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Ten Worst ETF Performers Of 2011

Michael Johnston — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 12:00:52 +0000

Odds are that 2011 is a year many investors will be eager to forget. Ongoing uncertainty over Europe, combined with a frustrating employment situation stateside and even weakness among emerging markets has put many core asset classes in the red for the year. Most equity ETFs have struggled on the year, with major benchmarks having given back any gains that were generated in the early parts of the year. Any declines in value is always tough to swallow, but the pain obviously increases with the magnitude of the loss. Unfortunately for some, a rather large chunk of the ETF universe has experienced big declines in 2011; through December 19, more than 350 non-leveraged ETPs had lost 10% of more year-to-date [see Looking Back At Our ETF Ideas For 2011]. Some of the biggest losers on the list are likely long-term dogs, focusing on asset classes that could see further declines [...]

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Ten Unexpected Observations On YTD ETF Returns

Michael Johnston — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 16:00:16 +0000

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 indexes suffered some of the worst losses since the recent recession. In examining the year-to-date performances for the 1,000+ ETPs that have been around since the beginning of the year, there are a number of interesting figures that jump out, including both pleasant surprises and bitter disappointments–and some that are just plain confusing [the complete, sortable, document is available in ETF Edge--sign up for a free 7-day trial to get full access]. 10. Commodities Holding Up This year has been a tumultuous period for risky assets, especially over the last several months. So I was [...]

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ProShares Debuts Geared Natural Gas ETFs

Michael Johnston — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 11:00:01 +0000

ProShares, the largest issuer of geared ETFs that has made a push into the alternatives space, adding two more products to its lineup late last week. The new Ultra DJ-UBS Natural Gas (BOIL) and UltraShort DJ-UBS Natural Gas (KOLD) are both linked to the Dow Jones-UBS Natural Gas Subindex, a benchmark that consists of natural gas futures contracts. BOIL will seek to deliver daily results that correspond to 200% of the change in the underlying index, while KOLD will target -200% of the daily returns of the benchmark. With the launch of the two new products ProShares now offers ten leveraged commodity funds, including ETFs linked to gold (UGL, GLL), silver (AGQ, ZSL), crude oil (UCO, SCO), and a broad basket of natural resource futures (UCD, CMD). “There has been strong demand for geared commodity ETFs, as investors have come to recognize the importance of commodities as part of their [...]

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ETF Price Cuts: NAGS, EPI Slash Fees

Michael Johnston — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 11:00:57 +0000

Continuing a trend that has been playing out over the last couple years, two more issuers announced reductions to expense structures over the past few days. Teucrium, the company behind three resource-specific commodity products, announced the introduction of an expense cap on its natural gas ETF, while WisdomTree cut fees on one of its most popular emerging markets funds. Capping NAGS In a recent SEC filing, Teucrium announced that it is voluntarily capping the management fees and expenses of the Teucrium Natural Gas Fund (NAGS) at 1.5% of assets. The change was effective on Monday, and the filing indicated that the cap could be terminated with at least 90 days notice. The fee reduction comes as NAGS attempts to gain a bigger share of the nearly $2 billion invested in natural gas ETFs and ETNs. By far the largest fund offering exposure to natural gas is the United States Natural [...]

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Commodity ETF Investing: Five Factors To Consider

Michael Johnston — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 11:00:22 +0000

Commodity ETPs can be extremely powerful tools for tapping into an asset class capable of providing both return enhancement and diversification benefits. With dozens of products available–there are more than 120 U.S.-listed commodity ETFs according to the ETF screener–picking the right fund for your investment objectives and risk tolerances can be challenging. Beyond the type of commodity included, there can be several attributes of commodity ETPs that shape the risk/return profile; below, we look at five factors to consider when trying to narrow down the universe and find the right commodity ETF (or ETN): 1. Structure: ETC vs. ETN Most investors are familiar with the various product structures that are generally lumped together under the ETF umbrella, including exchange-traded notes, HOLDRs, and UITs. While the fine print of various security types may seem like inconsequential details, the nuances can have a meaningful impact on bottom line returns–especially in the commodity [...]

