Stocks and many exchange-traded funds (ETFs) lost ground for a third straight day as investors grew increasingly uneasy about a recent move away from riskier assets and into U.S. Treasuries.

As investors moved money out of stocks, they moved money into safer investments like Treasury bills, report Stephen Bernard and Tim Paradis for the Associated Press. The yield on the three-month T-bill today was 0.02%, after falling to a yield of 0.005% late Thursday. In fact, yields briefly turned negative Thursday as demand jumped for this safest of short-term investments. The SPDR Barclays Capital 1-3 Month T-Bill ETF (NYSE: BIL) has a year-to-date return of 0.22%, with a yield of 0.28%. (For more stories on Treasuries, see our treasury bonds category).

Disappointing results from Dell (NASDAQ: DELL), the world’s number-three PC brand, weighed on investor sentiment. Dell is recovering from the global slowdown a bit slower than its competitors because of its reliance on commercial versus consumer business, writes Kelvin Soh for Reuters. Dell did say, however, that PC demand has picked up following the launch of Windows 7 from Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT). The Technology Select SPDR ETF (NYSE: XLK) and the iShares Dow Jones U.S. Technology Index Fund (NYSE: IYW) are both just down fractionally for the day. However, Dell’s stock is currently down more than 8%. (For more stories on the technology sector, see our technology category).

Home-building giant DR Horton (NYSE: DHI) said today that orders surged 26% on a unit basis and that it narrowed its fiscal fourth-quarter loss. However, the company did miss analyst estimates and took hefty land-related charges, reports Dawn Wotapka for the Dow Jones Newswires. The company went on say that conditions are still challenging in the industry because of rising unemployment, weak consumer confidence and high inventory levels. The stock is currently down more than 9%, while the SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF (NYSE: XHB) is down 2% today. (For more stories on the homebuilding industry, see our homebuilders category).

Tony D’Altorio contributed to this article.

WisdomTree

The new ETF WisdomTree has in the hopper, the WisdomTree Real Return Fund (NYSEArca: RRF), seeks to give investors long-term returns above the rate of inflation.

Liquidity has flooded the U.S. market, giving rise to investor fears that inflation will soon become an issue. This new fund aims to give investors another way to hedge it, explains Cinthia Murphy for Index Universe.

The fund’s primary goal is for its portfolio to have an average effective duration of two to 10 years, and maturity lengths will vary. The longer the duration of the securities, the more susceptible the fund is to interest rate fluctuations and volatility. (Read on about ways to hedge inflation with ETFs).

RRF will also deliver exposure to commodities, such as energy, precious metals and agriculture. RRF will compete directly with IndexIQ’s newest offering, IQ CPI Inflation Hedged (NYSEArca: CPI). (More about CPI can be found here).

Inflation fears have fueled an increase in products designed to hedge it. PIMCO recently launched the first short-term TIPS ETF, PIMCO 1-5 Year U.S. TIPS Index (NYSEArca: STPZ), and other providers also have TIPS funds. (How TIPS work).

For more stories about TIPs, visit our TIPs category.

• iShares Lehman TIPS Fund (NYSEArca: TIP)

• SPDR Barclay TIPS ETF (NYSEArca: IPE)

PIMCO

• The PIMCO 3-7 Year U.S. Treasury Index Fund (NYSRArca:FIVZ) completes the firm’s lineup of ETFs that cover the key rate segments of Treasury securities. The fund offers exposure to the five-year segment of the curve, have low volatility relative to broader bond markets, and low default risk, as Treasuries are backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government.

• The new PIMCO 25+ Year Zero Coupon U.S. (NYSEArca:ZROZ) offers an ETF solution for investors seeking a high level of interest rate sensitivity. ZROZ aims to enable investors to capitalize on expected interest rate movements or efficiently manage long-term interest rate-sensitive liabilities by offering a high duration without using financial leverage.

PIMCO now offers ETFs that span a broad range of Treasury note and bond maturities. This coverage of key Treasury rates is designed to give investors the tools needed to execute yield curve strategies, position for expected changes in interest rates and economic conditions, or maintain long-term allocations toward liquid, high-quality U.S. government securities. (More on PIMCO’s plans).

For more stories about bond ETFs, visit our bond ETF category.

Among the key earnings news today:

• Gannett (NYSE: GCI), the publisher of USA Today, managed to post a profit even as revenue fell
• Toy-maker Hasbro’s (HAS) income also rose amid cost-cutting by the company
• After the market closes today, tech giants Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) and Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) will report earnings
• Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) will report earnings on Tuesday

Oil’s price continued to rise, inching above $79 a barrel before stepping back. Investors are watching earnings reports for any signs that consumers are feeling confident again, reports Pablo Gorondi for the Associated Press. United States Oil Fund (NYSEArca: USO) is trading flat this morning. (Where is gas going next?)

