President Barack Obama’s plan for an infrastructure bank are to be released next week, but this is by no means a quick fix for the economy. Related exchange traded funds (ETFs) could benefit from a surge in spending in this area.The budget set aside for the nations infrastructure is going to be broken down on Thursday, but analysts warn this will not be a quick fix for the economy. Obama set aside $5 billion in fiscal year 2010 for an entity to “provide direct federal investment” as proposed in his budget. Whether it’s enough or not is still in question, but we have room to grow and this marks money flowing into the sector that could potentially benefit it.
Many of the country’s roads and bridges have fallen into disrepair over the last decade, and the infrastructure bank will not be able to keep up with the needs to fix this, reports Lisa Lambert for Reuters. The bank will not be operational or established for some time. Keenen Skelly for The Wall Street Journal reports that the $30 billion that Obama’s administration has slated for infrastructure in its economic stimulus package did not impress lawmakers or investors.
The estimated $2 trillion that is necessary is not even close to what has been delegated, and many are saying that the stimulus is merely a down payment.
- iShares Infrastructure Fund (IGF): down 6.7%year-to-date
- SPDR/FTSE Macquarie Global Infrastructure Fund (GII): down 10.1% year-to-date
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