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Vanguard Cuts Fees on Popular ETFs
April 27, 2012--The ETF battles continue. Vanguard Group, the third-largest ETF provider, cut fees on 13 of its exchange-traded funds this week, bringing their costs to investors in line or ahead of those of some rival firms.
In a release, the company said that increasing assets under management at the funds made the cuts possible. Most of the changes went into effect on Thursday.
The affected ETFs – which include the Vanguard S&P 500 Index, Total Stock Market Index and Total Bond Market Index, among others – simply seek to track certain market indexes rather than to beat the market. Such ETFs have become increasingly commoditized as providers such as Charles Schwab, Blackrock’s iShares and State Street Global Advisors’ SPDR shares offer similar funds. That’s left the companies little choice but to compete on price.
State Street Global Advisors Launches Actively Managed SPDR ETFs
Suite of Three Fund-of-Funds Designed to Take Advantage of Market Inefficiencies
April 26, 2012--State Street Global Advisors (SSgA)*, the asset management business of State Street Corporation (NYSE: STT-News), today announced that the SPDR® SSgA Multi-Asset Real Return ETF (Symbol: RLY -News), the SPDR SSgA Income Allocation ETF (Symbol: INKM - News), and the SPDR SSgA Global Allocation ETF (Symbol: GAL-News) began trading on the NYSE Arca on April 26, 2012. The new funds, which are actively managed by SSgA's Investment Solutions Group (ISG), provide investors and advisors with access to the firm's institutional asset management expertise.
“The launch of these three new actively managed SPDR ETFs opens a new chapter in our longstanding commitment to democratizing access to institutional asset classes, strategies, and expertise,” said James Ross, senior managing director and global head of SPDR Exchange Traded Funds at State Street Global Advisors. “In providing a convenient, cost effective vehicle for investors and financial advisors to benefit from SSgA’s experience in global tactical asset allocation, our actively managed ETFs are an innovative addition to the SPDR ETF family.”
UBS launches ETRACS exchange traded note providing exposure across commodities and across their respective futures maturities
ETRACS DJ-UBS Commodity Index 2-4-6 Blended Futures (Ticker: BLND) Is the first ETN linked to the second generation of the most widely followed commodities index
April 26, 2012--UBS Investment Bank today announced the launch of the ETRACS DJ-UBS Commodity Index 2-4-6 Blended Futures ETN (Ticker: BLND), the first exchange-traded note linked to the next generation of the DJ-UBS Commodity Index, one of the most widely followed, diversified indexes of commodities futures prices.
BLND is linked to the Dow-Jones-UBS Commodity Index 2-4-6 Forward Blend Total ReturnSM (Ticker: DJUF246T), an enhanced version of the Dow-Jones-UBS Commodity Index. The Index is constructed as an equally-weighted basket of the two-month, four-month and six-month forward versions of the Dow Jones-UBS Commodity Index, providing diversification across the commodity price curve of each of the 20 commodities that currently comprise the index.
State Street Begins Asset-Allocation ETFs in Active Push
April 26, 2012--State Street Corp. (STT), the second- largest manager of exchange-traded funds, opened three products that can spread money across a range of asset classes in a push into actively managed ETFs.
The funds will use tactical asset-allocation strategies and invest in ETFs including those run by State Street, James Ross, senior managing director of State Street Global Advisors, the Boston-based company’s money-management unit, said today at a conference in New York. The mix of underlying investments will include stocks, bonds, commodities and other asset classes.
“I can see active ETFs being a larger part of the ETF landscape,” Ross said. “We obviously plan to participate in that growing market.”
iShares Creates the First Suite of Corporate Credit Quality Exchange Traded Funds
iShares Launches the First ETFs that Access Baa-Ba and B - Ca Rated Corporate Debt
April 26, 2012--BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) announced that its iShares Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) business, the world's largest manager of ETFs, has launched the first suite of corporate credit quality ETFs.
The new iShares ETFs that began trading today are the iShares Baa – Ba Rated Corporate Bond Fund (BATS: QLTB) and the iShares B – Ca Rated Corporate Bond Fund (BATS: QLTC). The two new funds are the first ETFs designed to offer precise exposure to specific credit quality segments of the U.S. corporate debt market. Today’s launch follows the February debut of the iShares Aaa – A Rated Corporate Fund (NYSE Arca: QLTA), which offers exposure to the highest quality USD-denominated corporate bonds rated Aaa- A.
“The creation of the iShares suite of corporate credit quality ETFs is a significant milestone for investors and the industry,” said Matthew Tucker, Head of iShares Fixed Income Investment Strategy at BlackRock. “Investors have asked for more targeted iShares fixed income ETFs in order to create custom portfolios and adjust their portfolio exposures quickly as debt market conditions change. The new iShares suite transforms how investors can access specific slices of corporate bonds and brings transparent pricing to an otherwise opaque area of fixed income.”
Horizons ETFs launches Canada's first hedge fund index ETF
April 26, 2012--Horizons Exchange Traded Funds Inc. ("Horizons ETFs") and its affiliate AlphaPro Management Inc. ("AlphaPro") are pleased to announce the launch of the Horizons Morningstar Hedge Fund Index ETF, (the"Hedge Fund ETF"), the first ETF in Canada that will allow investors to get hedge fund-type exposure for their portfolios through an index strategy.
Class E units and Advisor Class units of the Hedge Fund ETF will begin trading tomorrow on the Toronto Stock Exchange ("TSX")
CSA provides guidance to improve compliance of disclosure requirements related to prospectus exemptions
April 26, 2012--The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) today published two notices aimed at improving market participant compliance with exemptions to prospectus requirements. Staff Notice 45-308 Guidance for Preparing and Filing Reports of Exempt Distribution and Multilateral Staff Notice 45-309 Guidance for Preparing and Filing an Offering Memoranda, offer guidance related to disclosure rules found under National Instrument (NI) 45-106 Prospectus and Registration Exemptions.
