT Index ETF (NYSEArca: VNQ): up 15.4% year-to-date

The number of ETFs available in the market may be confusing, but there are so many choices that investors can customize their portfolios according to their personal preferences and strategy. The ultimate goal is usually the same (to make money), there are two primary categories investors fall into: those who use a fundamental strategy and those who prefer a sector strategy, explains Don Dion for TheStreet. We throw in a third strategy below, too.

Fundamental Strategy: Fundamental ETF portfolios are suitable for investors looking to take advantage of the cost efficiency and tax efficiency of ETFs over an extended time period. These portfolios are usually not traded very often and provide exposure to the broad market while meeting their needs for income.

Investors who find this strategy appealing often cite taxes as the primary lure.

• iShares Dow Jones Select Dividend Index (NYSEArca:DVY): up 4.8% year-to-date

• PowerShares QQQ (NYSEArca: QQQQ): up 42.9% year-to-date

Sector Strategy: A sector ETF strategy is designed to actively capture market trends. Some prefer  a momentum-based strategy to indicate the best times to enter and exit funds. ( The strategy you choose is just as important as the approach). These portfolios are considered active, as they are traded and monitored constantly.

• iShares iBoxx $ High Yield (NYSEArca: HYG): up 23.8% year-to-date

• PowerShares DB U.S. Dollar Bullish (NYSEArca: UDN): up 8.1% year-to-date

A Blend Strategy. We use trend following by monitoring the 200-day moving average in order to find those areas that are moving. By getting in and out of the market at set signals, you give yourself the opportunity to be in the markets for any potential long-term uptrend. The stop loss enables you to put a cap on your losses. The benefit of relying on market signals to determine where and when you invest also removes the “noise” that emotions can generate and cloud your judgment. Any ETF works with this strategy, whether it’s a broad-based, plain-vanilla fund or a more exotic, niche ETF. (How to get in on the rebound).

Always do some research on what you are implementing and consider the liquidity, underlying stocks and pricing taking place in the ETFs you choose.

For more stories about trend following, visit our trend following category.

Investors were driven into gold’s safe arms by a disappointing unemployment report that was the country’s worst in 26 years. (The unemployment report).

Allen Sykora for The Wall Street Journal reports that December gold peaked at $1,101.90 an ounce, a fresh record for a most-active contract on Comex. December gold eventually settled at $1,097.70 an ounce, while silver was up 11 cents to $17.52. (Can gold ETFs and prices go higher?)

Who’s going to drive gold prices? Although gold is typically driven by economic factors, these days  investors and traders are in the driver’s seat. Many analysts expect the uptrend to stick around for the time being. Eric Lam for Financial Post reports that the seasonal impact that drives gold is also a factor, as September to December has guided gold higher over the past decade. (Gold’s use as an inflation hedge).

Before investing in gold or other commodities, be sure you have a stop loss in place that you can execute when the trend winds down. (How to employ a stop loss).

For more stories about gold, visit our gold category.

• SPDR Gold Shares (NYSEArca: GLD): up 23.7% year-to-date

• PowerShares DB Gold (NYSEArca: DGL): up 21.9% year-to-date

• iShares COMEX Gold (NYSEArca: IAU): up 23.5% year-to-date

• ETFS Physical Swiss Gold (NYSEArca: SGOL): up 7.3% since inception

Congress voted to extend the tax credit and President Barack Obama signed it into law this morning, according to The Wall Street Journal. (ETFs get a lift from economic report).

An $8,000 line of credit will apply to contracts entered before April 30, 2010, and closed by June 30 for homes up to $800,000. The law will also create a new $6,500 credit for homebuyers who lived in their previous home for at least five consecutive years.

Income limits for eligible buyers are increased to $125,000 for single buyers and $225,000 for couples.

Economists for the National Association of Realtors calculated that the tax credit has contributed $22 billion to the economy and an estimated 2 million people will use the tax credit this year. NAR president Charles McMillan says the government incentive has helped stabilize the housing market, stimulate the economy and create jobs.

Naysayers think prolonging the tax credit will artificially keep home prices high.

The expansion and extension of the tax credit may also be advantageous for homebuilder ETFs as more house hunters jump into the market. (Positive signals for real estate ETFs)

For more information on homebuilders, visit our homebuilders category.

• iShares Dow Jones U.S. Home Construction (NYSEArca: ITB): up 18.5% year-to-date

• SPDR S&P Homebuilders (NYSEArca: XHB): up 21.7% year-to-date

• MACROSHS HOUSING UP (NYSEArca: UMM): up 16% since inception

Max Chen contributed to this article.

The 10.2% unemployment figure is far worse than what economists had expected, and they don’t see any sign of relief until next year. While the pace of layoffs has slowed, the unemployment rate is continuing to climb, reports Javier C. Hernandez for The New York Times.

