Global ETF News

The Appeal of Treasury Bond ETFs

admin — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 14:55:54 +0000

Treasury exchange traded funds (ETFs) have become a favorite safe-haven as investors look to protect their assets, but it’s been pushing already paltry yields down to almost nothing.

On the five-year Treasury, there’s a 1.76% return, while today the yield on the 10-year declined to 2.99%. Source

The dark side of ETFs

admin — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 14:50:11 +0000

‘Ping’. That’s the sound of yet another announcement, regarding yet another new exchange-traded fund (ETF) dropping into my already-bulging inbox. This time, it’s HSBC launching an MSCI Brazil ETF. Such announcements have become so commonplace that I’ve created a special email folder for them.

Since ETFs launched in Europe a decade ago, they have exploded in number as investors, disillusioned by active managers’ inability to outperform the market, opt instead for passive vehicles that track the markets at much lower costs. Source

Would ETF Circuit Breakers Do Harm?

admin — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 14:44:10 +0000

Worries about unintended regulatory consequences are coursing through the trading community as the day fast approaches, perhaps as early as next week, when the Securities and Exchange Commission implements new rules on ETF trading.

The rules, which amount to an attempt to prevent a repeat of the “flash crash” on May 6, would expand the SEC’s pilot stock-by-stock circuit breaker program from its current scope covering stocks on the S&P 500 Index to include 344 ETFs. Under the program, trade is halted in a stock that moves more than 10 percent in five minutes. Source

Foreign ETFs That Speak The Language

admin — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 14:38:48 +0000

The Dow Jones Industrial Average has had a total return of 2.13% in the last five years. The S&P 500 is down 0.16% over the same period.

In that same five year span, more than fifteen foreign indexes have beat those returns, with four of these indexes returning over 11%. The Bombay Stock Exchange SENSEX India Index has return nearly 20% in the last five years. Source

Five Fixed-Income ETFs That Make Sense

admin — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 14:29:09 +0000

With so much uncertainity about what the next few months will bring, it’s best to hedge your bets. A huge number of investors are choosing bond exchange-traded funds to accomplish that. Through May, $24.6 billion in net new money had flowed into fixed-income ETFs this year, up from last year’s huge $20.6 billion inflow over the same period, according to fund tracker Morningstar. Source

6 ETFs On Fire

admin — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 14:21:44 +0000

ETFs can be a good barometer for the stock market in general. Taking a look at which ETFs have performed well can give an investor insight as to what sectors are moving in the market and thus likely to attract more money.

Drilling down into these ETFs’ holdings, investors can get see what components or stocks are driving the ETFs higher. Source

ETF providers should improve website content

admin — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 14:20:00 +0000

The providers of exchange traded funds should take steps to improve the quality of the information they offer to investors on their websites, according to Eddy Wymeersch, chairman of the Committee of European Securities Regulators.

“There is work to be done,” said Mr Wymeersch, as he repeated his call for more transparency regarding ETFs and alternative Ucits funds. Source

‘ETF investors may ruin Gold-rush’

admin — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 14:17:59 +0000

Gold prices hovering at record high levels and many investors seeking an entry in gold investments and make stunning gains, will the present time is the right time for investors to enter into gold investments? Is there a slump in the offing in near future for gold prices? Will India’s gold demand revive again? These are some of the questions that stir up in one’s mind when one sees sky rocketing gold prices even in the near zero demand for jewellery or coins. Gold imports in India are the worst affected as it fell to almost half during the month of May 2010. Source

Selecting an ETF – more than just picking an index

admin — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 14:16:05 +0000

Many investors in the GCC believe that the main decisions when choosing an ETF are picking the index to track and then selecting an ETF to match. However, there is much more to selecting an ETF, as these products now vary greatly in their structure and the total cost of ownership. Even S&P500 ETFs differ widely in their construction.

One of the key choices that investors face when selecting between ETFs is structure – physical or swap-based – and we will look at it in more details further in this article. Source

Gold extends gains as ETF holdings hit record

admin — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 14:15:18 +0000

Gold gained on Wednesday, heading for its seventh quarterly rise and its biggest increase since end-2007, after holdings in the world’s largest bullion-backed ETF hit another record as investors rushed for safety from tumbling stock markets.

The Nikkei dropped more than 2 percent after Wall Street tumbled in a sell-off triggered by a wave of rising alarm over the outlook for the global economy. Source