Archive for 2012
Dec 17th, 2012 |
By Simon Smith, CFA
Inflows into European gold exchange-traded products (ETPs) have reached $6.8 billion year to date, bringing total assets to $44.2 billion. As demand for gold and other precious metals has continued to grow, investors have increasingly adopted physically-secured ETPs as their vehicle of choice. Source, the company behind the Source Physical Gold P-ETC (SGLD), which has gathered $1.5 billion in net new assets so far in 2012, believes inflows are set to continue into 2013.
Posted in Commodities |
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Tags: Commodities, DWS Xtrackers, ETF Securities, ETNs and ETCs, Gold and Precious Metals, iShares, Source, SSGA SPDR
Dec 17th, 2012 |
By Simon Smith, CFA
The PowerShares S&P 500 Low Volatility Portfolio ETF (SPLV) has received this year’s William F. Sharpe Award for ETF Product of the Year. The fund, which debuted on the NYSE Arca in May 2011 and has since surpassed $3 billion in assets under management, was recognised as having had the most significant impact on the ETF market over the previous 12 months.
Posted in Equities |
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Tags: Equities, ETF and Index News, ETF Industry News, Invesco, S&P Dow Jones, SSGA SPDR, United States and Canada
Dec 12th, 2012 |
By Simon Smith, CFA
Despite ongoing difficulties in Europe, German corporates continue to benefit from positive underlying domestic economic fundamentals and strong demand for their goods and services globally. For investors seeking exposure to the country’s equity market, which remains attractive on both a relative and historic basis, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) benchmarked to indices such as the blue-chip DAX or the broader MSCI Germany provide targeted, liquid access for as little as 12 basis points a year.
Posted in Equities |
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Tags: Amundi, ComStage, DAXglobal, DWS Xtrackers, Equities, Europe, First Trust, iShares, Lyxor, MSCI, Themes and Strategy
Dec 12th, 2012 |
By Simon Smith, CFA
Stoxx, a leading index provider, has announced the launch of the iSTOXX Efficient Capital Managed Futures 20 Index, a new index based on research provided by Efficient Capital Management, a global leader in the Managed Futures industry. The index, which measures the performance of some of the world’s largest Commodity Trading Advisors (CTAs), has potential uses as a benchmark against a single CTA or pool of CTAs, or as an underlying for financial products such as synthetic exchange-traded funds.
Posted in ETF and Index News |
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Tags: Alternatives, Commodities, ETF and Index News, Hedge Funds, Horizons, iShares, RBS, STOXX, UBS, WisdomTree
Dec 12th, 2012 |
By Simon Smith, CFA
The ProShares Merger ETF (MRGR), an innovative new fund from US-based alternative exchange-traded fund (ETF) specialist ProShares, is scheduled to list on the BATS Exchange on 13 December. The fund is designed to track the performance of the recently launched S&P Merger Arbitrage Index, a risk arbitrage strategy that exploits commonly observed price changes associated with a global selection of publicly announced mergers, acquisitions or other corporate reorganisations.
Posted in Alternatives / Multi-Asset |
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Tags: Alternatives, Credit Suisse, Equities, ETF Industry News, ETF Launch, ETNs and ETCs, Hedge Funds, IndexIQ, ProShares, S&P Dow Jones, United States and Canada
Dec 11th, 2012 |
By Simon Smith, CFA
Should the US fail to resolve its budget issues, popularly known as the “fiscal cliff”, the impact from the impasse will be felt around the world and in virtually every asset class. The superior strength of emerging market economies and the relative health of their balance sheets combined with reduced dependence on exports to the US, means emerging market fixed income, particularly in Asia, is one asset class that is well placed to manage any fallout. Fortunately for investors, emerging market debt can be accessed cheaply and efficiently via a range of exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
Posted in Fixed Income |
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Tags: Asia Pacific, Barclays, China, Emerging and Frontier, Fixed Income, iShares, Pimco, Source, SSGA SPDR, Themes and Strategy, VanEck Vectors
Dec 11th, 2012 |
By Simon Smith, CFA
HSBC Global Asset Management has added Susquehanna International Securities as a second official market maker for its exchange-traded fund (ETF) product range. The introduction of an additional market marker should improve liquidity and help investors achieve the best possible dealing prices. Susquehanna will work in addition to HSBC Global Markets, providing continuous bid and offer prices on its 25 physically-replicated ETFs.
Posted in ETF and Index News |
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Tags: ETF Industry News, Europe, HSBC, United Kingdom
Dec 10th, 2012 |
By Simon Smith, CFA
Global exchange-traded fund (ETF) and exchange-traded product (ETP) assets reached an all-time high of $1.9 trillion at the end of November 2012, according to figures from ETFGI. Assets reached $1.3 trillion in the US, $359 billion in Europe, $78.7 billion in Asia Pacific (ex-Japan), $46.9 billion in Japan and $11.6 billion in Latin America. Over the past 10 years the global compounded annual growth rate of ETFs and ETPs has been 30.2%.
Posted in ETF and Index News |
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Tags: Asia Pacific, Commodities, Equities, ETF Industry News, Europe, Fixed Income, United Kingdom, United States and Canada
Dec 5th, 2012 |
By Simon Smith, CFA
Hedge funds spend millions on talent and research to uncover attractive investment opportunities. You might assume, therefore, that their holdings are obscure, inconspicuous and inaccessible to everyday investors. Not so. Analysis of SEC filings reveals that exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are among hedge funds’ largest holdings. These are funds that anyone of us could buy. Some of the hedge fund industry’s biggest stars are major investors in ETFs, including well-known names such as George Soros, Ray Dalio and David Tepper.
Posted in Alternatives / Multi-Asset |
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Tags: Amundi, Commodities, DWS Xtrackers, Emerging and Frontier, Equities, ETF Securities, Fixed Income, FTSE, Gold and Precious Metals, Invesco, iShares, Lyxor, Nasdaq OMX Indexes, S&P Dow Jones, Source, SSGA SPDR, UBS, United States and Canada, VanEck Vectors, Vanguard
Dec 5th, 2012 |
By Simon Smith, CFA
IndexIQ, a US-based provider of niche exchange-traded funds (ETFs), is to shut the IQ Emerging Markets Mid Cap ETF (EMER). With less than $2m in assets, it appears the fund is just too small to justify its existence. By targeting the mid-capitalisation sector of publicly traded companies in emerging markets, the fund provided access to a niche market segment that is otherwise hard to reach. Fortunately for investors, there are alternatives to consider once the fund closes.
Posted in Equities |
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Tags: EG Shares, Emerging and Frontier, ETF Industry News, Guggenheim, IndexIQ, iShares, MSCI, S&P Dow Jones, SSGA SPDR