Archive for May 2013
May 30th, 2013 |
By Simon Smith, CFA
By David Stevenson – The sector’s enthusiasm for acronyms has actually tipped over into hubris as it tries to explain why the term ETP is the best catch-all descriptor as opposed to index trackers, ETFs, ETCs, ETNs or any other combination involving the letters E.T. The problem is that very few people in the wider world of normal sentient human beings actually care! Worse still, they find the whole debate completely confusing and counterproductive. I’ve had countless conversations with IFAs who have given up on these products because they can’t quite understand the difference.
Posted in ETF and Index News |
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Tags: ETF Industry News, ETNs and ETCs, Europe, iShares, United Kingdom
May 30th, 2013 |
By Simon Smith, CFA
The London Stock Exchange (LSE) has slashed fees for market makers in exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in a bid to grow trade volumes and enhance liquidity. Gillian Walmsley, Head of fixed income products at the London Stock Exchange, said: “By lowering the volume thresholds for discounts and reducing the fees for registered market makers, our aim is to further grow trading volumes and support liquidity on our market, and to continue to attract issuers and investors from around the world to London.”
Posted in ETF and Index News |
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Tags: ETF Industry News, ETF Securities, ETNs and ETCs, Europe, United Kingdom
May 30th, 2013 |
By Simon Smith, CFA
S&P Dow Jones has again added to its rapidly expanding suite of indices with the launch of the S&P Nordic Low Volatility Index, an index tracking the performance of the 30 least volatile stocks in the S&P Nordic Broad Market Index (BMI). The new index further enhances the index provider’s existing low-volatility line-up and reflects continued investor interest in low-volatile equity strategies.
Posted in ETF and Index News |
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Tags: Amundi, Equities, ETF and Index News, Invesco, iShares, Ossiam, S&P Dow Jones, SSGA SPDR, Volatility
May 30th, 2013 |
By Simon Smith, CFA
Boost, an independent provider of short and leveraged exchange-traded products (ETPs), has launched an ‘advisor toolkit’ deigned to provide easy-to-understand educational materials for anyone considering an investment in a short or leveraged ETP. The toolkit comes in response to a number of concerns by global regulators regarding the use of leverage by investors, and follows the introduction of more mainstream educational resources by iShares and Vanguard.
Posted in Alternatives / Multi-Asset |
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Tags: Boost ETP, ETF Launch, ETNs and ETCs, Leveraged and Inverse ETFs
May 29th, 2013 |
By Simon Smith, CFA
Morningstar has released the results of its fifth online survey of UK investors into the appetite, understanding and use of exchange-traded funds (ETFs), with results showing the ever-increasing importance of one of the hallmark attributes of ETFs – their low cost. Of current ETF investors, 91% cited low costs as being either a “very important” or “important” attribute, compared to 89% last year. Prospective ETF users are also putting greater focus on low costs, with 71% now citing this attribute as being “very important”, compared to 57% last year.
Posted in ETF and Index News |
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Tags: DWS Xtrackers, ETF Industry News, iShares, Lyxor, United Kingdom, Vanguard
May 29th, 2013 |
By Simon Smith, CFA
Clients of Barclays Stockbrokers, a leading UK-based execution broker, are increasingly using exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and exchange-traded commodities (ETCs) to capitalise on movements in key UK FTSE equity indices and precious metals markets, according to new analysis. Data for April 2013 revealed that FTSE-related ETFs accounted for four of the top ten most traded exchange-traded products for the month, with ETCs based on gold and silver accounting for three and two of the top ten spots, respectively.
Posted in Commodities |
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Tags: Commodities, Equities, ETF Industry News, ETF Securities, ETNs and ETCs, FTSE, Gold and Precious Metals, iShares, United Kingdom
May 29th, 2013 |
By Simon Smith, CFA
Exchange-traded funds (ETF) perform strongly in terms of transparency and cost effectiveness, and are expected to become increasingly important to both institutional and private investors, according to a specialist committee on ETFs at the Swiss Funds Association (SFA). The comments were made at a recent media conference held by the SFA in Zurich and come after the publication of data showing that ETFs account for a steadily growing share of the fund volume booked in Switzerland.
Posted in ETF and Index News |
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Tags: ETF Industry News, Europe, iShares, Swiss and Global / Julius Baer, UBS
May 23rd, 2013 |
By Simon Smith, CFA
iShares has revealed that UK financial advisers continued to increase their use of ETFs on wrap platforms in Q1 2013, with the amount of iShares’ assets held on major platforms reaching £985m, an increase of 16% on Q4 2012. Pollyanna Harper, Head of Intermediary Sales UK at iShares, said: “In the three months since the implementation of the RDR, we’re encouraged to see a steady increase in the amount of assets advisers are holding in ETFs through platforms. Advisers and investors are becoming more aware of what ETFs are and the benefits they can offer”.
Posted in ETF and Index News |
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Tags: Equities, ETF Industry News, Fixed Income, FTSE, iShares, Markit, United Kingdom, Volatility
May 23rd, 2013 |
By Simon Smith, CFA
WisdomTree has expanded its product line-up with the launch of the WisdomTree US Dividend Growth ETF (DGRW). The fund has been listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market and provides exposure to dividend-paying stocks with growth characteristics. In keeping with the firm’s fundamental indexing approach, the fund will track the proprietary WisdomTree US Dividend Growth Index, a dividend-weighted index which blends characteristics of both active and passive investment styles.
Posted in Equities |
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Tags: Equities, ETF Industry News, ETF Launch, High Income, High Yield, SSGA SPDR, United States and Canada, Vanguard, WisdomTree
May 22nd, 2013 |
By Simon Smith, CFA
Vanguard has expanded its European suite of low-cost exchange-traded funds (ETFs) with the launch of four new funds on the London Stock Exchange. The new ETFs complement the firm’s existing London-listed line-up, which debuted in May 2012. Axel Lomholt, Vanguard’s Head of International Product Development, said: “In the US, Vanguard has been very successful in this area, gathering nearly $290 billion of assets since its first ETF launch in 2001. We think that the same low-cost, straightforward approach will prove equally popular in Europe”.
Posted in Equities |
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Tags: Amundi, DWS Xtrackers, FTSE, HSBC, iShares, Lyxor, Source, SSGA SPDR, UBS, Vanguard