Demand for Treasuries has stayed strong, even though the budget deficit now well past the $1 trillion mark, the government has sold a record amount of debt and the dollar hasn’t been this weak since August 2008. (Why you should watch Treasury ETFs).

Foreign buyers have stepped up their holdings to a record $3.5 trillion. Demand in the United States has been kept afloat by a rising savings rate and lingering worries that the market’s rally is overdone, report Liz Capo McCormick and Daniel Kruger for Bloomberg. iShares Barclays 7-10 Year Treasury (NYSEArca: IEF) is trading flat so far today.

ProShares

ProShares has filed for two new long Treasury bond ETFs. The ETFs are:

• ProShares Ultra 7-10 Year Treasury
• ProShares Ultra 20+ Year Treasury

These new funds are in addition to ProShares’ existing Treasury bond funds, which are  ProShares UltraShort 7-10 Year Treasury (NYSEArca: PST), ProShares Short 20+ Year Treasury (NYSEArca: TBF) and ProShares UltraShort 20+Year treasury (NYSEArca: TBT)

Read the prospectus and be sure to fully understand how leveraged and inverse ETFs work before you buy. They’re very unique products and are not right for everyone. (Read all about how leveraged and inverse ETFs work).

For more stories about new ETFs, visit our new ETF category.

Investment sage Jim Rogers has exhibited his perspicacious judgment in the marketplace and identified three prominent secular trends: America’s diminishing economic prowess, emerging Chinese power and increased emerging market demand for commodities, writes John Curran for Time Magazine.

Rogers believes that the current bullish commodity cycle started 11 years ago and says that commodity bull markets usually last 18 to 20 years. He is currently more interested in the potential of gold and particularly silver. (Go here for the rundown on  commodity ETFs).

• SPDR Gold Shares (NYSEArca: GLD): up 20.4% year-to-date
• iShares Silver Trust (NYSEArca: SLV): up 56.8% year-to-date

Heather Bell for IndexUniverse offers some noteworthy tidbits from Jim Rogers’ recent speech at ETF Securities‘ mini-conference and Q&A.

China. The Chinese want to live like us and they are eager to work for it. They save more and the U.S. owes them a lot of money. According to Rogers, the Chinese are “among the best capitalists in the world.” The only foreseeable problem is with the country’s water supply, which China is actively correcting. (Read more stories on China here).

• iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index (NYSEArca: FXI): up 48.3% year-to-date

Ben Bernanke? Rogers is appalled by current governmental policies and holds the Federal Reserve chairman accountable for the devaluing of the dollar. In the mid- or long-term, the United States will be suffering from the effects of the wanton monetary policy.

U.S. dollar. People are selling the dollar and a possibly unsustainable bubble will occur, and we all know what happens to bubbles. (How to play a weak dollar).

• PowerShares DB Dollar Bearish (NYSEArca: UDN): up 7.7% year-to-date

Commodities. An increasing population is using up a finite amount of available commodities. Basic supply and demand should dictate the obvious. Rogers goes on to point out that war can result in an attempt to compete for diminishing resources, although war tends to drive up commodities prices.

• iShares S&P GSCI Commodity-Indexed Trust (NYSEArca: GSG): up 8.6% for the year

U.S. government bonds. Rogers deems short-term bonds “okay,” but advises long-term bonds as unsound. (The issues of bond ETFs).

• iShares Lehman 7-10 Yr Treasury Bond Fund (NYSEArca: IEF): down 3.9% year-to-date; yields 3.7%

Max Chen contributed to this article.

For full disclosure, Tom Lydon’s clients own shares of GLD and SLV.

Stocks and bonds are two completely different areas of the market. One (stocks) gives investors exposure to risk while the other (bonds) is relatively safe.  Why should investors who want absolutely nothing to do with the bond market keep an eye on Treasuries? Matt Krantz of USA Today states that Treasury prices are so important because they put a floor under investment expectations because of their safety characteristics.

Watching the yields on Treasuries gives investors an indication of how other investors are feeling about the overall markets.  If investors are flocking to Treasuries, which drives yields down, it’s a signal of fear in the markets.

Treasury yields also enable investors to identify a required rate of return.  For example, if the yield on a Treasury, a relatively riskless investment, is 3.5%, then one would need to require a return on investment greater than this to take on any risk.

Among the many Treasury ETFs investors can look at are the following:

• iShares Lehman 7-10 Yr Treasury Bond Fund (NYSEArca IEF)
• Vanguard Extended Duration Treasury ETF (NYSEArca EDV)

For more stories on Treasuries, visit our Treasury category.

Kevin Grewal contributed to this article.

Last week, a solid majority of fund types reported their best weekly inflows of the year while money market funds experienced large outflows, writes Joe Morris for Ignites.

