ETF Database » IYC

Understanding The Quirks Of QQQQ

Michael Johnston — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 15:00:13 +0000

As the ETF industry has continued to gain traction in recent years, indexes have been transformed from hypothetical performance benchmarks into essentially investable assets. As such, investors have become increasingly familiar with many of the indexes that are linked to the most popular exchange-traded products and the methodologies used in the construction and ongoing maintenance. In most cases, the strategies used to determine index components and assign weightings is straightforward and easy to understand. Many of the most popular equity ETFs are linked to cap-weighted indexes, meaning that the companies with the largest market capitalization–in some cases float-adjusted–are given the largest weighting. Equal weighted indexes have become increasingly popular in recent years; these products also feature a relatively simple methodology for determining components and weightings. Other index weighting and construction methodologies, including those that use various fundamental factors such as revenue, earnings, and dividends, are relatively easy to grasp [see [...]

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Tuesday’s ETF To Watch: iShares Dow Jones U.S. Consumer Index Fund (IYC)

Eric Dutram — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 09:00:05 +0000

While the economy continues to tread water, many investors have grown increasingly bearish on the retail sector, assuming that consumers will cut back on discretionary purchases in the difficult current environment. This seemed to be the case in the early summer when monthly retail sales declined in both May and June, but sales have been rising since then and recently posted a 1.2% gain for the month of October. This turnaround has led some to believe that a retail recovery is underway and could continue into the important holiday season. Despite this uptick, which included a 0.2% gain for department stores and big chains, some analysts are not quite as bullish for the overall retail sector, citing sluggish demand in the lower end of the market. “The wealthy are back and willing to spend conspicuously, while the majority of households continue to stick to necessities and shop for deals,” Diane [...]

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Top Ten Performing Leveraged ETFs Of 2009

Michael Johnston — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 16:56:06 +0000

Leveraged ETFs were in the headlines a great deal in 2009, but most of the coverage was less than favorable. Misinformation on these products was widespread throughout the year, leading to confusion on many aspects of these products and some unfair generalizations. One of the primary points of discussion was the performance of leveraged ETFs when held by investors for extended periods of times. Because these funds focus on delivering amplified returns on a daily basis, returns over time are compounded, meaning that the effective return over multiple sessions depends not only on the change in the underlying benchmark, but in the path of the index during that period. In trending markets, the return to leveraged ETFs will generally be greater than the simple target multiple times the return on the underlying index. But in seesawing markets — one where gains are frequently followed by losses and vice versa — [...]

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Size Does Matter (To a Point): Study of ETF Liquidity

Michael Johnston — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 07:00:36 +0000

As the ETF industry has exploded on to the scene in recent years, sponsors have aggressively launched funds in an attempt to gain market share. While many of these new ETFs have attracted sufficient investor funds to justify continued operation, some have failed to garner a level of investment necessary to support an active, liquid market and been shuttered. And then there are those that remain in business but are cited as having “insufficient liquidity.” Although there are certain rules of thumb – assets under management (AUM) of $25 million and daily volume of 25,000 are often cited as “liquidity thresholds” – there is no hard evidence to support these guidelines. In an effort to determine where illiquidity ends and an active market begins, I analyzed the impact of size and daily volume on the liquidity of various ETFs. To start, I divided ETFs into six baskets based on three-month average daily [...]

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ETF Database » IYC

Understanding The Quirks Of QQQQ

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Tuesday’s ETF To Watch: iShares Dow Jones U.S. Consumer Index Fund (IYC)

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Top Ten Performing Leveraged ETFs Of 2009

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Size Does Matter (To a Point): Study of ETF Liquidity

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