SPY has long been the king of exchange traded products. Hitting the market in 1993, this fund has amassed nearly $100 billion in assets making it not only the largest ETF in the world, but also one of the largest funds available to investors. Its ultra low expenses and massive daily volume have allowed it to be both a trading instrument as well as an integral part of long term portfolios. But for the past few years, the fund has been in a stiff competition with its equal weighted counterpart, the S&P Equal Weight ETF (RSP) [see also 12 High-Yielding Commodities For 2012]. [click to continue…]
In the universe of equity ETFs, market capitalization weighting strategies are incredibly dominant. The majority of the hundreds of domestic and international stock ETFs available to U.S. investors are linked to cap-weighted benchmarks, and the lion’s share of assets is in products that utilize this well known methodology. But in recent years, thanks in part [...]
With the finish line in sight, it’s fairly safe to say that 2011 will be remembered by most investors as a wild, back-and-forth year that brought plenty of both hope and despair. A hot start raised optimism of a continued recovery after a generally impressive 2011, but the summer months were anything but relaxing; major [...]
UBS, the issuer behind one of the broadest lineups of ETNs available to U.S. investors, continued the aggressive expansion of its product lineup this week with the introduction of two unique offerings. The company rolled out a pair of blunt instruments designed to be used in high level “risk on / risk off” trades, a [...]
The rapid expansion of the ETF industry has been one of the most important developments of the last several decades to financial professionals; as the lineup of exchange-traded products has surged past 1,300, financial advisors now have more tools in their toolkits than ever before to help construct client portfolios. With these new financial products [...]
This year started off strong, as it looked like the economic recovery was finally gaining some steam. Major indexes trended upwards for the first seven months of the year, with the S&P 500 hitting 1,370 at its peak. It marked good progress as we exited the “Lost Decade” where most indexes finished where they were [...]
Rydex, the ETF issuer known for its lineup of equal-weighted equity ETFs, will reportedly be rebranded under parent company Guggenheim. According to a Reuters report, the company is being renamed Guggenheim Investments, and will rebrand the Rydex lineup of ETFs under that name. Guggenheim led a group of investors that acquired Security Benefit Corp., the [...]
Rydex, the issuer behind the ultra-popular S&P Equal Weight ETF (RSP), announced this week the introduction of two new ETFs that offer equal-weighted exposure to the S&P MidCap 400 Index and S&P SmallCap 600 Index. The new ETFs include:
As the ETF industry has maintained its strong growth, investors have grown increasingly comfortable with establishing exposure to various markets utilizing the exchange-traded structure. Now, with 1,300+ funds in the space, there is an ETF for almost any investment objective, with further innovation still on the way. But as the industry rapidly expands, some funds [...]
A new all-ETF model portfolio is now available to ETFdb Pro members; the Equal Weight ETFdb Portfolio offers an alternative investment style for investors who wish to steer clear from the potential pitfalls of the traditional market cap-weighted methodology. In a traditional market cap-weighted index, such as the S&P 500, each component stock is weighted according [...]
Thanks in part to the rise in popularity of exchange-traded funds in recent years, debate over the relative merits of various strategies for building and maintaining indexes has intensified considerably. The ETF boom has accelerated the transformation of benchmarks into investable assets, prompting investors to consider the impact of index nuances on the risk/return profile [...]