EPFR Global data shows where all the money has moved: $1.62 billion went into global bond funds, $540 million found its way into emerging-market bond funds, $925 million funneled into the real estate sector, $1.74 billion flowed into global equity funds, and money funds lost $47.2 billion.

Some ETFs representing these areas include:

• SPDR Barclays International Treasury Bond Fund (NYSEArca: BWX): up 6.6% year-to-date

• PowerShares Emerging Mkts Sovereign Debt (NYSEArca: PCY): up 37.7% year-to-date

• iShares Dow Jones U.S. Home Construction (NYSEArca: ITB): up 37.2% year-to-date

• SPDR S&P World ex-US (NYSEArca: GWL): up 25.9% year-to-date

• WisdomTree U.S. Current Income Fund (NYSEArca: USY): up 2.1% year-to-date

Commodity sector funds also added $1 billion last week, accumulating more than $9 billion in year-to-date inflows.

• iShares S&P GSCI Commodity Indexed Trust (NYSEArca: GSG): up 2.8% year-to-date

Investors are becoming more confident, but many still remain cautious about the market. U.S. bond funds have seen net inflows every week this year and recently saw an increase by $2.79 billion. Global bond funds have seen inflows for 23 straight weeks.

• iShares Lehman 7-10 Year Treasury Bond Fund ETF (NYSEArca: IEF): down 5.4% year-to-date

Value funds are outperforming growth funds for the first time since late August. U.S. stock funds received $340 million, mid-cap ETFs, U.S. sector funds and actively managed big-cap growth funds all raked in new money as big-cap blend ETFs saw outflows.

• Vanguard Total Stock Market (NYSEArca: VTI): up 22.8% year-to-date

• Vanguard Large-Cap ETF (NYSEArca: VV): up 20.8% year-to-date

Max Chen contributed to this article.

The Conference Board’s index of leading economic indicators rose 0.6% in August, short of the 0.7% economists had forecast, reports Sara Lepro for the Associated Press. The index is used to project economic activity in the next three to six months.

Oil prices are sinking this morning for the third straight day. The Federal Reserve is meeting to discuss monetary policy in the United States, which has been contributing to higher oil prices for months, reports Dirk Lammers for the Associated Press.

Energy consumption has been down in North America and Europe, but China has been picking up the slack for most of the summer. In August, however, Chinese demand dipped 5.4% from a month earlier. A weakening dollar has been seen as a big factor in oil prices, because oil is priced in dollars, making it cheaper for overseas buyers.

• United States Oil (NYSEArca: USO): down 3.2% this morning

Computer maker Dell (Nasdaq: DELL) announced this morning that it was going to acquire information technology provider Perot Systems (NYSE: PER) for $3.9 billion, report David Jolly and Ashlee Vance for The New York Times. The combination of the two companies could lead to about $8 billion in services revenue each year. Such deals tend to have higher margins than PCs and computer servers.

International investors seem to be betting the U.S. inflation won’t be a factor, despite the dollar weakening to its lowest level in a year. Those investors bought 43.1% of the $1.41 trillion in notes issued by the Treasury this year (compared with 27.1% of $527 billion issued at this point last year, report Cordell Eddings and Lukanyo Mnyanda for Bloomberg.

The United States will issue $112 billion of 2-, 5- and 7-year notes, a record for this combination of maturities. Foreign investors have little choice but to buy Treasuries – the U.S. dollar accounts for 65% of world currency reserves.

• Vanguard Short-Term Bond (NYSEArca: BSV): up 1.1% year-to-date

During the credit collapse, investors dumped gold, corporate bonds, stocks and commodities in favor of U.S. Treasuries, comments Gary Gordon for ETF Expert. Then starting in March of 2009, stocks and gold rallied while interest in Treasury bonds waned. However, the three asset classes began to move in unison over the last three months.

What could be the reasons? Among the theories being floated (and the real answer could include any combination of these) include:

• Investors are beginning to take all that cash from under the mattress and are putting it back into all corners of the market, whether it’s low-risk or high-risk assets
• Portfolios are being swapped for entirely new strategies
• Gold is in demand for its hedge against the weakness of the U.S. dollar
• Stocks, to an extent, may also be used to hedge against inflation and people are buying them to avoid missing out any any further recoveries in the markets
• Long-term Treasury yields have been significantly diminished and it may be the first asset class to decouple from this threesome, says Gordon

In the off chance that investors start favoring Treasuries again, stock investor, and maybe some gold traders, may think twice and consider shifting wealth into the safe haven. On the flip side, the stock markets may gain more if investors favor risk above the safety of Treasuries.

• SPDRs S&P 500 (NYSEArca: SPY): up 11.1% in the last three months

• SPDR Gold Shares (NYSEArca: GLD): up 5.4% in the last three months

• iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treas Bond (NYSEArca: TLT): up 5.2% in the last three months

Max Chen contributed to this article.