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 term that has become popular in recent months as risky assets have exhibited strong correlations with one another and so-called “safe havens” have thrived whenever uncertainty pops up. The new ETRACS Fisher Gartman Risk On On ETN (ONN) will seek to replicate the Fisher-Gartman Risk Index, a benchmark that includes long positions in various risky asset classes such as stocks and commodities and short positions in traditional safe haven investments such as sovereign bonds. The index consists of 150% long positions combined with 50% short exposure, resulting in a net 100% long portfolio: [click to continue…]
Van Eck has begun the process of converting six HOLDRS products offered by Merrill Lynch into traditional ETFs that will be included under the Market Vectors lineup, offering investors an opportunity to exchange their receipts in HOLDRS trusts for shares in the new ETFs. The exchange requires affirmative action on the part of investors, meaning [...]
The past week was yet another choppy one in the markets as European events continued to dominate headlines. Generally speaking, however, it was a pretty solid period for broad stocks as the S&P 500 added nearly 6% in the time period, helping to reverse much of the recent losses in the market. This sharp turnaround [...]
The competitive landscape of the ETF industry has evolved rapidly over the last several years, with several new players–both big and small–making a push into the space. From financial giants such as RBS and Citi to relative unknowns such as Javelin and Precidian, the roster of active ETF issuers has grown to nearly four dozen. [...]
Van Eck announced last week a partnership with Merrill Lynch that may ultimately lead to the conversion of several HOLDRS products to soon-to-be-launched Market Vectors ETFs. As part of the agreement, Van Eck will introduce six new ETFs that maintain the same tickers as the existing HOLDRS but that will be part of the Market [...]
Equity Markets were range bound last week, struggling to make significant moves in either direction. Gold took a big tumble early in the week dropping well below the $1,400 mark as concerns over the health of the global economy subsided. Wall Street also rallied in the middle of the week following a round of positive [...]
As the year comes to a close, many equity markets are still seeking to reclaim pre-recession levels and the outlook for 2011 is far from certain. Recent weeks have seen renewed worries over the potential scope of the European debt crisis, as Ireland has become the latest fiscal nightmare for the euro zone. Stateside, financial [...]
As the greenback begins to take back some of the ground it has recently lost, investors are befuddled as to where they should allocate their assets. Some are still bullish on gold or fixed income, while others believe that these two asset classes have hit their peaks, and are due for a nasty correction in [...]
Over the past quarter, a few sectors have stood out as the biggest winners of the summer stock market surge. While materials and service firms were both big gainers, technology companies rose sharply as investors bought up the sector due to its high growth prospects and increasing demand in emerging markets. However, despite these gains [...]
Competition in the semiconductor ETF space has always been fierce, with no fewer than four products (SMH, IGW, XSD, PSI) from four different issuers (Merrill Lynch, iShares, State Street, PowerShares) all targeting a relatively narrow slice of the tech sector. Perhaps aiming to capture a greater portion of this market, iShares recently announced plans to [...]
In a period of economic instability, like we have seen for the majority of this year, consumer spending is usually low. The low buying power that consumers hold during uncertain times wreaks havoc on a slew of companies whose profit relies the consumer’s willingness to buy. So it came as a bit of a surprise [...]
