Apple Watch sales surprise and protecting yourself in a wild market

U.S. stocks (^DJI, ^GSPC, ^IXIC) continue their surge for a second day, helped in part by yesterday's comments from New York Fed President William Dudley that suggested Janet Yellin and company may not be so quick to raise rates given the current environment.

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Here are some of the other stories Yahoo Finance is keeping an eye on today.

ETF troubles
One of the biggest victims of this week's wild market ride were investors trying to capture the moves with ETFs. The funds meant to mimic indices or baskets of stocks left some investors deep in the red this week because they bought them with market orders. In the craziness of trading, especially on Monday, there was a large discrepancy between the bid and ask prices and those who may not fully understand just how the process works got burned.

Apple Watch sales surprise
Apple (AAPL) has kept the sales data of its latest gadget, the Apple Watch, private since its release this spring. But now we have a new estimate that could help gauge the popularity of the device. According to International Data Corporation, Apple shipped 3.6 million watches in the second quarter of this year. This makes Apple the second most popular wearable, just behind Fitbit (FIT).

The end of big raises
Are you expecting a big raise this year? We'll don't get your hopes too high. Recent surveys found that on average, companies are planning pay raises of three percent for employees. This is reportedly a percentage point smaller than the raises employers gave out 20 years ago.

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