ETF Stats for July 2014 – Four New Players Join The Game

Data sources: Daily prices and volume of individual ETPs from Norgate Premium Data. Fund counts and all other information compiled by Invest With An Edge.

New products launched in July (sorted by launch date):

1. Compass EMP U.S. EQ Income 100 Enhanced Volatility Weighted Index ETF (CDC), launched 7/2/14, was introduced by a new ETF player, Compass Efficient Model Portfolios, LLC. The ETF will invest in 100 high-yielding, large-cap U.S. equities and has the ability to hedge by taking part of the portfolio to cash. If the index has an 8% decline, the fund will liquidate 75% of its holdings. The fund will be reinvested in full if it recoups the loss or in 25% increments each time it loses an additional 8%. Dividends will be paid quarterly with a yield of 2.8% when fully invested. In the current allocation, the Utilities sector accounts for nearly 25% of the fund. The expense ratio will be capped at 0.68% through 10/31/15 (CDC overview).
2. Compass EMP U.S. 500 Volatility Weighted Index ETF (CFA), launched 7/2/14, will invest in up to 500 U.S. equities and will always be fully invested. Stock selection begins with companies that have positive earnings for four consecutive quarters. The largest 500 are selected by market capitalization and are then weighted by volatility based on standard deviation. Its expense ratio is capped at 0.58% until 10/31/15 (CFA overview).
3. Compass EMP U.S. 500 Enhanced Volatility Weighted Index ETF (CFO), launched 7/2/14, will invest in the 500 largest U.S. equities that have had positive earnings for four consecutive quarters, which are then weighted based on standard deviation. The ETF has the ability to hedge by taking up to 75% of the portfolio to cash. If the index sees a 10% decline, the fund will liquidate 75% of its holdings. The fund will be reinvested in full if it recoups the loss or in 25% increments each time it loses an additional 10%. The fund’s expense ratio will be capped at 0.68% through 10/31/15 (CFO overview).
4. AdvisorShares Sunrise Global Multi-Strategy ETF (MULT), launched 7/9/14, is an actively managed fund-of-funds that will take advantage of both long and short sides of the market in global equity, bond, currency, and commodity markets when the manager sees what it believes are good opportunities based on price trends and other reoccurring patterns. Its expense ratio will be capped at 1.89% for at least a year (MULT overview).
5. Barclays Women in Leadership ETN (WIL), launched 7/10/14, is an exchange-traded note that seeks to provide exposure to U.S. companies with gender-diverse executive leadership and governance. The underlying index will screen holdings on market capitalization, trading volume, and whether the firm has a female CEO and/or at least 25% female board members. The ETN sports an expense ratio of 0.45%. We were unable to locate a webpage for the ETN, which is often a red-flag. Additional information can be found in the press release and the fact sheet on the SEC website.
6. iShares Currency Hedged MSCI EMU ETF (HEZU), launched 7/10/14, is a fund-of-funds that will invest in large- and mid-cap stocks from developed countries in the European Monetary Union while mitigating exposure to fluctuations between the value of the Euro and the U.S. dollar. This will be accomplished by holding iShares MSCI EMU ETF (EZU) and adding foreign currency forwards to hedge against unwanted currency risk. The fund’s expense ratio will be capped at 0.51% through 12/31/15 (HEZU overview).
7. iShares Global REIT ETF (REET), launched 7/10/14, seeks to track the investment results of an index composed of global real estate equities in developed and emerging markets. About 60% of the portfolio is invested in U.S. REITs and 40% abroad. Investors will pay 0.14% annually to own this ETF (REET overview).
8. Calamos Focused Growth ETF (CFGE), launched 7/14/14, is an actively managed ETF focusing on large-cap growth equities. Fundamentals taken into account include global presence, earnings growth, and return on capital. Apple (AAPL) 8.7%, Google (GOOGL) 6.5%, and Facebook (FB) 6.3% are tops on the manager’s holdings list. The fund’s expense ratio is 2.23% but will be capped at 0.90% until 3/31/16 (CFGE overview).
9. Barclays Inverse U.S. Treasury Aggregate ETN (TAPR), launched 7/15/14, is an exchange traded note designed to provide a mechanism for investors to hedge against or benefit from rising U.S. interest rates. Despite its ticker symbol, the underlying index is not tied to Fed tapering operations, which are almost complete. Instead, investor results will be based on the return of short positions in 2-year, 5-year, 10-year, long-bond and ultra-long U.S. Treasury futures contracts. The ETN’s expense ratio is 0.43%, and it adds in an ‘index rolling cost’ of 0.32%. As with the other Barclays ETN launched in July, no information can be found on Barclay‘s website, but additional information can be found in the TAPR press release and the fact sheet filed on the SEC website.
10. Sprott Gold Miners ETF (SGDM), launched 7/15/14, seeks to outperform the broad gold and silver mining industry by selecting stocks with a high beta relative to the spot price of gold. The top 25 stocks are selected and then weighted by quarterly revenue growth and long-term debt to equity. Despite the name, silver companies are also included for consideration. Canadian stocks represent about 75% of the portfolio. This is the first Sprott ETF, as previous U.S. listings were closed-end funds, and it is distributed/sponsored by ALPS. The fund sports a 0.57% expense ratio (SGDM overview).
11. First Trust Dorsey Wright International Focus 5 ETF (IFV), launched 7/23/14, is a fund-of-funds that will invest in five of the available First Trust international ETFs. The eligible funds are ranked based on their price momentum, and the five top-ranked funds are included. The current First Trust funds held are Switzerland AlphaDEX (FSZ), Canada AlphaDEX (FCAN), Germany AlphaDEX Fund (FGM), United Kingdom AlphaDEX (FKU), and Emerging Markets Small Cap AlphaDEX (FEMS). IFV has a 1.10% expense ratio (IFV overview).
12. Market Vectors ChinaAMC SME-ChiNext ETF (CNXT), launched 7/24/14, will provide exposure to the 100 largest and most liquid A-share stocks trading on the Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Board and the ChiNext Board of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. The Technology and Consumer Discretionary sectors make up nearly 50% of the fund. Investors will pay 0.68% per year to own this ETF (CNXT overview).
13. Direxion Daily 7-10 Year Treasury Bull 2x Shares (SYTL), launched 7/29/14, is a leveraged fund aiming to produce 200% of the daily performance of the 7 to 10 year maturity range of the U.S. Treasury bond market. The fund’s expense ratio will be capped at 0.60% until 9/1/15 (SYTL overview).
14. Direxion Daily Mid Cap Bull 2x Shares (MDLL), launched 7/29/14, is a leveraged fund aiming to produce 200% of the daily performance of the S&P Mid Cap 400 Index covering the mid-cap segment of the U.S. equity universe. The fund’s expense ratio will be capped at 0.60% until 9/1/15 (MDLL overview).
15. Direxion Daily Small Cap Bull 2x Shares (SMLL), launched 7/29/14, is a leveraged fund aiming to produce 200% of the daily performance of the 2000 small U.S. companies that make up the Russell 2000 Index. The fund’s expense ratio will be capped at 0.60% until 9/1/15 (SMLL overview).
16. RBC Yorkville MLP Distribution Growth Leaders Liquid PR Index ETN (YGRO), launched 7/29/14, is an exchange traded note that will follow a newly created Yorkville index “designed to track the performance of 25 MLPs with high quality distribution growth and liquidity profiles”. Unfortunately, that is about all we can give you since the issuer, the Royal Bank of Canada, has not provided any information online. The ETN has an expense ratio of 0.90% (YGRO SEC filing).
17. AdvisorShares Athena High Dividend ETF (DIVI), launched 7/30/14, is an actively managed ETF that selects among stocks which are held in top relative weight positions in other active investment managers’ portfolios. The ETF seems to have a split personality. The official objective is “long-term capital appreciation”. Yet, when the fund describes where it fits in an investor’s plan, the claim is that it has “an emphasis on generating yield for fund holders through high dividends.” The estimated yield is not provided, but dividends are expected to be paid quarterly. The total expense ratio is listed at 1.42%, but it will not exceed 0.99% for at least a year (DIVI overview).

