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MINT

When the Federal Reserve announced recently that it plans to keep key interest rates at nearly zero until 2014, it hardly came as a surprise. With the economic recovery still in a very fragile state and inflationary pressures remaining tame, record low interest rates are expected to hang around for quite a while. While stock markets largely cheered the latest announcement, you could almost hear the exasperation of those who rely on generating meaningful current returns from their portfolios. The extension of the low rate environment means extending the challenges for yield hungry investors, such as those who rely on their portfolio to generate cash flows to cover living expenses [see also Six Juicy High Yield Bond ETFs For 2012].

Against this backdrop, more and more advisors have engaged actively in searching out securities that offer meaningful current returns for their clients. Not surprisingly, that objective generally leads to the assumption of greater risk, whether though lower creditworthiness or longer durations. There are, of course, investors at the opposite end of the spectrum, whose primary objectives focus not on maximizing current yield but on minimizing risk and simply maintaining the value of their investment. And for those looking to do a bit more than stuffing their cash under the mattress, there are some interesting ETF options out there [for more ETF ideas, sign up for the free ETFdb newsletter]:  [click to continue…]

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As the lineup of exchange-traded products has expanded dramatically in recent years, financial advisors have found themselves with more tools at their disposal than ever before. The extreme granularity of many of the equity products out there allows for cheap, low maintenance targeting of specific corners of the investable universe, while the development of some increasingly complex products has opened up strategies that were previously inaccessible.

But perhaps the most impressive innovation in recent years has come on the bond side of the market, where the arsenal has expanded considerably over the past two years. Whatever your objective for the fixed income side of client portfolios, odds are there is an ETF that can be used to help you out. Below, we highlight ten common objectives when it comes to managing a bond portfolio–as well as the ETFs that can be used to achieve those goals [for more ETF insights, sign up for the free ETFdb newsletter]:  [click to continue…]

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As a handful of brave souls find out every four years, running for President of the United States generally involves opening up your personal life to intense examination by opponents, the media, and general public. Generally, the scrutiny focuses on personal histories–arrests, affairs, and lawsuits make for juicy reading. But being a public servant can [...]

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Amidst another volatile trading week for equity markets, the product development front continues to buzz with activity as new entrants plan their debuts, while veteran issuers continue to expand their product lineups. Legg Mason, the mutual fund giant and home of legendary manager Bill Miller (at least for a few more weeks) is planning to [...]

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The ETF industry’s strong growth in recent years has led to innovation across the board. Now, investors can find products that offer exposure to nearly every corner of global markets through a single ticker. And while many of these new options have been welcomed with open arms, investors have been wary of others. One space [...]

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Actively-managed ETFs have been all the rage so far this year as a number of issuers have thrown their hats into the increasingly competitive ring. One person who offered up some insight on this rapidly changing market was Tom Graves, CFA, who is an Equity Analyst at Standard & Poor’s. Tom wrote a piece on [...]

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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 [...]

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PIMCO, the California-based ETF issuer best known for its active bond funds, has put another active product into its exchange-traded pipeline. The latest proposal from the bond fund giant is the PIMCO Foreign Currency Strategy Exchange-Traded Fund, which would would give investors exposure to foreign currencies through an actively-managed ETF. PIMCO currently offers 13 ETFs, [...]

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While many of the “first generation” of ETFs offered exposure to widely-followed equity indexes, the universe of exchange-traded products has expanded at a tremendous pace in recent years to include more than 1,200 ETPs across a number of different asset classes. More and more investors have embraced the exchange-traded structure as a vehicle for achieving [...]

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Since PowerShares debuted its first active ETFs in the spring of 2008, this corner of the exchange-traded product market has grown tremendously. Though many active ETFs have been somewhat slow to accumulate assets, the increase in the size of the lineup highlights the trend towards vehicles that combine active management with the exchange-traded structure. There [...]

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Guggenheim became the latest ETF issuer to roll out actively-managed products on Wednesday, raising the curtain on a pair of funds that offer exposure to bond markets. The company completed the active ETF introduction by overhauling a pair of indexed bond funds, changing names and ticker symbols and dropping the target index altogether. The new [...]

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PIMCO, the world’s largest bond manager, has ETF investors salivating over the prospect of an ETF version of the ultra-popular Total Return Fund. In a recent SEC filing, PIMCO laid the groundwork to launch an ETF version of the world’s largest bond fund. The PIMCO Total Return Exchange-Traded Fund would be an actively managed product, [...]

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