AdvisorShares, the firm behind one of the largest lineups of actively-managed ETFs, brought its latest idea to market on Wednesday. The most recent addition is the TrimTabs Float Shrink ETF (TTFS), the result of a partnership with a firm known for innovative research on the connections between stock liquidity and long-term performance.
The TrimTabs methodology is based on the idea that stocks perform best when the total number of outstanding shares has decreased over the past four months or so. The rationale for this criteria is pretty straightforward; with the same amount of money chasing a declining number of shares, there should be upward pressure on share prices. If corporate insiders have more complete information than the general public, their timing of repurchases should be indicative of a bullish outlook on the prospects of their business. [click to continue…]
The month of May was a generally disappointing stretch for investors, as both international and domestic equity markets struggled to overcome obstacles new and old. Commodities, which had been a nice source of absolute returns for much of the last year, fell on hard times as well; precious metals went into a brief freefall, and [...]
The universe of U.S.-listed exchange-traded products has grown at an impressive rate over the last several years, bringing the industry to a point where there are more than 1,100 products with aggregate assets exceeding $1 trillion. According to the ETF screener, there are nearly 800 equity ETFs available, an impressive total that allows investors to [...]
As the ETF world continues to expand at an impressive pace, a number of companies have sought to bring their own lineup of funds to the market in order to grab a piece of this rapidly-increasing pie. However, some have taken a different approach to gaining an ETF foothold, preferring to buy up existing issuers [...]
One of the hottest topics in the industry at present is the future of actively-managed ETFs. The issue is also a very divisive one; some expect that widespread adoption of active ETFs is only a matter of time, while others believe mutual funds will continue to be the vehicle of choice for those interested in [...]
A group led by financial services firm Guggenheim Partners, which bought Lisle, Illinois-based ETF issuer Claymore last year, has reached a deal to acquire Security Benefit Corp., the parent company of ETF issuer Rydex SGI.The group led by Guggenheim will make an investment of approximately $400 million for a controlling interest in Security Benefit. According [...]
In the beginning of the ETF industry, there was SPY. From there, the initial wave of expansion included primarily “plain vanilla” equity funds offering exposure to widely-followed benchmarks, such as the Dow, Nasdaq, and even sector-specific indexes. But innovation and product development in the ETF world didn’t stop there. The last five years have seen [...]
Just as there are various “celebrity stock tickers” that every investor recognizes instantly (GOOG, MSFT, F, JNJ), there are some ETFs that everyone knows. Generally, these ETFs, such as SPY, GLD, and QQQQ, reflect the most widely-known investment strategies and asset classes. And while the 25 largest funds that account for more than half of [...]
