Pacific Investment Management Co. (Pimco), the world’s largest bond manager, is making a run at the actively-managed ETF business, less than two months after launching its first passively-indexed fund. According to a filing with the SEC, Pimco plans to launch five new actively-managed ETFs, three of which will focus on bonds maturing in less than one year and two of which will invest in municipal bonds. ”ETFs are increasingly an important investor tool,” said Don Suskind, Pimco’s head of ETF product development. “By offering active ETFs, we believe there will be a broader set of investors that can access Pimco’s investment expertise.”
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ProShares, known for introducing leveraged ETFs and inverse leveraged ETFs to the market in 2006, has introduced another unique style of fund, launching the ProShares Credit Suisse 130/30 ETF (CSM). CSM, which began trading on the NYSE Arca Exchange on Tuesday, is the first ETF on the market to follow a 130/30 strategy. The ETF seeks to track the Credit Suisse 130/30 Large Cap Index, which was introduced by Credit Suisse in 2007 in collaboration with AlphaSimplex Group. The index was designed by Dr. Andrew Lo and Mr. Pankaj Patel, CFA, who described the underlying principles of the quantitative-based index in a 2008 paper, “130/30: The New Long-Only.” [click to continue…]
A study performed by New York-based research and consulting firm Novarica makes some bold predictions about the investment industry, painting a dismal picture for the future of traditional actively-managed mutual funds. The study predicts that nearly half of mutual funds will disappear by 2015, being replaced by low-cost ETF alternatives. Among the highlights of the [...]
In the weeks since its sale to BlackRock was announced, the team at iShares has been busy expanding its reach, launching the first Peru-specific ETF as well as the S&P Emerging Markets Infrastructure ETF (EMIF). And the Goliath of the ETF space is showing no signs of slowing down any time soon, recently filing for approval [...]
Although ETFs and mutual funds seem in many ways to be natural rivals, one of the most closely-watched trends in the “active vs. passive” debate has been the development of a hybrid type of investment option: actively-managed ETFs. While the space has mostly taken “baby steps” to this point, it appears to be poised for [...]
As the ETF industry expanded over the last several years, the market quickly became saturated with funds tracking traditional equity, fixed income, and commodity benchmarks. Once the major indexes had been covered (and in many cases recovered), ETF issuers began getting more creative, launching funds in unique niches of the market, hoping to establish themselves as [...]
Claymore Advisors, sponsor of 35 passively-managed ETFs, has filed for exemptive relief with the SEC to launch three actively-managed ETFs, the latest indication that these “hybrid” funds could fuel the next wave of the ETF industry boom. The three proposed funds are:
Grail Advisors LLC, the investment advisor that launched the Grail American Beacon Large Cap Value Fund (GVT) last month, has filed with the SEC to launch four additional ETFs. Grail notes that these four funds will be the first actively-managed ETFs to use a single-manager approach. The proposed funds are:
Last month, Grail Advisors made headlines in the ETF industry by launching the Grail American Beacon Large Cap Value Fund (GVT). Although PowerShares had pioneered “active” ETFs last year, GVT was the first truly active ETF to hit the market, as this fund afforded its managers a level of discretion equivalent to traditional mutual funds. After [...]
In its first day of trading yesterday, PIMCO’s first ETF, the 1-3 Year U.S. Treasury Index Fund (TUZ), opened with a bang. While it would be foolish to read too much into one day’s activity, TUZ’s strong open must give the mutual fund giant hope that its entrance into the ETF arena will be a [...]
Over the last several months, a number of actively-managed ETFs have been launched. These investment vehicles are essentially a hybrid of traditional mutual funds and ETFs, providing many of the benefits that have boosted the ETF industry (lower fees, greater transparency and flexibility, etc.), while implementing an active trading strategy in an attempt to outperform a market [...]
In a filing with the SEC earlier this month, iShares requested approval to launch two actively-managed ETFs. One of the proposed funds would invest in equities while the other would invest in bonds. Following the recent launch of the first actively managed fund by Grail Advisors earlier this month, iShares’ move indicates that this segment [...]
