With more than 40% of the U.S. market, iShares has long been the leader in the U.S. ETF industry. But in recent years the competition has been gaining ground, thanks in part to more cost efficient products. According to the ETF Industry Association, Vanguard led all ETF issuers with almost $36 billion in cash inflows last year, handily exceeding the $28.8 billion iShares took in. Much of the difference in inflows between the two was related to a small group of ETFs linked to identical indexes but distinguished by cost differentials; the cheaper Vanguard funds drew significantly more interest than competing iShares ETFs. The biggest differential related to the emerging markets ETFs offered [see also The Ten Commandments of Commodity Investing]: [click to continue…]
iShares, the largest U.S. ETF issuer in terms of both assets and number of funds, continued the aggressive expansion of its product lineup this week with five new products offering exposure to commodity-related stocks. Each of the new ETFs will compete with existing products offering indirect exposure to natural resources through stocks of companies that [...]
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 [...]
Global X, the relatively new ETF issuer that has already gathered more than $1 billion in assets, announced that it will close eight of its ETFs in the first quarter of 2012. Each of the ETFs to be closed has struggled to build assets during relatively short times on the market; they all launched at [...]
Better late than never. E*TRADE, the online brokerage that is perhaps best known for its commercials starring infant trading whizzes, has begun offering commission free trading on a lineup of exchange-traded funds. ETFs issued by Global X, WisdomTree, and db-X (Deutsche Bank) will be eligible for commission free trading on the E*Trade platform. That lineup [...]
Direxion laid the groundwork for several new products in a recent SEC proposal, including a handful of sector ETFs as well as an international equity offering. The Boston based issuer detailed plans to potentially ramp up its product lineup with four new 3x leveraged bull-bear pair ETFs. Triple-exposure products are the bread and butter of [...]
The last five years have seen a tremendous expansion of the ETF industry, as assets have skyrocketed and the number of products available to U.S.-based investors has multiplied. That same period of time has also been a period of tremendous volatility in global financial markets; the last five years have witnessed an unprecedented financial crisis, [...]
This past week was an extremely rough one for stocks across the board as fears over a global slowdown and worries over European debt woes sent markets tumbling around the world. Although Congress did manage to briefly come together in order to resolve the debt ceiling issue– at least in the short term– markets sold [...]
Thanks to inflationary pressures and booming emerging markets, a number of key commodities have seen their values soar so far in 2011. While this trend has been especially pronounced in the energy and food commodity markets, precious metals have also been a huge beneficiary of the movement as many traders and investors have piled into [...]
As interest in achieving exposure to commodities has increased in recent years, various issuers have introduced exchange-traded products designed to access this potentially attractive asset class. While assets have flowed into exchange-traded products that offer exposure to natural resources prices through futures contracts and physical commodities, ETFs that invest in stocks of the companies engaged [...]
This past week wasn’t nearly as kind to investors as stocks moved modestly higher to start the week only to fall sharply in Friday trading, cancelling out all of the gains from earlier in the period. Much of this turmoil stemmed from geopolitical issues, namely oil’s continued rise and the budget battle in the halls [...]
