ETF Database » AGG

101 ETF Lessons Every Financial Advisor Should Learn

Michael Johnston — Wed, 23 May 2012 12:00:06 +0000

Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have burst on to the scene in the last few years, raking in hundreds of billions of dollars in assets and prompting a major shift towards indexing strategies in the process. ETFs have empowered financial advisors (FAs), registered investment advisors (RIAs), Chief Financial Officers (CFOs), money managers, and retail investors to take greater control over their portfolios, pushing down fees and maxing out tax efficiency in the process. While ETFs appear quite simple on the surface, these securities can be quite complex. In order to get the most out of ETFs, there’s a lot that investors need to know about the structure, opportunities, and limitations of these securities. Below we outline just about everything you need to know about ETFs, from the basics to the more sophisticated aspects of these products. 1. ETFs Are Tax Efficient One of the biggest advantages of ETFs is their tax-efficient structure; [...]

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When An ETF Distribution Isn’t A Dividend: Explaining Capital Gains

Jared Cummans — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 13:00:33 +0000

Income investing has become particularly popular in recent years, as near-zero interest rates have left many starved for attractive yields. As such, many investors turned to equity ETFs paying out high dividends to find a stable source of income. But looking through past distributions and current yield metrics is not always the most accurate method for evaluating an ETF’s yield, as there are several nuances to these products that need to be taken into account, including capital gains [see also 12 High-Yielding Commodities For 2012]. Capital Gains Though the exchange-traded structure helps these products to avoid incur capital gains far less frequently than mutual funds, a number of ETFs incur capital gains through out the year, which will ultimately lead to high distributions to investors. The shareholders of the ETF, like you, will be responsible for paying the taxes on these capital gains, the same as you would if you had sold [...]

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Daily ETF Roundup: AGG Jumps On Shaky Equities, UNG Gets Slaughtered

Jared Cummans — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 22:00:09 +0000

After charging forward on Monday, stocks have been turning in sour performances, as it seems that there is no positive news to keep investors upbeat enough to buy. While the end of today’s session saw a fair amount of buying activity, it was likely due to major indexes sinking nearly 1% intraday, before they rose up to finish flat. The Dow gained just over 19 points while the S&P 500 surrendered 2.3 points in the session. The weak day was spurned by a slight miss in unemployment claims as well as the flat revision of fourth quarter GDP; it seems that many were hoping the Fed would revise that figure higher or comment on QE3 and spark some confidence for markets [see also 3 ETFs For The End Of Operation Twist]. The commodity side of the equation endured a rough day, as a number of spot prices tumbled through out [...]

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ETF Insider: Excitement Cools Off, Momentum Still Positive

Stoyan Bojinov — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 11:00:04 +0000

Bullish momentum cooled off a bit last week thanks to sparse economic data releases and lingering profit taking pressures. Investors fretted over worse-than-expected data from the housing market on the home front, while slowdowns in manufacturing across Europe and China also added to the list of uncertainties. Despite relative weakness in the stock market, gold prices posted a lackluster performance; the precious metal oscillated between minor gains and losses for most of the week, managing to end the week right near $1,660 an ounce. Actionable ETF Trade Ideas Last Week’s Actionable ETF Ideas Ticker Position Performance FXI Long -1.8% FXE Long +0.8% AGG Long +0.4% Our picks from Monday’s Insider posted a mixed performance as one of our long recommendation turned sour, eating away at the profits from our other two trades. Below, we highlight how our trade ideas fared during the week [sign up for a free trial of ETFdb Pro to get [...]

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ETF Insider: No Rest For The Bulls

Stoyan Bojinov — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 17:24:08 +0000

Equity markets continued their trek higher last week as encouraging economic data is a key driver of price action now that Euro zone woes have finally taken a backseat. In light of the positive fundamental improvements on the home front, this week is looking to be fairly uneventful in terms of major data releases aside from home sales figures. News from international markets also appear to be sparse in the coming days, which makes the trading week all the more unpredictable; will bullish momentum finally cool off or is any pullback a buying opportunity? Weekly Outlook Below, we highlight ETFs that may see an increase in trading activity as relevant market data is released and evaluated by investors: CurrencyShares British Pound Sterling Trust (FXB): U.K. inflation data is on tap for Tuesday morning, which could spark volatile trading for the British pound in the currency market. Analysts are expecting for CPI [...]

