This past year was the most active ever for the exchange traded industry in terms of product development; the launch of more than 300 new products shattered the record set in 2010. And innovation continues to run high in the industry; the creativity of issuers is still impressive, as many of the ETFs that have debuted over the last year have offered access to new asset classes and strategies. There are no doubt still stones to be overturned, and many new opportunities in the ETF space.
Yesterday, we profiled a number of the new additions to the ETF lineup in 2011 that had been a big hit with investors; nearly 20 of the exchange-traded products launched in 2011 have already accumulated more than $1 billion in assets. Today, we’ll take a look at ten ETFs that debuted in 2011 that haven’t been quite as successful pulling in assets, but that may be useful tools for investors looking to build a balanced, long-term portfolio [see How To Invest Like UBS In 2012]. [click to continue…]
The ETF industry has been praised for the many advantages that it offers investors. Exchange traded products are liquid, transparent, and cover a broad range of investment classes to help round out portfolios. On top of all of these advantages lies the cost factor; one of the founding principles of ETPs was to maintain cost [...]
MSCI, the firm responsible for developing and maintaining some of the most widely-followed indexes in the world, announced on Wednesday that Qatar and the United Arab Emirates would remain classified under frontier status until at least the middle of 2012, ending speculation over whether the two Middle East economies would be upgraded to emerging status. [...]
This past year has been a strong one for the ETF industry. With a record number of launches, already over 300 on the year, it is clear that the exchange traded world is still in full swing. But despite all of the innovation that the year has seen, investors are still partial to their big [...]
U.S. ETF assets declined slightly in November according to the latest data from the National Stock Exchange, as the rapidly-growing industry experienced net outflows amidst a general flight from both domestic and international equities. The industry finished last month with $1.06 trillion in net assets, down about 2% from the previous month but up 12% [...]
Today saw markets teeter back and forth as they tried to forget the news that Standard and Poor’s put all 17 euro-zone nations on credit watch. Markets were able to come away with meager gains as the S&P jumped 0.11% and the Dow gained 52 points. Gold saw another down day as the precious metal [...]
With the finish line in sight, it’s fairly safe to say that 2011 will be remembered by most investors as a wild, back-and-forth year that brought plenty of both hope and despair. A hot start raised optimism of a continued recovery after a generally impressive 2011, but the summer months were anything but relaxing; major [...]
A growing number of financial advisors are using exchange-traded funds to achieve international equity exposure for their clients, embracing funds that offer access to both developed and international market beyond the U.S. This should hardly be surprising; the exchange-traded structure delivers an efficient way to tap into an asset class that should be at the [...]
New exchange traded products continue to debut on the market by the cartload, as issuers have been ramping up activity on the product development front while ongoing innovation in the ETF industry is paving the way for one of a kind, first-to-market products. Investors can implement any number of strategies across a multitude of asset [...]
A quick look at the headlines on any given day is generally enough to explain why investors have been shifting greater percentages of their long-term portfolios towards emerging markets in recent years. The U.S. is grappling with elevated unemployment, and faces a regulatory gridlock that is creating undesirable tax uncertainty. Europe has been unable to [...]
Innovation across the exchange-traded universe has brought forth a host of investment strategies to mainstream investors, allowing for access to previously difficult to reach corners of the global financial market. Aside from the well-know benefits of ETFs, like ease-of-use and transparency, the structure of these investment vehicles holds several, often times overlooked, tax benefits as [...]
