The rise of the ETF industry is often attributed (in large part at least) to a shift in investor preference from pricey active management to low-cost indexing strategies. ETFs burst on to the investment scene by offering fees equivalent to only a fraction of those charged by traditional actively-managed mutual funds, and have continued to attract assets as investors frustrated with the inability of active management to consistently generate alpha seek out more cost-efficient alternatives. [click to continue…]
Credit Suisse, one of the world’s largest financial services providers, announced Monday the launch of the Credit Suisse Long/Short Liquid Index (Net) ETN (CSLS), a product designed to correlate to the performance of the Credit Suisse Tremont Long/Short Equity Hedge Fund Index. But the new ETN achieves hedge fund-like exposure in a unique manner. The index to which CSLS is actually linked, the Credit Suisse Long/Short Liquid Index, is designed to reflect the return of a basket of 18 liquid, investable market factors. These factors are then selected and weighted monthly in accordance with an algorithm that aims to track the performance of the Credit Suisse/Tremont Long/Short Equity Hedge Fund Index. [click to continue…]
San Francisco-based iShares, the market leader with more than 185 U.S. listed ETFs, announced on Monday the launch of its latest product, the iShares Diversified Alternatives Trust. Unlike most iShares products that seek to track the performance of an underlying benchmark, the Diversified Alternatives Trust seeks to maximize absolute returns from investments with historically low [...]
IndexIQ, the New York-based developer of alternative indexes and exchange-traded funds, has taken the first step towards launching a 130/30 ETF, filing a 40-APP application with the SEC earlier this week. IndexIQ currently maintains the IQ 130/30 Index, a rules-based benchmark that employs fundamental factors to select U.S. stocks with a long exposure of 130% [...]
Having been given the option, the vast majority of investors in storied hedge fund Cerberus Capital Management have opted to liquidate their holdings, rather than roll over their investments to a new Cerberus fund. The development is a blow to fund manager Stephen Feinberg, and on a higher level, to the hedge fund industry as [...]
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 [...]
Over the last two years, equity markets have cratered, volatility has skyrocketed, and retirement portfolios have been crushed under the weight of a global recession and seemingly unending uncertainty. But over this period, the ETF industry has enjoyed astonishing success, attracting billions of dollars away from traditional mutual funds and redefining the business of long-term [...]
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:
