Despite some rather significant bumps along the road in 2011, many asset classes are now well into positive territory on a one year trailing basis as January draws to a close, riding high thanks to a strong finish to last year and start to 2012. Included on that list are a number of leveraged ETFs that seek to amplify exposure to various asset classes, highlighting the potential to use these products to capture attractive returns over extended periods of time [see also Leveraged ETFs FAQs].
That might come as a bit of a surprise to some investors, as there remains a bit of a misconception over the performance attributes of leveraged ETPs that are held for multiple months. While there exists the potential for “return erosion” related to the resets of exposure in volatile markets, it is certainly possible for leveraged products to deliver big returns when held throughout any type of market. [click to continue…]
Direxion, one of the largest issuers of leveraged exchange-traded funds, will make significant changes to ten of its products next week. The Direxion ETFs currently offering 2x and -2x exposure to their underlying index will begin seeking to deliver daily results that correspond to 3x or -3x of the related benchmark. That change will obviously [...]
Direxion laid the groundwork for several new products in a recent SEC proposal, including a handful of sector ETFs as well as an international equity offering. The Boston based issuer detailed plans to potentially ramp up its product lineup with four new 3x leveraged bull-bear pair ETFs. Triple-exposure products are the bread and butter of [...]
VelocityShares, the issuer behind several popular ETNs linked to volatility-based indexes, made a big expansion to its product lineup this week with the launch of eight notes offering leveraged exposure to various precious metals. The new additions include both long and inverse offerings covering gold (3x), silver (3x), platinum (2x), and palladium (2x). Each of [...]
ProShares, the largest issuer of geared ETFs that has made a push into the alternatives space, adding two more products to its lineup late last week. The new Ultra DJ-UBS Natural Gas (BOIL) and UltraShort DJ-UBS Natural Gas (KOLD) are both linked to the Dow Jones-UBS Natural Gas Subindex, a benchmark that consists of natural [...]
UBS continued an aggressive expansion of its lineup of exchange-traded notes this week, debuting a product offering leveraged exposure to a hot corner of the technology sector. The launch of the ETRACS Monthly 2x Leveraged ISE Cloud Computing TR Index ETN (LSKY) comes exactly three months after First Trust debuted an ETF linked to the [...]
After announcing the automatic termination last week of the Inverse January 2021 S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN (IVO), iPath was quick to roll out a successor fund that will maintain a generally similar investment objective. Monday marked the first day of trading for the Inverse S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN (IVOP), which will [...]
Earnings season kicked off last week , but even corporate performance wasn’t enough to distract investors from the financial woes at home and overseas. Moody’s downgrade of Ireland to junk status sent waves of panic across the financial markets as investors speculated that Italy would be the next. Ben Bernanke’s testimony to Congress sparked a [...]
Innovation has been on display in the ETF industry in recent years, as various issuers have been active on the product development front in their efforts to bring new and exciting products to market. One area that has seen tremendous growth is the leveraged ETF space; investors have embraced the exchange-traded structure as an efficient [...]
As the ETF industry continues to grow, the size of the product lineup has raced towards 1,300 and each week seemingly brings a slew of new product introductions. While some investors have no qualms about jumping into a new ETF right off the bat, others prefer to limit their investable universe to products that have [...]
The first half of 2011 is officially in the books, and many investors find their portfolios in approximately the same place as they were to start the year (though a furious rally in the final week of the quarter gave a nice boost at an opportune moment). Most major equity indexes are up slightly on [...]
