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Gold ETFs In 2012: The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

Daniela Pylypczak — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 13:00:15 +0000

This year has proven to be somewhat of a difficult year for gold, as this precious metal has struggled to maintain its footing amidst global economic uncertainty. It seems as though eurozone turmoil and a disappointingly slow road to recovery for the United States has become commonplace in today’s market. Nearly everyday, investors are bombarded with headlines from around the globe, shedding light on the latest sour economic reports and the fragility of the global financial market. Although gold is often coveted as a safe haven investment during hard times, the precious metal seems to have lost its way so far in 2012 [see also Were Gold and Silver Manipulated Alongside LIBOR?]. In general, gold is the top choice for safe haven investments since historically the asset has exhibited a negative correlation to the stock market: when the equities market takes a tumble and economic uncertainty is high, investors often shift their assets [...]

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These Aren’t Your Grandfather’s Gold ETFs

Michael Johnston — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 13:45:09 +0000

Few asset classes have delivered more impressive performances over the last several years than gold; investors seeking safe havens–or perhaps just fiat currency alternatives–have flocked to the yellow metal in droves in recent past, pushing asset prices sharply higher. And, not surprisingly, more and more investors seeking out precious metals exposure have elected to utilize ETFs in their pursuit. For a stretch in August, the Gold SPDR (GLD) was actually the largest ETF in the world, briefly surpassing the S&P 500 SPDR (SPY) with about $75 billion in AUM. The most popular gold ETFs are simple, straightforward products–funds whose holdings consist of bars of gold bullion, and therefore have prices move in unison with changes in spot gold prices. There are no dividends to reinvest or index rebalancings to manage; gold ETFs efficiently mimic the investment experience associated with owning physical gold. So it is perhaps not too surprising to [...]

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August ETF Stats: Keeping The Winning Streak Alive (Just Barely)

Michael Johnston — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 11:00:20 +0000

Total ETF assets declined by almost 4% in August thanks to abysmal performances from equity markets around the globe. But the industry kept its monthly winning streak alive, managing to generate net inflows of about $2 billion during one of the worst months performance wise since late 2008. Not surprisingly, fixed income ETFs saw a surge in interest; inflows to bond products during the month topped $4.7 billion according to the latest statistics from the National Stock Exchange. And while investors fled from international stock markets (to the tune of net outflows of about $5.6 billion), U.S. equity ETFs actually saw net inflows. One interesting figure was the size of net inflows into long leveraged U.S. equity funds; this corner of the market took in more than $3 billion in new cash. The ETF industry has enjoyed three consecutive months of net inflows; May saw about $1 billion in net [...]

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July ETF Stats: $13 Billion of Inflows

Michael Johnston — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 11:00:11 +0000

Despite a dismal month for most equity benchmarks, ETF assets climbed past the $1.1 trillion level in July thanks to another strong round of inflows into exchange-traded products. More than $13 billion flowed into ETPs last month, led by strong demand for U.S. equities and commodities. Domestic equity funds accounted for about $4.4 billion of inflows, while commodities took in another $3.5 billion. International stocks ($2.3 billion) and fixed income ($2.6 billion) also saw big inflows, according to the latest data from the National Stock Exchange. Total U.S. ETP assets stood at more than $1.1 trillion for the first time at the end of July, representing growth of about 0.8% over the previous month. Among individual issuers, State Street had the best month with more than $5.8 billion in cash inflows. Much of that total was attributable to SPY, which hauled in $3.3 billion and finished the month with about [...]

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ETFs To Watch As Debt Ceiling Deadline Nears

Michael Johnston — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 14:00:10 +0000

Most investors probably never expected that it would never come to this. With only days remaining until the day the government coffers supposedly go dry, a deal to avoid a default remains elusive (one would suspect the August 2 date is at least 72 hours or so in advance of a hard deadline). The back and forth negotiations in an increasingly tense debt ceiling standoff have captured the attention of Wall Street and investors around the globe, and the negotiations in Washington figure to be a primary driver of global financial markets in coming days. The impact from the debt ceiling drama will likely be felt far and wide; the manner in which this issue is ultimately resolved should have an impact not only on U.S. debt, but on both domestic and international stock markets and a number of different asset classes as well. Though a compromise with strong bipartisan [...]