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Strange Times For The Natural Gas ETN (GAZ)

Michael Johnston — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 14:00:00 +0000

Unlike mutual funds, ETFs are bought not from the company that creates and manages the products, but from other market participants. While that arrangement is responsible for many of the benefits of ETFs–such as intraday liquidity–it also introduces some potential pitfalls. Specifically, using market orders can be potentially hazardous as it introduces the possibility of paying more for a security than it is actually worth. Whereas mutual funds are bought and sold at NAV, ETFs change hands at whatever price clears the market. Fortunately, under every exchange-traded product is a mechanism that is designed to keep prices of these product closely aligned with the net asset value (NAV) of their underlying components. Authorized participants have the ability to create and redeem shares, allowing them to capture an arbitrage profit if a disconnect between price and NAV arises. If an ETP trades for more than its NAV, an AP will buy [...]

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iPath Debuts Seasonal Natural Gas ETN (DCNG)

Michael Johnston — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 11:00:41 +0000

iPath has introduced its Seasonal Natural Gas ETN (DCNG), giving investors yet another way to gain exposure to natural gas prices through exchange-traded products. The new ETN will be linked to the Barclays Capital Natural Gas Seasonal TR Index, a benchmark that is designed to reflect the returns that are potentially available by maintaining an unleveraged investment in a rolling position in Henry Hub Natural Gas futures contracts plus the rate of interest that could be earned on cash collateral invested in specified Treasury Bills. The index linked to the new ETN is composed of a single contract that expires in December and rolls annually. In October of each year the underlying index closes out the position in the current year contract and rolls into a natural gas futures contract expiring in December of the next year. Natural gas futures contracts are traded on the NYMEX, with contracts available monthly [...]

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Ten Worst Performing ETFs Of 2010

Michael Johnston — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 12:00:54 +0000

In general, 2010 has been a pretty solid year for most portfolios. Despite lingering concerns about unemployment and mounting debt burdens, most global equity markets have moved higher on the year. Commodity markets have been red hot, with prices of many natural resources climbing to new highs thanks to strong demand from emerging markets and a shaky dollar. And while bonds have shown exceptional volatility during the last 12 months, many fixed income securities have managed to deliver at least modest gains as well. But there have, of course, been some disappointments this year as well. Below, we offer up some potential inspiration for contrarian investors: a list of ten of the worst performing ETFs of 2010. Performance data is as of December 21, and this list excludes all leveraged and inverse funds, as well as any ETFs that began trading during the year: 10. iPath EUR/USD Exchange Rate ETN [...]

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Natural Gas ETFs: Seven Ways To Play

Michael Johnston — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 11:30:18 +0000

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 didn’t [use our country lookup tool to find all ETFs with exposure to a specific economy]. Now many corners of the ETF industry offer an impressive level of granularity, with numerous options for tailoring exposure to meet exact specifications. This trend is evident in a corner of the domestic energy market that was largely overlooked until only a few years ago. Natural gas has been a part of most Americans’ lives for some time, but until recently very few viewed it as in investment opportunity. As talk of developing alternatives to foreign oil was intensifying, [...]

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Direxion Launches Four New Leveraged ETFs

Michael Johnston — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 15:32:12 +0000

Direxion is best known as the issuer that introduced investors to 3x leveraged ETFs, but the Boston-based firm has built out its offering of 2x leveraged funds in 2010. The expansion of that portion of Direxion’s product line continued today with the launch of four new leveraged ETFs, bring the company’s total leveraged ETF count to 38. The new ETFs launching today are: Daily Retail Bull 2x Shares (RETL) Daily Retail Bear 2x Shares (RETS) Daily Natural Gas Related Bull 2x Shares (FCGL) Daily Natural Gas Related Bear 2x Shares (FCGS) “As Direxion grows, we remain focused on helping investors achieve their goals through the use of tactical portfolio strategies on the long and short end,” said Dan O’Neill, Direxion Shares’ President in a press release. “We look forward to continuing to expand our lineup of multi-directional, leveraged funds as new opportunities arise.” Retail Funds RETL will seek daily returns [...]

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ETF Database » GAZ

Ten Worst ETF Performers Of 2011

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