Unemployment isn’t just as issue here, either; millions around the world don’t expect to see relief in the form of jobs anytime soon. The European Union forecast unemployment in the eurozone to rise to 10.7% in 2010, up from 9.5% this year. Unemployment ranges from 3.5% in the Netherlands to 18.3% in Spain, reports Greg Keller for the Associated Press. In China, the official urban unemployment rate is 4.3% in the third quarter. Brazil’s unemployment was 8.1% in August, almost unchanged from the previous month.

Gold futures have soared to a record $1,100 an ounce today. While some profit-taking briefly sent gold lower, it resumed its course and analysts expect it to continue to move higher, reports Allen Sykora for The Wall Street Journal. SPDR Gold Shares (NYSEArca: GLD) is up about 0.4% year-to-date. (More on gold can be found here).

Businesses slashed inventories for a record 13th straight month in September, although sales rose for the sixth consecutive time. Many hope that improving sales figures will encourage businesses to start lifting production, although a rising jobless rate heightens fears that consumers won’t start spending anytime soon, reports Martin Crutsinger for the Associated Press. (An ETF to play holiday shopping).

The world’s largest insurer, AIG (NYSE: AIG) reported that it was profitable for the second consecutive quarter. Although things have stabilized, the company’s CEO said that earnings will remain choppy while they restructure.  SPDR KBW Insurance (NYSEArca: KIE) is up about 0.6% this morning.

G20 Finance Ministers are meeting this week to discuss financial reform and economic recovery. While these economies have put in place certain policies in order to push along a recovery, they’re not policies anyone wants to keep in place forever. The general consensus is that it’s too soon to reverse the measures, but it’s not too soon to begin talking about when and how it would happen. Government debt in developed G20 countries is likely to reach 118% of annual national income in 2014, reports Andrew Walker for the BBC.

For more stories on the global economy, visit our global ETF page.

One expert says the spot prices don’t matter so much as the long-term trend lines. Does that sound familiar?

According to David Frum on MarketPlace public radio, the spot price is simply what something is trading for at the moment. The overall trend is what truly matters.

The favored hedge of the moment is gold, which has spiked to record prices. To Frum, the record price is a selling indicator. We maintain instead that you can’t fight the trend – when it’s up, it’s up. When it’s heading south, it’s time to employ an exit strategy. (Why gold could go higher).

The markets have seen their fair share of “irrational exuberance” as long as the notion of investing has been around, leading to bubbles. (Keeping your exuberance tempered).

The best defense to fight the possibility of losses is to enter into the market with a strategy. By following a strategy, you can avoid market bubbles, panic selling or herd mentality buying. We watch the 200-day moving average. When a position moves above, we buy; when it drops below, we sell.  (Why does trend following make sense?)

For more guidance on building a strategy and implementing it, check out the The ETF Trend Following Playbook for more advice.

For more stories about trend following, visit our trend following category.

The National Stock Exchange reports that the total number of assets in U.S.-listed ETFs and exchange traded notes (ETNs) rose about 44% from October 2008. The number of assets in ETFs totaled $707.4 billion at the end of the month.

Net cash flows for from all ETFs and ETNs totaled more than $72 billion. There are about 808 exchange traded products listed to date, and of those, 401 have assets of more than $1 million. Apparently, investors are not spooked by the market climate as much as once thought. (Our October ETF performance report is here).

For more stories about ETF performance, visit our ETF performance reports category.

After the fund ran out of available shares, trading in PowerShares DB U.S. Dollar Bullish (NYSEArca: UUP) was halted today at 1:23 p.m. ET until a filing with the SEC could be made.

An application for 100 million additional shares was filed and the fund began trading again at 1:51 p.m. ET. As long as no new creation baskets can be issued, UUP runs the risk of trading at a premium to its net asset value (NAV). Investors who want to monitor the intraday indicative value of the fund can visit the ticker page on Yahoo Finance.

UUP is trading at four or five times normal volume today, and until new shares are granted, the fund could continue to trade at a premium. Investors who aren’t comfortable with the premiums should wait until new shares are issued if they plan to buy the fund. Today, UUP is trading at roughly a 1.7% premium.

UUP has been seeing trading volume with moves valued at hundreds of thousands of dollars. Hours before the Federal Reserve announced plans to keep the federal fund target lending rate at current levels, options traders poured into UUP, reports Tennille Tracy for The Wall Street Journal. (ETFs to play the Fed’s move).

UUP tracks the moves of the U.S. dollar against other major currencies. The bulk of the action in the PowerShares fund appears to have been driven by professional investors who emerged to buy options in batches of 10,000 or more, and many of the transactions cost $150,000 and up.

Nguyen Ahn Thu, Darcy Crowe, and Will Conners for The Wall Street Journal report that although the U.S. dollar has lost value, it’s still king on the black market in foreign countries. It’s estimated that as much as 75% of U.S. notes in circulation are held outside the United States, and most of that is in the underground economy.

Residents of poorer countries, such as Venezuela, prize the dollar for its inflation-protection ability against weaker local currencies. (Other reasons foreign countries like a strong U.S. dollar).

For more stories about the U.S. dollar, visit our U.S. dollar category.