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9 Things Investors Need To Know About The PIMCO Total Return ETF

Michael Johnston — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 14:30:28 +0000

Today brings the most anticipated ETF launch of the last several years, with PIMCO debuting an exchange-traded version of its popular Total Return Bond Fund (TRXT). The new ETF, PIMCO’s fifth actively managed product, is managed by bond guru Bill Gross–who is widely regarded as the top fixed income manager in the world. The move by Gross and PIMCO into the fixed income space has been already been analyzed from countless angles, including evaluation of the impact it will have on the active ETF space and the impact the resulting “cannibalization” could have on PIMCO’s bottom line. The launch of TRXT has been a hot topic in recent days; Ari Weinberg at Forbes, Olly Ludwig at IndexUniverse and Tom Steinert-Threlkeld at Financial Planning have already put out great pieces highlighting the basics and some of the nuances of the potentially game-changing fund. Today, we’re taking a look at nine more aspects [...]

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PIMCO Total Return ETF (TRXT): An Active ETF Gamechanger?

Michael Johnston — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 12:00:59 +0000

Bond fund giant PIMCO launched its highly anticipated Total Return ETF (TRXT) on Thursday, bringing to market an exchange-traded version of the mutual fund that has accumulated about $250 billion in assets since its debut in the 1980s. The new ETF is the most eagerly anticipated product launch of the last several years–perhaps throughout the relatively brief history of the ETF industry. The new actively-managed ETF will be under the direction of bond guru Bill Gross, one of the most successful and respected fixed income strategists. Total Return Fund Legacy TRXT will be benchmarked against the Barclays Capital U.S. Aggregate Bond Index, a broad-based measure of investment grade bonds from U.S. issuers. Gross has consistently outperformed that benchmark since the product launched more than two decades ago, generating excess returns of close to 100 basis points annually. The fund has, of course, had a few bumps in the road; last [...]

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ETF Insider: Is Euro Zone Optimism Here To Stay?

Stoyan Bojinov — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 21:29:09 +0000

Last week’s bull-run on Wall Street came to a halt screeching halt on Friday as investors expressed their concerns over the looming, unresolved Euro zone debt crisis. Greek leaders and European policymakers have been battling it out in the negotiations room, although it appears that the drama may be nearing a climax as the debt burdened nation has begun to accept the proposed austerity measures in an effort to avoid default. With earnings season out of the spotlight, investors will once again have their eyes and ears fixed on developments in the overseas currency bloc. Weekly Outlook The coming week will be fairly light on central bank meetings, although several CPI releases will take place. Below, we highlight ETFs that may see an increase in trading activity as relevant market data is released and evaluated by investors: CurrencyShares British Pound Sterling Trust (FXB): This ETF could gap on Tuesday morning if the latest [...]

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iShares: The Low Cost ETF Issuer?

Michael Johnston — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:00:44 +0000

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]: Ticker ETF Index Expense Ratio 2011 Flows VWO Vanguard MSCI Emerging Markets ETF MSCI Emerging Markets Index 0.22% $7,808 EEM iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index Fund MSCI Emerging Markets [...]

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ETF Insider: Beware Of Earnings Volatility

Stoyan Bojinov — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 13:00:18 +0000

The bulls took charge on Wall Street last week as investors reacted positively after a number of encouraging economic data releases. Home builders confidence and existing sales continue to point towards signs of a recovery in the battered down U.S. housing market. Better-than-expected jobless claims also helped restore confidence in the domestic economic recovery. Earnings euphoria also played a key role last week, although so far the results have been a mixed bag; industry giants like Google and Citigroup missed the mark, while Bank of America, IBM, and Intel beat analyst estimates. Weekly Outlook The coming week will be stacked with earnings releases on the home front, although several key reports from overseas will also come into focus. Below, we highlight ETFs that may see an increase in trading activity as relevant market data is released and evaluated by investors: CurrencyShares Japanese Yen Trust (FXY): The Japanese yen could experience [...]

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ETF Database » AGG

101 ETF Lessons Every Financial Advisor Should Learn

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When An ETF Distribution Isn’t A Dividend: Explaining Capital Gains

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Daily ETF Roundup: AGG Jumps On Shaky Equities, UNG Gets Slaughtered

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ETF Insider: Excitement Cools Off, Momentum Still Positive

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ETF Insider: No Rest For The Bulls

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9 Things Investors Need To Know About The PIMCO Total Return ETF

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PIMCO Total Return ETF (TRXT): An Active ETF Gamechanger?

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ETF Insider: Is Euro Zone Optimism Here To Stay?

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iShares: The Low Cost ETF Issuer?

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ETF Insider: Beware Of Earnings Volatility

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