Six More ETFs From Direxion
On Thursday (3/11/2010) Direxion added six new funds to its menu, giving investors leveraged and inverse opportunities in the BRIC countries, India, and the semiconductor sector. This was Direxion’s second batch of new ETFs this year. Back in February they launched two leveraged and inverse...
RBL: New Russia ETF from SPDR
Thursday (3/11/2010) was the first day of trading for SPDR S&P Russia ETF (RBL). The fund follows the S&P Russia Capped BMI Index, which seeks to reflect the performance of investable stocks domiciled in Russia. RBL will compete mainly with Market Vectors Russia (RSX), which until now has been...
Designing the Perfect Gold ETF
The recently-introduced Sprott Physical Gold Trust (PHYS) is getting a lot of attention from gold-oriented investors. My colleague Ron Rowland explained how PHYS is Not an ETF despite some superficial similarities. The conversation about PHYS often comes back to one central question: Can an investor...
TWOL, TWOZ: Leveraged & Inverse Short Term Bond ETFs
Direxion Shares broke some new ground on 2/25/2010 with the first 3x leveraged and inverse ETFs to track short-term Treasury bond prices. Direxion Daily 2-Year Treasury Bull 3x Shares (TWOL) and Direxion Daily 2-Year Treasury Bear 3x Shares (TWOZ) are now available for those who wish to bet on shorter-term...
BRXX: New Brazil Infrastructure ETF
Proving once again that emerging markets are fertile ground for new ETFs, yesterday (2/24/10) brought the launch of EGS INDXX Brazil Infrastructure Index Fund (BRXX) by Emerging Global Shares. This follows last week’s introduction of a similar fund tracking China infrastructure stocks (CHXX). The...
PCEF: Closed-End Funds Inside An ETF
Yesterday (2/19/2010) was the first day of trading for PowerShares CEF Income Composite Portfolio (PCEF). This is an ETF whose portfolio consists of closed-end funds. In other words, PCEF is a “fund of funds.” Closed-end funds (CEF) have been around for decades, and were in fact an ancestor...
CHXX: Emerging Global Launches China Infrastructure ETF
Recent hiccups aside, the China growth story still fascinates investors. It’s not hard to see why: So many people moving from agrarian survival to modern cities in the space of a single generation is momentous. Today (2/17/2010) brought a new way to get your money involved with the launch...
New ProShares ETFs Go 3X
Some people just can’t get enough leverage, apparently. Today ProShares unveiled eight new ETFs offering long and inverse exposure to popular stock indexes with 300% daily leverage objectives. Day traders should be pleased. The new bullish funds are: ProShares UltraPro Dow30 (UDOW) ProShares...
PIMCO Adds Short-Term Munis to ETF Menu: SMMU
Fixed-income giant PIMCO launched its third actively-managed ETF on Wednesday (2/3/2010) of this week. PIMCO Short Term Municipal Bond Strategy Fund (SMMU) targets the short end of the tax-free muni bond space. Maturity of the fund’s holdings will be in the one-year to three-year range. Intentionally...
Fidelity Shoots Back in ETF Brokerage Price War
That didn’t take long. It was only November when Charles Schwab launched its first in-house ETFs with commission-free online trading for the firm’s brokerage clients. We said at the time competitors would have to respond. Now Fidelity is doing it, in a big way. Effective February 3, 2010,...
