Global X Wants to Fertilize Your Portfolio
Global X Fertilizers/Potash ETF (SOIL) began trading last Thursday (5/26/11), as the first ETF targeting fertilizer producers. This narrow subindustry within the agricultural/commodity sector has attracted significant investor attention. The past four years brought a boom, a bust, and then another...
Leveraged BDC ETN With 14.6% Yield Launched
Just a month ago, UBS introduced the first ETP focusing on Business Development Companies. Now they are upping the ante with a leveraged version. The UBS ETRACS 2x Leveraged Long Wells Fargo Business Development Company ETN (BDCL) began trading 5/25/11, will reset its leverage monthly, and will pay...
PowerShares Adds Convertibles ETF to Lineup
The PowerShares Convertible Securities Portfolio (CVRT) was listed for trading yesterday (5/26/11), becoming the second ETF targeting convertibles. Convertible securities are bonds that the holder can convert into shares of common stock of the issuer. This feature tends to make them more correlated...
Canadian Preferred for U.S. Consumption (CNPF)
Global X continues to find interesting and untapped niches of investment securities to package into ETFs. On Wednesday (5/25/11), their list of offerings expanded with the introduction of the Global X Canada Preferred ETF (CNPF). This is the first ETF targeting preferred stock issued by Canadian...
Direxion Unveils +/- 3x Versions of Market Vectors Agribusiness and Russia ETFs
Direxion rolled out four new ETFs yesterday (5/25/11) providing +3x and -3x leveraged exposure to existing ETF offerings from Van Eck Market Vectors. This is not the first time Direxion has taken this path, having added leverage to the Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX) last December. Direxion Daily...
PowerShares 3x Dollar ETNs Arrive
PowerShares rolled out the first 3x leveraged currency exchange-traded products earlier this week (5/24/11). PowerShares DB 3x Long US Dollar Index Futures ETN (UUPT) and PowerShares DB 3x Short US Dollar Index Futures ETN (UDNT) will track leveraged multiples of the Deutsche Bank Long U.S. Dollar...
iShares Adds Global and International TIPs ETFs to Menu
BlackRock (BLK) introduced two new inflation-protected bond ETFs on 5/20/11 (press release). The iShares Global Inflation-Linked Bond Fund (GTIP) and iShares International Inflation-Linked Bond Fund (ITIP) include exposure to government issued inflation-protected bonds from both developed and emerging...
Russell Launches Suite of Investment Discipline Index ETFs
Russell Investments held the grand opening of their newly developed Investment Discipline suite of ETFs last Thursday (5/19/11). The six new ETF introductions draw on Russell’s decades of expertise in multi-manager research and index construction. With this rollout, Russell aims to provide next-generation...
VROM: And Then There Were Three Automotive Funds
U.S. investors somehow survived for 25 years with just one automotive fund. In the last ten days their choices jumped to three. Global X Advisors rolled out the newest entrant, the Global X Auto ETF (VROM) last Thursday (5/19/11). Global X Auto ETF tries to represent the entire automotive industry. ...
HKK: Small Cap Muscle for Hong Kong
If you ever get a chance to go to Hong Kong, do not pass it up. I received my first opportunity in 1982 and immediately fell in love with the place. The business energy level is so high there that it is infectious. Perhaps that is one of the reasons that just two days ago, the Swiss-based International...
