ETF Database » UMM

Checking In On Ten Major ETF Launches From 2009

Michael Johnston — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 19:15:20 +0000

Last year saw more than 100 new product launches, ranging from plain vanilla equity and bond funds to ETFs offering exposure to exotic new investment strategies and asset classes previously available only to a limited slice of the investing community. The innovation that has made ETFs a popular alternative to mutual funds seems ready to continue through2010. Based on discussions with industry executives and others covering the industry, it seems like a safe bet that 2010 will shatter existing records for new ETF launches. But there has also been some concern over saturation in the ETF industry, as well more than 100 funds currently have less than $10 million in assets. Hype around the launch of new products doesn’t always translate into sustained investor demand. While many investors and advisors are looking forward to some of the exciting products in the pipeline for 2010, we take a look back, checking [...]

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MacroShares Shutters UMM, DMM

Michael Johnston — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 17:36:45 +0000

Today is the last day of trading for the two exchange-traded products from MacroShares, following an announcement from the company that the MacroShares Major Metro Housing Up Trust (UMM) and MacroShares Major Metro Housing Down Trust (DMM) had reached an early termination trigger by failing to accumulate at least $50 million in assets. The registration statements for the products provide for a maturity date of November 25 2014, but allow early termination when “the amount of cash and treasuries on deposit in the Up Trust and/or Down Trust is less than fifty (50) million dollars per trust on any business day and we elect, in our discretion, to terminate the paired trusts.” Recently, UMM and DMM had aggregate assets of about $20 million. On January 6, a final distribution payment will be made to UMM and DMM shareholders of record as of December 31 based on the underlying values of [...]

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Five ETFs For A Housing Recovery

Eric Dutram — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 14:00:43 +0000

Over the past 18 months, housing prices have retreated sharply from the highs reached at the end of the housing boom. However, there are reasons to believe that one of the longest and most severe housing slumps ever is nearing an end. Building permits recently increased to a 584,000 yearly pace, well above the forecasted 570,000 and the highest level since November 2008. Construction of single-family houses, which accounted for 84% of the industry last month, increased 2.1% to an annual rate of 482,000, while work on multifamily homes jumped 67% to an annual rate of 92,000. And most recently, home sales for November surged 7.4% over the previous month, reaching the highest level since February 2007 on a seasonally-adjusted basis. On the high-end side of the market, Robert Toll, CEO of luxury home giant Toll Brothers said during a Bloomberg Television interview on Dec. 11. that “there is a [...]

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The Definitive Guide To Real Estate ETFs: Real Estate ETF Investing 101

Michael Johnston — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 06:05:06 +0000

Once considered a vital “return enhancer” in almost every portfolio, real estate as an asset class has fallen out of favor with investors following its spectacular collapse during (and role in causing) the recent global economic downturn. Real estate was historically embraced because of its potential for delivering excess returns in bull property markets and low correlation with traditional stock and bond investments. But as default rates skyrocketed, values plummeted, and correlations went to 1.0, asset managers have sold off real property and reallocated investor portfolios to equities and fixed income. Despite its fall from grace, real estate is beginning to creep back into portfolios, as investors regain their appetite for risky assets (we include a small allocation to real estate in several of our All-ETF Model Portfolios). Real estate ETFs have seen cash inflows of more than $3 billion year-to-date, reflecting perhaps a preference for achieving diversified exposure within [...]

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Residential Housing ETFs Paint A Rosy Picture

Michael Johnston — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 14:11:43 +0000

When MacroShares launched its most recent paired fund offerings earlier this year, it did so in a very interesting housing environment. Home prices in many of the country’s largest markets, including Florida, California, and Arizona, had seen sharp declines over the last year, and it seemed that there was no end in sight. In the weeks following the launch of the MacroShares Major Metro Housing Up (UMM) and Down (DMM), investor sentiment plummeted, which sent DMM skyward and UMM dropping like a stone. But we’ve seen a sharp reversal in recent weeks, and in yet another sign that the worst is behind us, these funds appear to be showing that the housing market is expected to make a modest recovery in coming years. A New Take On ETFs MacroShares are similar to traditional exchange-traded products in many ways, but feature a few nuances that separates them as well. UMM and [...]

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ETF Hall Of Shame: Nine Exchange-Traded Debacles

Michael Johnston — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 08:00:31 +0000

Over the past several years, exchange-traded funds have enjoyed a tremendous surge in popularity, passing many major milestones as they were embraced by retail and institutional investors alike. Once comprised solely of “plain vanilla” products tracking well-known equity indexes, the ETF industry has evolved at an incredible pace in recent years, and now offers investors exposure to nearly every corner of the investable market. Along the way, we’ve seen brilliant innovations (such as leveraged ETFs, “intelligent” ETFs, and actively-managed ETFs, just to name a few) and a plethora of new fund launches (at last count, there were 850 ETFs in the ETFdb Database). But it hasn’t been all sunshine and rainbows along the way. There have been a number of missteps along the way as issuers aggressively launched and promoted funds for which the market had no appetite. With ETF issuers pitching so many new products to investors, it is [...]

