Over the last several years ETFs have become popular tools for active investors seeking to take advantage of short-term mispricings in the market; the average daily trading volumes on many of the most popular-exchange-traded products clearly indicates that ETFs are widely used by day traders who measure their holding periods in minutes rather than years. Of course, ETFs also continue to be tremendously powerful tools for the set of the market for which they were originally designed: long-term, buy-and-hold investors. For those in it for the long haul, ETFs can represent a way to tap into a compelling investment thesis that is expected to play out over the course of several years or even decades, without conducting company-specific research or taking on considerable company-specific risk [see also 12 High-Yielding Commodities For 2012]. [click to continue…]
The debate on our nation’s dependence on oil has been a major issue for quite some time now. Crude oil is a finite resource, and one that we will eventually run out of–though estimates of just how long that will take stretch across the board. But as the largest consumers of crude (roughly 7.3 million [...]
As more issuers have rushed into the ETF game and waves of cash inflows have contributed to surging asset levels within the industry, investors find themselves with more options than ever before. Once upon a time, exposure to a specific country or sector through ETFs was a binary decision; investors either had it, or they [...]
If the world’s history of man-made disasters has taught us anything, it is to learn from our mistakes. The 1979 Three Mile Island and 1986 Chernobyl nuclear reactor incidents put a damper on nuclear power plant construction that the U.S. still has not recovered from. Now, we are faced with the worst environmental disaster in our nation’s [...]
When molding their portfolios, some investors seek to identify short-term inefficiencies, tilting holdings towards regions, sectors, or individual stocks that seem poised to outperform in coming days or weeks. Others seek to identify long term, macroeconomic trends that could result in favorable developments for certain asset classes. Countless successful examples of this second strategy have [...]
One of the hottest segments of the ETF industry is the commodity space, which has exploded in recent years as investors have embraced exchange-traded products as a means of reaching an asset class that offers potentially valuable diversification benefits. While most commodity products are physically-backed or futures-based funds, an alternative means of gaining commodity exposure [...]
Direxion, one of the leaders in the rapidly-expanding leveraged ETF space, has filed for approval on 36 new ETFs, including two non-leveraged products. The Direxion Auto Shares would seek to match the performance of the Indus Global Auto & Auto Suppliers Index, a benchmark that consists of approximately 30 companies engaged in the manufacturing, maintenance, [...]
Since its launch in April 2007. the United States Natural Gas Fund (UNG) has endured a strange existence. After enjoying moderate success during its first 18 months–assets stood at more than $700 million at the end of 2008, UNG exploded as the natural gas craze hit and investors lined up for access to the “fuel [...]
Last year saw more than 100 new ETF launches, ranging from the relatively “plain vanilla” to funds offering more targeted and unique exposure. One of the more interesting product launches came late in the year, when Geary Advisors introduced the first state-specific ETF, the Oklahoma Exchange-Traded Fund (OOK).
The Jefferies | TR/J CRB Wildcatters Exploration & Production Equity ETF (WCAT) began trading this week, offering investors a way to gain exposure to equity securities of a global universe of companies engaged in the production of oil and natural gas sectors. The index underlying WCAT is a modified cap-weighted benchmark. To be eligible for [...]
The rapid rise of the ETF industry has caused the expanded the investment arsenal of millions significantly, bringing asset classes previously reserved for only the largest and most sophisticated investors within reach. This development is perhaps best demonstrated by the surge in popularity of exchange-traded commodity products. According to data from the National Stock Exchange, [...]
