Redefining Yield With Cambria Shareholder Yield ETF
The Cambria Shareholder Yield ETF (SYLD), launched May 14, is an actively managed ETF employing a quantitative algorithm to select companies with strong emphasis on returning free cash flow to their shareholders. In addition to cash dividends, net share repurchases and reducing debt are the two other...
ETF Deathwatch for May 2013: First Increase In 8 Months
The number of ETF Deathwatch constituents rises by ten for May, breaking a streak of declining counts stretching back to October of last year. Eighteen new names join the list, including fourteen ETFs and four ETNs. Seven ETFs had improved health and escaped. One ETF underwent “voluntary” delisting...
Alerian MLP ETF (AMLP) Cuts Expense Ratio to 4.85%
Alerian MLP ETF (AMLP), the first ETF structured as a C-corporation, issued a prospectus update March 31, 2013 (pdf). Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses decreased from 4.86% to 4.85% resulting in a non-perceptible change that did not warrant a company press release. Further, the document now identifies...
ETF Stats for April 2013 – Launch Activity Resumes
Launches reached their highest level in fourteen months during April, with twenty-one products achieving new listing status. Only one closure occurred, allowing the year-to-date net change in listings to become positive at +14. The exchange traded product count stood at 1,459 as April ended, consisting...
iShares Closing Actively Managed Diversified Alternatives ETF (ALT)
BlackRock announced (pdf) it would be closing the iShares Diversified Alternatives Trust (ALT) due to client feedback on the ETF’s limited application in portfolios and lack of long-term demand for the product. The last day of trading will be May 28, with liquidation and final distributions targeted...
Bond Bubble Hasn’t Burst
Seems like everyone wants to label something a “bubble” these days. There is a bubble in bubbles. Interest rates have been falling for 32 years now. As rates fall, bond prices rise, and vice versa. It has been a multi-decade bull market for bonds. Unlike stocks, which have no upper price...
ETF Deathwatch for April 2013: Smallest List In 11 Months
The number of ETF Deathwatch constituents dropped by 18 for April, continuing an improvement trend that commenced last September. In ETF Deathwatch for September 2012, I predicted the 403 members could represent a short-term peak and gave my reasons why. This month’s count of 324 (223 ETFs and...
Defensive Sectors Rule The Roost
The S&P 500 finally regained all it had lost in the 2008-2009 “financial crisis” bear market just last week. It put in another new high this week. The index consists of 10 major sectors, and as you have probably surmised, not all of them are celebrating the rebound. In fact, only five of...
ETF Stats for March 2013 – Listed Count Shrinks Again
Only five new exchange traded products (“ETPs”) came to market in March, tying January for the lowest introduction rate since August 2009. Closures were double the number of launches, creating a net shrinkage of five for the month. Only two of the past eight months have seen a net increase of...
BNPC To Delist: No Liquidation Plans Announced
Investors and traders holding shares of the STREAM S&P Dynamic Roll Commodities Fund (BNPC) have until April 12 to dispose of their shares under free-market conditions. BNP Paribas Quantitative Strategies has voluntarily chosen to withdraw the NYSE Arca listing for the fund. No liquidation plans...