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Checking In On MacroShares Housing ETFs

Michael Johnston — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 13:20:41 +0000

It’s been a little more than a month since MacroShares jumped back into the ETF game with the introduction of the Major Metro Housing Up (UMM) and Major Metro Housing Down (DMM) exchange-traded products. Shortly before launching the Up/Down housing funds, MacroShares had pulled the plug on similar paired funds offering exposure to crude oil prices – MacroShares $100 Oil Up (UOY) and $100 Oil Down (DOY) – due to the inability to attract a certain level of assets. UOY and DOY were actually the reincarnation of similar products that were initially offered in 2008 but closed down when oil prices skyrocketed, causing assets to shift completely into the up fund. So how are the new MacroShares products faring this time around? Unique ETP Model It’s safe to say the the current MacroShares products are unlike any other exchange-traded products on the market today. The funds are created in pairs, [...]

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Edward Jones Discontinues Sale Of Leveraged ETFs

Michael Johnston — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 14:38:26 +0000

The swelling controversy over the risks associated with leveraged ETFs has apparently caused its first casualty. St. Louis-based Edward Jones & Co., the prominent financial services firm, decided during a regular review of its products in June to stop selling leveraged funds, citing the fact that they are “one of the most misunderstood and potentially dangerous types of ETFs,” according to mutual fund research analyst Katie Martin. Edward Jones prepared a report titled “Not All ETFs Are Created Equal” that highlights the potential pitfalls with these complex financial instruments. “Investors also need to recognize that leveraged ETFs have an increased potential for capital gains distributions and significantly higher expense ratios than the traditionally broadly based stock market ETFs, negating some of the benefits of purchasing an ETF,” the report said. Edward Jones’ decision to drop the product line comes as calls for regulation of leveraged ETFs are reaching a fever pitch. [...]

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Direxion Launches Leveraged Real Estate ETFs

Michael Johnston — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 06:05:51 +0000

Direxion, the ETF issuer known for pioneering and popularizing 3x leveraged ETFs, has added two new funds: Daily Real Estate Bull 3x Shares (DRN) and Daily Real Estate Bear 3x Shares (DRV). Both new ETFs, which began trading last week, track the MSCI U.S. REIT Index, a broad-based benchmark that represents approximately 85% of the U.S. REIT Index. DRN and DRV are Direxion’s first real estate ETF offerings. The firm has about 20 ETFs offering multi-directional exposure to various equity markets, as well as four funds tracking Treasury indexes. Both new Direxion funds will have expense ratios of 0.95%. Vanguard‘s REIT ETF (VNQ), which tracks the MSCI U.S. REIT Index, is down approximately 16% this year, and nearly 50% over the last twelve months. ProShares, Direxion’s main competitor in the leveraged ETF business, currently offers the UltraShort Real Estate (SRS) and Ultra Real Estate (URE), which are based on the Dow Jones U.S. [...]

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MacroShares Back With Up/Down Housing ETFs

Michael Johnston — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:45:13 +0000

A week after folding the second incarnation of its unique up/down crude oil funds due to the failure to attract sufficient investments, MacroShares burst back on to the scene with the launch of two new exchange-traded products (they’re not technically ETFs). The MacroShares Major Metro Housing Up (UMM) and Major Metro Housing Down (DMM) began trading on Tuesday. While these funds are attracting significant attention because of their unique strategies and exposure, they are also being greeted with a fair amount skepticism. According to their fact sheets, DMM and UMM will track three times the cumulative percentage change in U.S. single-family home prices, as measured by the S&P/Case-Shiller Composite-10 Home Price Index. This benchmark is a frequently-monitored indicator of single-family home prices in ten major markets (New York, San Diego, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Boston, Chicago, Denver, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Miami). After relatively steady appreciation since the early 1990s, [...]

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ETF Database » UMM

Checking In On Ten Major ETF Launches From 2009

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MacroShares Shutters UMM, DMM

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Five ETFs For A Housing Recovery

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The Definitive Guide To Real Estate ETFs: Real Estate ETF Investing 101

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Residential Housing ETFs Paint A Rosy Picture

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ETF Hall Of Shame: Nine Exchange-Traded Debacles

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Checking In On MacroShares Housing ETFs

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