ETF Database » IWB

Five ETF Strategies For A Sideways Market

Michael Johnston — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 14:00:56 +0000

Most investors have a pretty good idea which ETFs will perform well in bull markets (generally any type of risky asset, including equities and commodities) and which will perform well in bear markets (low risk bonds and inverse equity ETFs, among other asset classes). But finding products that have the potential to deliver meaningful gains when equity markets are moving sideways can be a more challenging task. The very nature of such an environment eliminates the vast majority of equity ETFs, and bond funds are also unlikely to show much movement when equities move along sideways. A 0% return on a portfolio is obviously preferable to the losses many experienced in 2008, but no growth can be tough to swallow. No one sets up a portfolio expecting it simply to tread water, and those with little in the way of patience may be frustrated by investments that simply spin their [...]

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ProShares Launches Long/Short RAFI ETF

Michael Johnston — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 15:39:26 +0000

ProShares, the Maryland-based ETF issuer known as a pioneer of leveraged exchange-traded products, announced today the latest addition to its product line. Like many of the new products hitting the market in recent weeks, the ProShares RAFI Long/Short (RALS) will be the first of its kind. RALS will seek to replicate the RAFI U.S. Equity Long/Short Index, a benchmark that utilizes the fundamental weighting methodologies developed by Research Affiliates that have gained impressive traction with investors in recent years. The RAFI methodology offers an alternative to traditional market capitalization-weighting strategies, under which a direct link exists between the price of a stock and the weighting that the security receives in an index. While there are many advantages to cap weighting–including simplified maintenance–the rise of the ETF industry has contributed to greater scrutiny on construction methodologies. Cap weighted indexes will have a tendency to overweight overvalued stocks and underweight undervalued stocks, [...]

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Ten Commandments Of ETF Investing

Michael Johnston — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 11:05:53 +0000

As ETFs have burst on to the scene in recent years and worked their way into the investing mainstream, the number of products available and complexity of exposure offered has increased significantly. Advisors and investors have taken steps to educate themselves on the ins and outs of ETFs, but many are still scrambling to play catch-up and unaware of the complexities these products can present. What began as a handful of securities seeking to replicate widely-known stock and bond indexes has grown into a lineup of more than 1,000 funds, offering exposure to nearly every asset class, region, and investment strategy imaginable. While this impressive growth has enhanced the arsenal of securities available to ETF investors, it has also created the potential for misuse and made finding the right ticker symbol a bit more challenging. And while ETFs offer countless potential advantages relative to strategies that revolve around mutual funds [...]

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Five Facts Every Investor Should Know About Leveraged ETFs

Michael Johnston — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 15:00:27 +0000

In recent years, few corners of the investing world have been the subject of as much controversy, misinformation, and confusion as the leveraged ETF space. Last summer these securities received widespread coverage from the financial media, much of it either implying directly or alleging that leveraged ETFs were flawed investment vehicles designed to dupe average investors out of their money. That prolonged debate over the merits of leveraged funds was somewhat frightening–it highlighted the ignorance of some well-respected publications–but the end result seemed to be an increased emphasis on investor education and a clearer understanding of what leveraged ETFs are and are not designed to do. Now it seems that conclusion may have been a bit naive. Some state securities regulators are including leveraged ETFs on their watch lists of “investor traps,” lumping them in with variety of investment scams. And recent stops on the conference tour have included some [...]

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Vanguard Ups The Ante, Launches Russell ETFs

Michael Johnston — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 14:37:27 +0000

After recently rolling out a suite of ETFs linked to popular S&P indexes, Vanguard continued its push to grab a larger share of the ETF market on Wednesday by introducing seven new products linked to Russell benchmarks. The new Vanguard ETFs include: Russell 1000 ETF (VONE) Russell 1000 Value ETF (VONV) Russell 1000 Growth ETF (VONG) Russell 2000 ETF (VTWO) Russell 2000 Value ETF (VTWV) Russell 2000 Growth ETF (VTWG) Russell 3000 ETF (VTHR) The introduction of these new ETFs represents a new chapter in the intensifying battle between Vanguard and iShares for ETF market share. iShares is currently the biggest player in the U.S. market, accounting for nearly half of all ETF assets. Vanguard ranks third by total assets, but has seen red-hot growth over the last year. Each of the new Russell products will go head-to-head with an existing iShares ETF–meaning that each firm now offers an exchange-traded [...]

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Russell Takes Step Towards ETF Outburst

Michael Johnston — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 19:14:11 +0000

The crowd gathering around the periphery of the ETF industry continues to expand, and some big names are joining the group. Russell, known in the ETF space as the index provider behind some of the largest exchange-traded products, recently detailed plans for 11 of its own ETFs in a filing with the SEC, including: Russell Global 1000 ETF Russell Global 1000 Growth ETF Russell Global 1000 Value ETF Russell Global 2000 ETF Russell Global 2000 Growth ETF Russell Global 2000 Value ETF Russell Global 3000 ETF Russell Global 3000 Growth ETF Russell Global 3000 Value ETF Russell Developed ex US Large Cap ETF Russell Emerging Markets Large Cap ETF The makeup of the proposed ETFs is relatively easy to glean from the names of the funds. The baseline Russell 1000 Global Index will seek to measure the performance of the 1,0000 most investable largest capitalization global stocks, and will represent [...]

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The Shocking Truth About Leveraged ETFs

Michael Johnston — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 14:56:04 +0000

The SEC’s recent decision to take a closer look at the use of swaps and other derivatives by exchange-traded products and mutual funds has once again thrown leveraged ETFs under the microscope, as regulators begin examining the tools and strategies employed by these products to accomplish their objectives. During the study, approval of any ETFs that “particularly rely on swaps and other derivative instruments to achieve their investment objectives” will be halted, a move that will bring expansion of two of the fastest-growing corners of the ETF market–leveraged and active ETFs–screeching to a halt. The decision also brings back memories of last summer, when leveraged and inverse ETFs came under intense scrutiny for their performance during the tumultuous markets of late 2008 and early 2009. As the popularity of leveraged ETFs surged–several of these funds became among the most actively-traded securities in the world–some rather serious allegations were made surrounding [...]

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Does Your Portfolio Need A “RAFI ETF”?

Michael Johnston — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:12:06 +0000

In recent years, investors have begun moving away from traditional active management in favor of more cost-efficient indexing strategies. The result has been a tremendous surge in the popularity of ETFs and a serious threat to actively-managed mutual funds that have dominated the investment industry for decades. As market indexes have transitioned from performance benchmarks to investable baskets of securities, the underlying methodologies have, not surprisingly, been the subject of increased analysis and scrutiny. As many investors now know, the system used to select and weight individual components can have a major impact on bottom line returns. And there are a number of ETF issuers out there who think they’ve come up with superior alternatives to the methodologies used by the vast majority of investors. The Problem(s) With Cap Weighting Market cap-weighted indexes generally determine both component companies and the weight given to each based on the market capitalization (i.e., [...]

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Fidelity To Offer Commission-Free Trading On 25 iShares ETFs

Michael Johnston — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 17:33:13 +0000

Fidelity Investments announced today that it will offer its retail customers commission-free online trades for a suite of 25 iShares ETFs. The funds included in the commission-free platform include ETFs in all nine domestic equity style/size categories, as well as international equity and fixed income options. “Fidelity has partnered with the leading ETF provider in the market to bring investors the best brokerage offering in the industry today,” said Kathleen A. Murphy, president of Personal Investing at Fidelity Investments. “Simply put, we’re offering the broadest selection of commission-free ETFs from the undisputed ETF leader, and it’s only available through Fidelity.” The iShares ETFs will be available for commission-free trading beginning tomorrow. Commission-Free iShares ETFs Value Blend Growth Large Cap IVE, IWD IVV, IWB, IWV IVW, IWF Mid Cap IJJ IJH IJK Small Cap IJS, IWN IJR, IWM IJT, IWO EAFE EFA, SCZ Emerging Markets EEM Global ACWI Total Bond Market [...]

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Daily ETF Roundup: IWM Leads Winners As VXX Slides

Michael Johnston — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:35:43 +0000

The wild ride on Wall Street continued on Thursday, with stocks posting big gains as Starbucks and CBS posted profits and retail sales moved slightly higher for the last month. Cisco led tech stocks higher, driving the Dow to a gain of more than 200 points for the first time in three months. The ETFdb 60 Index, a broad-based benchmark measuring the performance of assets available through exchange-traded products, gained 10.94 points, or 1.1%, to close at 1,000.10. On the day that the Dow crossed the 10,000 mark, the ETFdb 60 closed above 1,000 after dropping below 980 last week. Small cap ETFs led the winners in Thursday’s trading, with the iShares Russell 2000 Index Fund (IWM) adding 3.2%. Also posting strong gains were the Russell 2000 Growth Index Fund (IWO) and Russell 2000 Value Index Fund (IWN), both of which gained about 3%. News early in the session of [...]

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ETF Database » IWB

Five ETF Strategies For A Sideways Market

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Ten Commandments Of ETF Investing

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Vanguard Ups The Ante, Launches Russell ETFs

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Russell Takes Step Towards ETF Outburst

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The Shocking Truth About Leveraged ETFs

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Does Your Portfolio Need A “RAFI ETF”?

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