No one can argue just how far the ETF industry has come since the debut of the first ever exchange-traded fund in 1993. The investment landscape now boasts a lineup of nearly 1,500 offerings, allowing investors to gain cheap and easy access to nearly every corner of the investable universe. From the plain-vanilla funds to the more complex products, issuers continue to raise the bar, providing innovative tools to all walks of investors. However, the ever-evolving product roster has also led to waves of ETF closures as issuers struggle to attract enough interest from investors. Although some might view this as a sign of weakness for the space as a whole, it is important to remember that the industry is still relatively young and that closures are just a natural part of the industry’s life cycle [see also Why You Shouldn't Worry About ETF Closures]. [click to continue…]
Commodity prices across the board have endured a dismal decline over the past few months as grim global economic growth expectations have kept a lid on investors’ confidence. Uncertainty has been plaguing virtually every corner of the financial market thanks to a sluggish recovery on the homefront coupled with looming debt woes in Europe. Crude [...]
2011 has been arguably one the busiest ever for the ETF industry, as we are on pace to break through 300 new launches for the year. As we rapidly approach 1,400 total funds in the space, it can be a daunting task to try and keep up with the tidal wave of new products that [...]
May was a tumultuous month for equity markets, as instability around the world pushed and pulled on major indexes through the last several weeks. Perhaps the biggest news of the month was the re-emergence of the European debt crisis; with Greece in yet another dire situation, many investors are concerned about the overall stability of [...]
After concerns about Europe dominated trading in the early part of the week, U.S. and international markets staged a comeback in the final sessions of the week, putting most major benchmarks higher but not enough to break through into the green on the week. Though Friday was light on volume ahead of an extended holiday [...]
Direxion rolled out the latest additions to its lineup of leveraged and inverse ETFs today, introducing products that offer 3x daily exposure to Russian equities and the global agribusiness sector. The new ETFs include:
