Are Preferred Stocks Making a Comeback?

By David Fabian:Preferred stocks have long been a staple of any income investors' portfolio as both a stable source of dividends as well as an excellent capital appreciation opportunity. Preferred shares are often described as a type of hybrid investment, part equity and part debt security.

Kurtis Hemmerling submits: It’s been a bumpy market since late February. 125 on the SPY is looking mighty close, and my best guess is we will see 120 before the next big leg up.

Richard Shaw (QVM Group) submits: Based on current and recent price behavior, these U.S. sector ETFs are the better trend following choices among the 10 U.S. sectors (as of 2011-05-11):

Hao Jin submits:With the U.S. unemployment rate still over 9%, the Federal Reserve will most likely keep interest rates at low levels for quite some time. Thanks to booming ETFs, new asset classes such as preferred are available for retail investors. Here are four reasons why preferred ETFs should be included in your portfolio:1. High Stable Dividends

By Tom Lydon: The largest ETF for preferred stocks, known for their above-average yields, is trying to break out to the highest level since 2008.The iShares S&P U.S. Preferred Stock Index Fund (PFF) posted a total return of 18.2% in 2012 to outpace the 16% gain for the S&P 500, according to Morningstar.

By Dividend Stocks Online:It's official. There's an ETF for just about everything. Recently, the new Global X Social Media ETF (SOCL) came to market. SOCL is the first ETF that specifically tracks the performance of companies who are primarily social media companies. No longer are ETFs just for larger cross sections like small cap or large cap companies.

Michael Johnston submits:iShares hasn’t launched any new ETFs since rolling out its short-term TIPS fund (STIP) in early December, but the issuer responsible for close to 45% of all U.S. ETF assets continues to expand its product pipeline.