VQT: S&P 500 With A Volatility Hedge
Barclays yesterday (9/1/2010) launched the Barclays ETN+ S&P VEQTOR ETN (VQT) exchange-traded notes (ETNs) that are linked to the performance of the S&P 500 Dynamic VEQTOR Total Return Index (press release). Barclays takes “dynamic indexing” to a new level with VQT. The underlying index...
FLAT Has Your Back Amid Flattening Yield Curve
There’s been a lot of talk recently about a flattening yield curve, a condition where the yields on short-term and long-dated Treasuries converge. This is especially bad news for banks because a major source of profits for money-center banks is the ability to borrow money at short-term rates and...
Barclays Launches Six ETNs for Custom Yield Curve Strategies
Barclays launched six new ETNs last Tuesday (8/10/10) that seek to track a bond’s “yield change” instead of the more traditional “price change” targeted by other bond funds. These ETNs allow investors to create more customized yield curve strategies than the prepackaged iPath yield curve...
STPP and FLAT: Yield Curve Strategies for the Masses
Barclays broke new ground last Tuesday (8/10/10) with the first exchange-traded products to target yield curve steepening and flattening. iPath US Treasury Steepener ETN (STPP) and iPath US Treasury Flattener ETN (FLAT) are designed to capture changes in the spread between 2-year and 10-year Treasury...
Capitalize on Rising Sugar Prices (SGG)
Sugarcane, native to South and Southeast Asia, has been used since ancient times to sweeten food and drinks. It was a relatively obscure plant until the Middle Ages when people figured out how to refine, store, and trade it. Sugar eventually replaced honey as the world’s most popular sweetening...
XXV: Barclays Abandons iPath Brand with Inverse Volatility ETN
Barclays launched a new inverse volatility exchange-traded note yesterday (7/19/10). Offering no explanation in the press release, Barclays decided to abandon the popular and successful iPath brand of its two existing “long” volatility products. Instead, Barclays is using the ETN+ brand...
Barron’s Talks with Ron Rowland About MLPs
Barron’s interviewed me for an article dated Monday July 12, 2010 about master limited partnerships (MLPs) and exchange traded products focusing on them. MLPs typically own the infrastructure used to transport and store natural gas, oil, and other fuels. Mike Hogan’s article, Energy Plays Worth...
MLPG: Riding the MLP Popularity Wave
A little more than three months ago, at the end of March, only one exchange-traded product (ETP) focused on Master Limited Partnerships, or MLPs. Now, with yesterday’s (7/14/10) introduction of UBS E-TRACS Alerian Natural Gas MLP Index ETN (MLPG), there are five such products. A 400% increase...
MLPL: Juicing the Yield to 12.9%
The UBS E-TRACS 2x Leveraged Long Alerian MLP Infrastructure Index ETN (MLPL) was listed for trading July 7, 2010. This is the second product UBS has introduced on the same underlying index. The first was launched back on the first day of April and is the unleveraged version: UBS E-TRACS Alerian MLP...
LBND & SBND: Turning Treasury Bonds Into Unsecured Debt
Invesco PowerShares was all set to launch a pair of new ETNs back on June 15. When I looked into them, I found they were going to be 3x leveraged Treasury ETNs. My initial thought was these are ridiculous products. Who, in their right mind, would want to buy “guaranteed by the U.S. government”...
