Institutional money managers, financial advisors, and investors of all walks have largely embraced the advantages offered by the exchange-traded product structure over traditional mutual funds. The rising popularity of indexing strategies makes it easy and affordable for investors to tap into virtually any asset class around the globe through the purchase of a single ticker. Thanks to the ongoing innovation in the ETF Universe, investors don’t have to settle for a passive strategy; in fact, increasing cost competition among issuers has led to lower prices for both passive and actively managed funds, allowing for investors to tap into a diverse suite of strategies without incurring astronomical expenses [see also Five Questions To Ask When Buying An ETF].
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The year-end periods provides the ETF industry with a couple of opportunities to flex its collective muscle; performance comparisons generally tend to favor those products with lower expense ratios–a defining feature of exchange-traded funds. But early January also puts another benefit of exchange-traded products into focus: enhanced tax efficiency relative to traditional mutual funds. The [...]
Since PowerShares debuted its first active ETFs in the spring of 2008, this corner of the exchange-traded product market has grown tremendously. Though many active ETFs have been somewhat slow to accumulate assets, the increase in the size of the lineup highlights the trend towards vehicles that combine active management with the exchange-traded structure. There [...]
No matter where investors look in the developed world, the picture isn’t pretty. In the U.S. unemployment remains intolerably high, and uncertainty over the latest round of QE will continue to hang over stock markets. In Europe efforts to control surging deficits have been met with protests and public outrage, complicating the process of reeling [...]
If investors weren’t already aware of the tremendous “growth gap” between the developed and emerging markets of the world, a report Tuesday out of New Delhi served as a nice reminder. India’s gross domestic product grew by 8.8% in the quarter ended June 30, roughly in line with analyst estimates for expansion in the world’s [...]
As emerging markets have raced ahead of their developed counterparts in the last two years, investors around the globe have begun to tilt portfolios more heavily towards securities that many have historically perceived to be excessively risky. The inflows into equity ETFs serve as one piece of evidence of this trend; through the first seven [...]
When the global economy transitioned into “recovery mode” following the latest recession, the emerging markets of the world jumped into the lead and quickly left their developed counterparts in the dust. Although advanced economies have resumed expansion, growth rates in the U.S. and Western Europe lag far behind the impressive figures being put up by [...]
The first half of 2010 was a very interesting period for currency ETFs, which look to remain in focus as the second half of the year gets underway and attention turns to central bank rate hikes. One of the biggest news stories from the first half of the year in the world of finance was [...]
As ETFs have transitioned from a closet industry to a mainstream investment vehicle, a growing number of investors has become familiar with the exchange-traded structure and the nuances of of the industry. Most advisors now recognize the “super tickers”–SPY, GLD, EEM, etc.–and have a good feel for the size and scope of the industry. But [...]
As interest in ETF investing has surged in recent years, issuers have rushed to expand their product lines into every corner of the investable universe. The first generation of ETF products consisted mostly of equity funds designed to track well-known benchmarks, and while the vast majority of ETF assets remains in these “plain vanilla” funds, [...]
India reported surprisingly strong GDP growth for the third quarter, posting 7.9% growth in the July through September period. These numbers surprised both analysts and government officials: the growth was higher than even the most bullish analyst forecast, and the Reserve Bank of India said that it will likely revise upward future forecasts. According to [...]