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ETF Securities Plans Physically-Backed Metal ETFs

Eric Dutram — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 12:00:46 +0000

ETF Securities, the Europe-based ETF issuer responsible for a series of ultra-popular physically-backed precious metal ETFs, recently made an SEC filing detailing plans for a series of physically-backed exchange-traded products targeting the industrial metal space. In total, the filing calls for seven funds with one targeting each of aluminum, copper, lead, nickel, tin, and zinc, as well as a basket fund which will invest in all of the six aforementioned commodities. No expense ratios or ticker symbols were included, but the filing did include a significant amount of information on how the proposed funds would work. The proposed funds would offer exposure to these industrial metals through the use of warrants evidencing ownership of physical aluminum, copper, lead, nickel, tin, and zinc. That would be different from the strategies used by existing physically-backed precious metals ETFs, which store the underlying assets in secure vaults. Such a strategy works for funds [...]

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Commodity ETFs Get No Love From Investors

Michael Johnston — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 15:00:34 +0000

It doesn’t seem like that long ago that exchange-traded commodity products were the darlings of the ETF world. Praised for democratizing an entire asset class (and one capable of delivering non-correlated returns to investors at that), commodity ETFs saw billions of dollars of cash inflows in 2009. Investors rushed to get their hands on everything from copper to tin, and they embraced the transparency and liquidity that the exchange-traded structure had to offer. Last year was a banner year for commodities, with inflationary pressures, surging demand from emerging markets, and a host of supply issues conspiring to push prices of various resources sharply higher. Corn prices surged, gold repeatedly set new record highs, and a host of other agricultural products–including sugar and soybeans–climbed sharply higher. While 2010 was a stellar year all around for investors–most major asset classes posted nice gains–commodities were clearly the star. Lists of the year’s best [...]

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End Of An ETF Era: VWO Surpasses EEM In Total Assets

Eric Dutram — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 16:00:44 +0000

As the ETF world continues to grow, issuers have spread out into a variety of market segments in order to obtain the coveted first-mover advantage and gain large asset bases. Yet with the rapid proliferation of the industry, many are beginning to circle back to some of the most popular market segments such as bonds, broad stock funds, or emerging market equities in order to chip away at market leaders and establish new products in these sought after spaces. While a number of new funds have sought to offer more segmented exposure, a few have focused in on price as a key way to differentiate themselves from their entrenched competitors. This has pushed many ETF issuers into a full blown price war, a development that is obviously beneficial to investors’ bottom lines. The most well-known example of this trend is arguably in the Emerging Markets ETFdb Category where the two [...]

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ETF Securities Launches Asian Gold Shares Fund (AGOL)

Eric Dutram — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 20:01:34 +0000

ETF Securities, the European-based ETF issuer famous for its lineup of physically-backed precious metal ETFs, announced further expansion of its product offering with the launch of an ETF that holds physical gold bullion in Singapore, the ETFS Physical Asian Gold Shares Trust. The new fund will trade under the symbol AGOL and will charge investors a competitive 39 basis points for its storage fees. The new product marks the fifth fund tracking the physically-backed gold market, competing with the likes of GLD, IAU, PHYS, and ETF Securities’ own SGOL in the much sought after bullion ETP market. This product will mark the first time that U.S. investors are able to invest in a product that stores gold outside of the U.S. or Europe, allowing for further diversification across geographic regions. “We are pleased to introduce the first physically backed Asian Gold ETP in the US. AGOL offers investors a new [...]

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Global X Launches Gold Explorers ETF (GLDX)

Eric Dutram — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 14:00:53 +0000

Global X, one of the fastest-growing U.S. ETF issuers, announced today the latest addition to its product lineup. The company rolled out the Gold Explorers ETF (GLDX), the first pure play fund offering exposure to gold exploration companies. The new fund will offer exposure to this unique segment of the gold mining life cycle by tracking the Solactive Global Gold Explorers Index, a benchmark that measures the performance of companies engaged in exploration for precious metals. The index underlying GLDX consists of about 30 different securities, with a heavy tilt towards Canadian (70%) and U.S. (18%) securities. It should be noted, however, that many of the component companies maintain operations–exploring for gold reserves–throughout the world, not only in the country where the stock is listed. GLDX offers investors a new way to establish exposure to gold by focusing on one of the most speculative and risky points along the precious [...]

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ETF Database » SGOL

Gold ETFs In 2012: The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

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These Aren’t Your Grandfather’s Gold ETFs

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August ETF Stats: Keeping The Winning Streak Alive (Just Barely)

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July ETF Stats: $13 Billion of Inflows

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ETFs To Watch As Debt Ceiling Deadline Nears

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ETF Securities Plans Physically-Backed Metal ETFs

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Commodity ETFs Get No Love From Investors

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End Of An ETF Era: VWO Surpasses EEM In Total Assets

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ETF Securities Launches Asian Gold Shares Fund (AGOL)

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Global X Launches Gold Explorers ETF (GLDX)

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