It is no secret that the ETF industry is dominated by just a handful of products. The majority of the $1 trillion plus assets are confined to roughly 100 funds, leaving the other 1,300 ETFs in the dust. But as growth in the industry continues to pick up, more and more funds are entering elite status with hefty assets and trading volumes to go with it [see also Top 5 Commodity ETFs Of 2011]. [click to continue…]
ETF assets rode a surge in stock markets higher in October, as total AUM for U.S.-listed exchange-traded products climbed higher by more than 11% last month. According to the latest figures from the National Stock Exchange, ETP assets stood at $1.08 trillion at the end of October, with monthly inflows of nearly $24 billion for [...]
PowerShares, one of the leading providers of alternative weighted ETFs, announced today the latest addition to its fixed income lineup. The new Fundamental Investment Grade Corporate Bond Portfolio (PFIG) will offer an alternative means of accessing high quality corporate bonds, distinguishing itself from other products in the Corporate Bonds ETFdb Category by the weighting methodology [...]
In recent years, ETFs have become increasing popular tools for accessing the fixed income corner of the market. The space initially grew much more slowly than equity ETFs, but investors have gradually become more comfortable with the combination of fixed income exposure and the exchange-traded structure. Innovation in the bond ETF space has been impressive [...]
Interest in fixed income ETFs has skyrocketed in recent years, as investors have embraced the exchange-traded structure as an efficient means of establishing exposure to a core asset class. Though inflows in recent years have accelerated, the growth of this corner of the ETF market lagged behind the equity space, in part because some of [...]
Bond giant PIMCO expanded its ETF lineup to 14 products last Friday, rolling out its first ETF to offer exposure to high yield bonds. The PIMCO 0-5 Year High Yield Corporate Bond Index Fund (HYS) will seek to replicate the BofA Merrill Lynch 0-5 Year US High Yield Constrained Index. HYS joins nine other PIMCO [...]
While many of the “first generation” of ETFs offered exposure to widely-followed equity indexes, the universe of exchange-traded products has expanded at a tremendous pace in recent years to include more than 1,200 ETPs across a number of different asset classes. More and more investors have embraced the exchange-traded structure as a vehicle for achieving [...]
Actively managed ETFs have been slow to gain traction so far among most investors for a variety of reasons. Higher than average fees, a boatload of academic evidence suggesting inability of active management to consistently generate alpha, and concerns about disclosure requirements leading to front-running opportunities have all contributed to the relatively slow adoption rate [...]
Investors have been slowly embracing exchange-traded products as a tool for accessing fixed income exposure in recent years, gradually becoming more comfortable with the nuances of bond ETFs and the potential limitations involved when combining this product structure and asset class. As long-term buy-and-holders have increased usage of ETFs as a way to maintain fixed [...]
March marked the most active month yet in 2011 for the ETF industry. While both of the previous months saw a healthy boost in funds introduced and filed for, March brought 38 new funds to market, expanding the exchange traded world even further. With the total number of funds now nearing 1,200, investors have more [...]
ProShares, the Maryland-based firm known for a suite of leveraged and inverse ETFs, has launched the first ETF offering daily inverse exposure to junk bonds. The ProShares Short High Yield (SJB) will seek to deliver daily results that correspond to -100% of the daily change in the iBoxx $ Liquid High Yield Index. That index [...]