It is no secret that the ETF industry has been wildly successful in recent years, taking in hundreds of billions of dollars and being embraced by both cost-conscious buy-and-holders and more active investors. This rise in popularity has made ETF issuers attractive assets to some investors; acquisitions of iShares, Claymore, and Rydex over the last year have highlighted the desire of major financial institutions to claim a piece of the ETF pie. [click to continue…]
The latest industry figures from the National Stock Exchange are out, and despite a challenging market environment, ETFs keep rolling along. Total ETF assets fell during May from $846.7 billion to $798.0 billion, a decline of almost 6%. But that plunge was attributable primarily to declining asset values, which were partially offset by continued inflows [...]
From a certain perspective, the ETF space shows the signs not of a still-nascent industry, but of a mature corner of the investing world. For the better part of a decade, the industry totem pole has remained unchanged, with four big firms accounting for nearly 90% of all ETF assets. But a closer look reveals [...]
Mounting fiscal problems in Europe finally spilled over into global markets last week, sending shares plunging sharply lower. At one point on Thursday, the Dow was down close to 1,000 points, with several stocks and ETFs rendered nearly worthless by a still-unexplained “flash crash” began (see Ten Shocking ETF Charts From The “Flash Crash”). Then [...]
For someone who played such a major role in the introduction and widespread adoption of ETFs, Vanguard Group founder John Bogle has some surprisingly negative perceptions of these products. Bogle’s beef isn’t with the exchange-traded structure (he’s referred to that as a “truly great business model” that helps investors avoid the “tyranny of compounded costs”), [...]
ETFs have experienced widespread adoption from investors around the world in part because of their simplicity. Near total transparency, intraday trading, and a (generally) more straightforward tax situation all make ETFs appealing to everyone from buy-and-holders to active individual and institutional investors. While ETFs offer numerous advantages over traditional actively-managed mutual funds and individual stocks, [...]
After a stellar performance out of Intel to kick off earnings season last week, several other bellwethers have reported impressive results, leading some investors to believe that the market recovery is the real deal (see all the early winners and losers from the start of earnings season). Looking to add to recent recent gains will [...]
As global equity markets plummeted in the final quarter of 2008 and first two months of 2009, many investors watched in horror as gains that were accrued over several years slipped away in a matter of months. With many major benchmarks falling by 50% or more, countless investors began to recalibrate retirement plans and risk [...]
A number of winning streaks came to a halt on Friday, as a generally solid start to earnings season was overshadowed by reports of fraudulent behavior at Goldman Sachs. Financial ETFs plummeted on Friday as anxiety over the regulatory backlash sent the sector sharply lower. Markets will look to another wave or earnings reports next [...]
Recent years have seen tremendous growth in the ETF industry, bringing the total number of exchange-traded products (including ETNs, HOLDRS, and other ETF cousins) to nearly 1,000. This rapid expansion has given investors more options than ever before, expanding the universe of investable assets to include nearly every geographic region, asset class, and investment strategy [...]
Whenever a company prepares for a public offering, executives have been known to spend an inordinate amount of time choosing the combination of letters that will serve as the company’s ticker and often nickname within the investment community. To many, the fixation on selecting the perfect ticker seems like an irrational obsession on par with [...]
