ETF Database » ETF Industry

iShares: The Low Cost ETF Issuer?

Michael Johnston — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:00:44 +0000

With more than 40% of the U.S. market, iShares has long been the leader in the U.S. ETF industry. But in recent years the competition has been gaining ground, thanks in part to more cost efficient products. According to the ETF Industry Association, Vanguard led all ETF issuers with almost $36 billion in cash inflows last year, handily exceeding the $28.8 billion iShares took in. Much of the difference in inflows between the two was related to a small group of ETFs linked to identical indexes but distinguished by cost differentials; the cheaper Vanguard funds drew significantly more interest than competing iShares ETFs. The biggest differential related to the emerging markets ETFs offered [see also The Ten Commandments of Commodity Investing]: Ticker ETF Index Expense Ratio 2011 Flows VWO Vanguard MSCI Emerging Markets ETF MSCI Emerging Markets Index 0.22% $7,808 EEM iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index Fund MSCI Emerging Markets [...]

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What Will A Facebook IPO Mean For ETFs?

Jared Cummans — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:05:06 +0000

The rumors have been swirling for years: Facebook will IPO next month, next quarter, next year. But each time it seems that investors are disappointed with no such event. However, 2012 may finally see the long-awaited IPO from the social networking giant. Before you roll your eyes and click out of the page, consider some new developments that make this event very likely. Other than unnamed sources confirming an IPO in early to mid 2012, the company’s private stock has been frozen for the past three days, a move that typically coincides with a filing to go public in the near future. ”Facebook and companies who do this don’t want to expose themselves to lawsuits related to the fact that some people had it before others and were able to trade on it,” Sam Hamadeh, CEO of private company research firm PrivCo, told Bloomberg. “The best way to protect yourself is [...]

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The 10 Most Profitable ETFs In The World

Jared Cummans — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 12:00:01 +0000

The ETF industry has long been known for the many advantages that it offers over competing mutual funds and other investment vehicles. One of the most significant upsides that exchange traded products have is their relatively low expenses; investors can gain exposure to asset classes of all kinds for a reasonable price. In fact, cheap ETFs have become so popular in recent years, that issuers have even started competing by slashing expense ratios to try and get a leg up on their more expensive competition, and some evidence shows that the strategy is paying off well. But while many investors are concerned with how much an investment will cost them, few stop to think about what that particular investment yields for its issuer [see also 12 High-Yielding Commodities For 2012]. A number of exchange traded funds in the space have gargantuan assets and some have large expense ratios to go [...]

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RSP vs. SPY: 2011 At a Glance

Jared Cummans — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 14:30:01 +0000

SPY has long been the king of exchange traded products. Hitting the market in 1993, this fund has amassed nearly $100 billion in assets making it not only the largest ETF in the world, but also one of the largest funds available to investors. Its ultra low expenses and massive daily volume have allowed it to be both a trading instrument as well as an integral part of long term portfolios. But for the past few years, the fund has been in a stiff competition with its equal weighted counterpart, the S&P Equal Weight ETF (RSP) [see also 12 High-Yielding Commodities For 2012]. Rivalry The rivalry between these two funds can be traced back since RSP debuted in 2003. While SPY has won the battle in some years, others have seen RSP wipe the floor with the ETF top-dog. For those unfamiliar with RSP’s strategy, the fund is comprised of the [...]

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The 10 Most Actively Traded ETFs In The World

Jared Cummans — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 14:00:31 +0000

ETF investing has surged in recent years as the industry has experienced exponential growth in nearly all aspects of the universe. Now, there are over 1,400 products with more than $1 trillion in combined assets to offer exposure to just about every corner of the market an investor could ever want. But while these products had originally been designed for more traditional, “buy and hold”, investors in mind, they have evolved into trading instruments as well. Many traders utilize exchange traded products for exposure given their transparency, ease of trade, and low expense structures [see also 12 High-Yielding Commodities For 2012]. When it comes time to find the perfect trading instrument, many will start with average daily volume and then work their way through the fund’s holdings. Now it should be noted that ADV and ETFs do not necessarily align; because ETFs can undergo creation, a fund with a low [...]

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ETFs: The $10 Billion Club

Jared Cummans — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 12:00:03 +0000

It is no secret that the ETF industry is dominated by just a handful of products. The majority of the $1 trillion plus assets are confined to roughly 100 funds, leaving the other 1,300 ETFs in the dust. But as growth in the industry continues to pick up, more and more funds are entering elite status with hefty assets and trading volumes to go with it [see also Top 5 Commodity ETFs Of 2011]. Investors who are still a bit squeamish about buying into some of the smaller and more hypertargeted products, have a wealth of options available to them. A number of advisors and institutions have minimum requirements for assets under management for the products that they can buy. Along with assets restrictions there are often regulations on age and average daily volume. But for those looking for a fund that meets such strict demands, combing through the entire ETF universe [...]