“The CSA is committed to ensuring that market participants understand what is expected of them when relying on prospectus exemptions to sell securities,” said Bill Rice, Chair of the CSA and Chair and CEO of the Alberta Securities Commission. “These Notices not only provide clear guidance to assist issuers in preparing and filing certain exempt market documents, but also serve as a reminder to market participants who rely on prospectus exemptions that their filings or disclosure may come under staff review and that non-compliance may result in appropriate action by a CSA regulator.”
Market Vectors Launches "MOAT": Market Vectors Morningstar Wide Moat Research ETF
April 25, 2012--Market Vectors ETFs today announced the launch of Market Vectors Morningstar Wide Moat Research ETF (NYSE Arca: MOAT). This new exchange-traded fund seeks to leverage Morningstar research that aims to identify companies with potential to maintain a competitive advantage for 20+ years.
MOAT seeks to replicate as closely as possible, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the Morningstar Wide Moat Focus IndexSM (MWMFTR).
Morningstar’s wide-moat analysis seeks to identify companies that possess one or more sustainable, long-term competitive advantages and are expected to have high returns on invested capital relative to their cost of capital. As part of this analysis, Morningstar’s equity research team looks for such sustainable competitive advantages, or wide economic moats, as: intangible assets (i.e., strong brands, relevant patents, special licenses or other regulatory approvals); cost advantages (i.e., the ability to produce goods or services at a low cost relative to competitors); switching costs (i.e., high time-related or monetary costs associated with changing from one provider/producer to another); network effects (i.e., where the addition of new customers adds value for all customers); and efficient scale (i.e., operating within a limited market size that has little incentive for new entrants).
Guggenheim Investments Launches Three BulletShares(R) High Yield Corporate Bond ETFs
Unique Product Suite Now Includes Sixteen Fixed-Term ETFs
April 25, 2012--Guggenheim Investments, the investment management division of Guggenheim Partners, LLC, today announced the launch of three new high yield corporate bond BulletShares exchange traded funds (ETFs): Guggenheim BulletShares 2016 High Yield Corporate Bond Fund (NYSE Arca:BSJG), Guggenheim BulletShares 2017 High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (NYSE Arca:BSJH) and Guggenheim BulletShares 2018 Corporate Bond ETF (NYSE Arca:BSJI).
These funds are a part of a suite of Guggenheim BulletShares(R) ETFs, which recently surpassed $1 billion in total assets as of March 14, 2012.
"BulletShares provide a cost-effective approach to bond laddering," said William Belden, head of product development for Guggenheim Investments. "Advisors are increasingly looking for ways to use high-yield corporate bonds to diversify their clients' portfolios, and these ETFS are a unique solution."
Traders Migrating To Sector, Commodity ETFs: Schwab
April 25, 2012--Retail traders are taking on more risk by purchasing ETFs following equity sectors and commodities, according to a report from Charles Schwab Corp.
Among this client segment, about 35% of flows went into sector ETFs in the first quarter to lead all categories, and a big jump from the fourth quarter. [Commodity ETF Assets Hit Record]
"Retail traders sought exposure to real estate, financials and technology," Schwab said in a quarterly update.
ETF assets custodied at Schwab stood at $138 billion as of March 31, 2012, up 14% from the same period in 2011
Horizons ETFs Announces Unit Splits
April 25, 2012--Horizons Exchange Traded Funds Inc. ("Horizons ETFs") and its affiliate Horizons ETFs Management (Canada ) Inc., the manager and trustee of the Horizons BetaPro NYMEX Natural Gas Bear Plus ETF and Horizons BetaPro NYMEX Natural Gas Inverse ETF (together, the "ETFs"),
are announcing today that it intends to split the units of the ETFs, as indicated below:
Unit Splits
After the Toronto Stock Exchange (the "TSX") has closed for trading on Friday, May 4, 2012 , the units of the ETFs will be subdivided on the basis of the ratios (the "Split Ratios") set out below, and will begin trading on a split adjusted basis on Monday, May 7, 2012 , and the split will become effective on May 9, 2012 for unitholders of record on that date:
Fidelity files with the SEC
April 25, 2012--Fidelity has filed an amednded application for exemptive relief with the SEC.
view filing
Huntington files with the SEC
April 25, 2012-Huntington has filed an amended and restated application for exemptive relief with the SEC for actively managed ETFs.
view filing
Global X files with the SEC
April 25, 2012--Global X has filed a post-effective amendment, registration statement with the SEC for the
Global X SuperIncome & MLP Index ETF-
(SINC)
Global X SuperIncome Preferred ETF-(SPFF)
Global X SuperIncome REIT ETF
view filing
Federal Reserve Issues FOMC Statement
April 25, 2012--Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in March suggests that the economy has been expanding moderately. Labor market conditions have improved in recent months; the unemployment rate has declined but remains elevated. Household spending and business fixed investment have continued to advance.
Despite some signs of improvement, the housing sector remains depressed. Inflation has picked up somewhat, mainly reflecting higher prices of crude oil and gasoline. However, longer-term inflation expectations have remained stable.
Consistent with its statutory mandate, the Committee seeks to foster maximum employment and price stability. The Committee expects economic growth to remain moderate over coming quarters and then to pick up gradually. Consequently, the Committee anticipates that the unemployment rate will decline gradually toward levels that it judges to be consistent with its dual mandate. Strains in global financial markets continue to pose significant downside risks to the economic outlook. The increase in oil and gasoline prices earlier this year is expected to affect inflation only temporarily, and the Committee anticipates that subsequently inflation will run at or below the rate that it judges most consistent with its dual mandate.
