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” products that bring previously hard-to-reach or inefficient asset classes within reach. [click to continue…]
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 [...]
Stocks treaded water on an election Tuesday, finishing about level on a day when GM decided it will keep its Opel unit and Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway announced the acquisition of Burlington Northern. News of the deal sent shares of BNI up more than 25%, giving a boost in the process to the iShares Dow [...]
by Andy H on September 30, 2009
September was one of the most active months in the ETF industry in recent memory. We saw a wave of new fund launches from industry leaders and smaller players alike, along with perhaps the first of many commodity fund closures. September saw the introduction of another actively-managed ETF, proposals on several more innovative funds, and [...]
On Thursday, State Street launched the SPDR Wells Fargo Preferred Stock ETF (PSK), an ETF that invests in non-convertible preferred stocks. The new SPDR will compete with two existing products from iShares and PowerShares, both of which have been incredibly popular among investors through the first three quarters of 2009.