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Tax Efficiency Report Card

Daniela Pylypczak — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 12:00:24 +0000

The year-end periods provides the ETF industry with a couple of opportunities to flex its collective muscle; performance comparisons generally tend to favor those products with lower expense ratios–a defining feature of exchange-traded funds. But early January also puts another benefit of exchange-traded products into focus: enhanced tax efficiency relative to traditional mutual funds. The nuances of the exchange-traded structure have the potential to bring additional tax efficiencies to investors thanks to the availability of an “in kind redemption” that ultimately gives investors more control over the timing of tax obligations. Mutual funds, on the other hand, have a nasty tendency to stick remaining shareholders with tax liabilities incurred as a result of redemptions by others–a development that can obviously be undesirable [see Tax Loss Harvesting With ETFs: 6 Ideas To Lower Client Liabilities]. ETFs won’t allow investors to skip out on their taxes, but this product structure can deliver [...]

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2011 Recap: Another Big Year For ETFs

Michael Johnston — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 11:45:14 +0000

The ETF industry finished 2011 with assets of about $1.06 trillion according to data recently released by the ETF Industry Association. Total assets grew by about 5% over the previous year, when the industry stood at $1.01 trillion. Net cash inflows for the year totaled about $117.6 billion, a slight decrease from 2010 when the industry took in $118.7 billion. In 2009, total ETF inflows tallied about $119.4 billion, meaning that creations have been remarkably consistent over the last three years. December was one of the best months of the year from a cash inflows perspective; approximately $16.2 billion, or about 14% of the annual total, came in during the final month of the year. U.S. equity ETFs accounted for about $41.3 billion in inflows, or approximately 35% of the industry total. But the real growth came in the fixed income arena; bond ETF assets grew from about $129 billion [...]

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How Low Can Vanguard Go? Sector ETFs Get Expense Cuts

Michael Johnston — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 14:00:15 +0000

Vanguard, the Pennsylvania-based provider of ETFs and mutual funds known for its low management expenses, has further enhanced the cost efficiency on its lineup of sector-specific ETFs. The company announced that the expense ratios on a handful of its sector funds have been cut to 0.19%, making them slightly cheaper than the popular lineup of Sector SPDRs and on par with several FocusShares ETFs. The Vanguard sector ETFs and their expense ratios are now as follows [sign up for the free ETFdb newsletter]: Ticker Sector ER AUM VCR Consumer Disc. 0.19% $348 VDC Consumer Staples 0.19% $885 VDE Energy 0.19% $1,730 VFH Financials 0.23% $538 VHT Health Care 0.19% $725 VIS Industrials 0.19% $432 VGT Technology 0.19% $1,894 VAW Materials 0.19% $530 VOX Telecom 0.19% $366 VPU Utilities 0.19% $1,041 Each of the funds highlighted above will now be at least tied for the lowest expense ratio in their respective [...]

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Seven ETFs To Be Excited For In 2012

Stoyan Bojinov — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 14:00:28 +0000

Innovation has been a dominant theme in the ETF industry and this year, 2011, has shaped out to be perhaps the most exciting one yet. Growth is the other key ingredient for success and the exchange-traded universe has seen an abundance of new product launches; veteran issuers and newcomers alike have expanded their product lineups with dozens upon dozens of first-to-market products, while also making plans for more exciting offerings in the near future [see ETF Launch Center]. With over 1,400 funds to choose from at the moment, investors are surely looking forward to the expansion of the “toolkit” as the ETF structure has demonstrated its effectiveness in allowing for easy, and transparent, access to a multitude of asset classes that were previously out-of-reach for many. In light of this, we have picked out seven intriguing filings that are currently on deck and could hit the market sometime in 2012 [...]

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ETF Database » ETF Industry

iShares: The Low Cost ETF Issuer?

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What Will A Facebook IPO Mean For ETFs?

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The 10 Most Profitable ETFs In The World

Related Posts:

RSP vs. SPY: 2011 At a Glance

Related Posts:

The 10 Most Actively Traded ETFs In The World

Related Posts:

ETFs: The $10 Billion Club

Related Posts:

Tax Efficiency Report Card

Related Posts:

2011 Recap: Another Big Year For ETFs

Related Posts:

How Low Can Vanguard Go? Sector ETFs Get Expense Cuts

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Seven ETFs To Be Excited For In 2012

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