Heading into 2011, many observers of the ETF industry were warning that this year could see a wave of fund closures, as ETFs that were failing to generate positive cash flow for the institutions behind them could be shuttered. That wave of contraction has yet to really play out, as only a handful of ETFs have closed their doors and returned investor money in 2011. FaithShares, the firm behind a lineup of faith-based products, pulled the plug a few months ago and opted to reorganize as a turnkey ETF company. Javelin shut down its contrarian ETF after failing to gain traction, and a handful of other companies have made similar moves. [click to continue…]
Commodities have been one of the hottest corners of the ETF market, exploding on to the scene in recent years as investors have rushed to gain access to a suddenly democratized asset class that has been shown to add valuable diversification benefits to traditional stock-and-bond portfolios [see Rethinking Commodity ETFs]. But some investors have been [...]
Analysts covering the U.S. mining industry no doubt spend a great deal of their time monitoring activity in resource rich South America and searching through the latest bulletins out of Beijing for hints on the strength of China’s raw materials appetite. But the future of the industry may depend on an escalating conflict in a [...]
As most investors are well aware, some sectors of the global economy tend to carry more risk and exhibit more volatility than others. At one end of the spectrum are utilities and consumer staples, two industries that tend to weather downturns relatively well but lag behind riskier sectors during bull markets. At the other end [...]
This week brought more ups and downs to uphold the uncertainty of what investors are calling “Grim May.” An up-and-down week ended on a negative note, with a downgrade of Spain increasing investor anxiety over the spread of the debt crisis beyond Greece. This week features the close of a tumultuous month for markets all [...]
Since the S&P 500 hit a 2010 high on April 23, global equity markets have battered by a wave of risk aversion that has sent many broad indexes down as much as 20%. The recent sell-off has impacted nearly every corner of the global economy; virtually every country and sector are in the red over [...]
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”), [...]
First Trust, the ETF issuer best known for its line of quant-based AlphaDEX funds, introduced two new ETFs last week that tap into an increasingly popular investment strategy. The First Trust ISE Global Platinum Index Fund (PLTM) and First Trust ISE Global Copper Index Fund (CU) join a number of other ETFs focused on mining [...]
It’s been an interesting week in the world of ETFs: gold trading was extremely volatile, and world leaders met in Denmark to discuss climate issues. Here are the ETF Database staff picks of the week’s most important and interesting stories from around the Web:
