The latest ETF industry data from the National Stock Exchange is out, and after a small step back in May, exchange-traded products resumed their upward trajectory in June. Total ETP inflows totaled more than $8 billion last month, after May saw about $800 million in outflows–attributable in large part to big outflows from the S&P 500 SPDR (SPY). The world’s largest ETF had about $92 billion at the halfway point of 2011, and the ETF industry expanded to just under $1.1 trillion thanks to an impressive late June rally and another month of solid inflows. [click to continue…]
For investors looking to generate current returns from the equity portion of their portfolio, there is no shortage of exchange-traded products offering attractive dividend yields in the current environment. From ETFs linked to dividend-weighted indexes to those that focus on companies with stellar distribution histories to simply sector-specific funds in high yield corners of the [...]
Wednesday marks the first day of trading for another Global X ETF, as the company introduced a fund offering exposure to a basket of preferred stocks from Canadian issuers that trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The Global X Canada Preferred ETF (CNPF) seeks to replicate the Solactive Canada Preferred Index, a benchmark that includes [...]
iShares hasn’t launched any new ETFs since rolling out its short-term TIPS fund (STIP) in early December, but the issuer responsible for close to 45% of all U.S. ETF assets continues to expand its product pipeline. The San Francisco-based ETF giant recently detailed plans for a international preferred stock ETF in an SEC filing; the [...]
U.S. ETF assets topped $1 trillion for the first time in December, as a year-end rally in global equity markets and another strong month of inflows pushed the industry past the milestone. ETF assets also finished the year above this key mark, according to the latest data from the National Stock Exchange, representing an increase [...]
After lingering in the background of the ETF industry for the last several years, fixed income funds have stepped up in recent months to become one of the primary drivers of growth. Through the first seven months of 2010, cash inflows to ETFs totaled $49 billion. Of this amount, more than $23 billion has been [...]
On the surface, the G-20 meeting in Toronto last weekend appeared to be relatively uneventful, especially after a debate on China’s currency policies was effectively canceled by Beijing’s surprising shift. One of the few resolutions to come out of the summit was a pledge by G-20 leaders to cut deficits and bring their respective fiscal [...]
The first wave of growth in the ETF industry came as investors embraced the exchange-traded structure as an improvement over traditional actively mutual funds–a more cost-efficient and tax-friendly way to access traditional asset classes such as stocks and bonds. But in recent years much of the growth in ETF assets has been attributable to “democratizing” [...]
Recent growth in the ETF industry has been due in large part to surges in popularity of asset classes to which many investors would otherwise have fairly limited access. Exchange-traded commodity products have seen billions of dollars in cash inflows, as have fixed income and currency funds. While the number of ETFs offering exposure to [...]
As the ETF industry has expanded in recent years, so too has the number of asset classes accessible through exchange-traded products. With more than $2 billion in cash inflows in 2009, preferred stock ETFs have become a big hit with some investors, offering “hybrid” exposure that has delivered strong returns provided valuable diversification benefits to [...]
Following a year that saw some of the worst performances in recent memory, many asset classes have bounced back in 2009. But some have performed better than others, and as the year draws to a close we take a look at some of the best-performing ETFs. The year’s top gainers include a few of the [...]
