The universe of U.S.-listed exchange-traded products has grown at an impressive rate over the last several years, bringing the industry to a point where there are more than 1,100 products with aggregate assets exceeding $1 trillion. According to the ETF screener, there are nearly 800 equity ETFs available, an impressive total that allows investors to slice and dice global stock markets in a number of different ways. [click to continue…]
The ever-changing competitive landscape continues to shift in the ETF industry, with updated regulatory filings from two giants in the indexing and money management space that could soon be a bigger part of the ETF industry. Russell wrote the SEC to “ respectfully request the withdrawal of the Applicants’ application for” exemptive relief that was [...]
Although American equity markets started the day on a high note, the Dow was up about 50 points at its high, equities sold off to close out the day as geopolitical events from around the world weighed on stocks. The Dow finished the day down 22 points while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq posted [...]
Rob Arnott is the founder of Research Affiliates, a global leader in innovative investing and asset allocation strategies. The firm is perhaps best known for its role in developing fundamentally-weighted indexes that utilize the RAFI methodology. This strategy involves selecting and weighting securities by fundamental measures of company size, as opposed to market capitalization. The [...]
AdvisorShares, one of the largest issuers of actively-managed ETFs, has forged another partnership with a well known asset manager and has plans to team up on an ETF. A recent SEC filing detailed the Meidell Tactical Advantage ETF (MATH), which would be sub-advised by American Wealth Management. The proposed fund, according to the filing, would [...]
Despite continued uncertainty over the health of global markets and skyrocketing crude prices, equity markets managed to post relatively strong performances during the last week. These gains were largely the result of broad improvement across the market but especially positive outlooks in the technology, materials, and consumer goods sectors. The few losers over the past [...]
iShares, the largest issuer of U.S. ETFs that was acquired last year by BlackRock, has received SEC approval to introduce actively-managed ETFs. iShares currently offers more than 200 passively-indexes ETFs, and the recent SEC decision opens the door for the company to introduce exchange-traded products not linked to a specific benchmark. iShares ETFs had aggregate [...]
This week was a relatively calm one in relation to the recent international affairs which have dominated headlines for over a month. Conflicts in Libya have escalated, now with heavy U.S. and NATO involvement, but markets have remained relatively calm and have even trended higher. The wake of the Japanese earthquake still continues to bring [...]
American equity markets soared to start Friday trading, fell back to earth, but still managed to ultimately post modest gains to close out the week. The Dow rose by 50 points while the Nasdaq and S&P 500 rose by 0.2% and 0.3%, respectively as strong performances out of Apple, and some basic materials companies helped [...]
The ETF industry as a whole has grown tremendously in recent years, with both assets and the number of products surging as investors embrace the exchange-traded structure as an efficient vehicle for accessing everything from U.S. stocks to Asian bonds to corn and cocoa. Certain corners of the market have, of course, expanded more quickly [...]
Global X, the New York City-based ETF issuer known for its various country and sector-specific products, continues to be active on the product development front; the firm recently filed details with the SEC for two new niche ETFs. The filing was light on details such as tickers or expenses, but did shed some light on [...]
