ETF Database » PSJ

Picking The Diamonds Out of The ETF Rough

Eric Dutram — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 13:45:45 +0000

This article was written by David Trainer, CEO of New Constructs. Having too many choices can be intimidating for many investors and there are definitely lots of choices when it comes to ETFs. For example, in the equity market alone, there are 30+ technology sector ETFs, or 35 ‘large cap value’ and 20 financial ETFs. A very healthy selection abounds for every category of ETF. The problem is that these ETFs are not made the same even though they may be in the same category. There are major differences in methodologies between funds, which results in drastically different holdings even within a given sector. Consider the chart below (figure 1) which compares all of the ETFs in the Technology Equities ETFdb Category and the number of holdings within each fund: Figure 1: Tech ETFs and Holdings TICKER ETF Description # of Holdings* PSI PowerShares Dynamic Semiconductors 29 PSJ PowerShares Dynamic [...]

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SPDR Attack: State Street Rolls Out More Sector ETFs

Michael Johnston — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 14:00:24 +0000

State Street, the issuer behind the two largest U.S.-listed exchange-traded products, announced today the launch today of three new funds offering targeted exposure to key sub-sectors of the U.S. economy. The new funds will track narrow corners of the technology, health care, and industrials sector, giving investors new options for placing targeted bets on the U.S. economy. The new ETFs include [for analysis of all new ETFs, sign up for the free ETFdb newsletter]: SPDR Software & Services ETF (XSW) This ETF will seek to replicate the S&P Software & Services Select Industry Index, a benchmark that consists of companies in the following sub-sectors: application software, data processing and outsourced services, home entertainment software, internet software and services, IT consulting, and systems software. XSW will compete with three existing software ETFs that are already pretty well established in the space, including iShares” IGV, PowerShares’ PSJ, and the Software HOLDRS (SWH) [...]

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Tech ETFs In Focus: Highlighting Some Hyper-Targeted Options

Jared Cummans — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 10:55:21 +0000

The growth of the ETP lineup to 1,300 products and beyond has been fueled largely by the development–and success–of funds other than the “plain vanilla” offerings that offer exposure to well known stock and bond indexes. As the ETF industry has grown in size, it has also become more granular in nature; many of the products out there are ideal for fine tuning tactical exposures, focusing in on a specific asset sub-class of investment strategy [see also Five ETFs To Look Forward To]. Once upon a time the universe of sector ETFs consisted of products that sliced and diced economies into nine different industries, such as financials, industrials, materials, and utilities. But the evolution of ETFs has taken sector-specific exposure to another level, as dozens of products now offer ways to tap into targeted sub-sectors of both the U.S. economy and global stock market. Perhaps no industry has been sliced [...]

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Definitive Guide To Semiconductor ETFs: Semiconductor ETFs 101

Michael Johnston — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:42:37 +0000

For investors looking to make a play on the technology sector through ETFs, there are a number of options offering varying degrees of exposure. The PowerShares QQQ Trust (QQQQ) tracks the Nasdaq 100 Index, meaning it is tilted heavily towards the technology sector (about 65% of its holdings), but maintains moderate exposure to health care and consumer discretionary companies as well. For investors looking to make a pure play on technology, there are several broad-based technology funds, such as XLK and IYW, that invest in various technology-related companies. But there are also technology ETFs offering far more specialization, including funds focusing on software (IGV and PSJ), internet architecture (IAH), nanotechnology (PXN), and several other. One of the most popular corners of the technology sector focuses on semiconductors, a key component of almost every modern electronics product. Named because their electrical conductivity is between that of a conductor and an insulator, [...]

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Special Report: Alpha ETFs Come Of Age

Michael Johnston — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 09:00:55 +0000

In the summer of 1992, Eugene Fama and Kenneth French published “The Cross-Section of Expected Stock Returns” in The Journal of Finance, a groundbreaking analysis that prompted financial presses to run headlines declaring “beta is dead.” While the death sentence may have been a bit severe, it struck a significant blow to a widely-accepted and longstanding financial concept, causing academics and investors to reconsider tenets they once took for granted. In recent decades, a collection of academic studies, disillusioned investors, and financial innovations have contributed to a similar prognosis for beta’s Greek neighbor, alpha. The idea that was hatched by Brinson and Hood and supported by the likes of Ibbotson and Kaplan and Barras and Scaillet was fueled by years of investor frustration. Following the introduction and rapid rise in the popularity of indexing and ETFs, it seemed that what started out as a scholarly whisper had grown into a [...]

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ETF Database » PSJ

Picking The Diamonds Out of The ETF Rough

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SPDR Attack: State Street Rolls Out More Sector ETFs

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Tech ETFs In Focus: Highlighting Some Hyper-Targeted Options

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Definitive Guide To Semiconductor ETFs: Semiconductor ETFs 101

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