Product closures/delistings in July:

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Product changes in July:

1. iShares Dow Jones-UBS Roll Select Commodity Index Trust (CMDT) changed its name to iShares Commodity Optimized Trust (CMDT) effective July 1.
2. ETRACS DJ-UBS Commodity Index Total Return ETN (DJCI) became the ETRACS Bloomberg Commodity Index ETN (DJCI) effective July 1.
3. ProShares UltraShort commodity ETFs changed their underlying indexes from DJ-UBS to Bloomberg. Fund names were also changed to reflect the new indexes effective July 1. Tickers of the affected funds include CMD, UCD, BOIL, KOLD, UCO, and SCO.
4. iShares changed the tickers on its five target maturity AMT-Free Muni Bond ETFs effective July 7. MUAD was changed to IBMD, MUAE to IBME, MUAF to IBMF, MUAG to IBMG, and MUAH to IBMH.
5. iShares changed the names of the 10 ETFs under its iSharesBond brand effective July 7 by replacing the word “iSharesBond” with “iShares iBonds”.
6. Effective July 8, PowerShares changed the underlying index and replaced “insured” with “AMT-Free” in the name of three municipal bond ETFs. The new names are PowerShares National AMT-Free Municipal Bond Portfolio (PZA), PowerShares New York AMT-Free Municipal Bond Portfolio (PZT), and PowerShares California AMT-Free Municipal Bond Portfolio (PWZ).
7. Global X replaced the underlying index providers and changed the names of two ETFs. Global X FTSE Norway 30 ETF (NORW) became Global X MSCI Norway ETF (NORW) and Global X FTSE Colombia 20 ETF (GXG) became Global X MSCI Colombia ETF (GXG) effective July 16.
8. AdvisorShares Cambria Global Tactical Allocation (GTAA) underwent an extreme-makeover effective July 28, becoming the AdvisorShares Morgan Creek Tactical ETF (GTAA).
9. iShares changed the “brand” of five AMT-Free Muni ETFs to “iShares iBonds” effective July 31.

Announced Product Changes for Coming Months:

1. Direxion S&P 500 DRRC Index Volatility Response Shares (VSPY) wiil change its underlying index and become Direxion S&P 500 Volatility Response Shares (VSPY) effective August 1.
2. KraneShares CSI China Five Year Plan ETF (KFYP) will become KraneShares CSI New China ETF (KFYP) effective August 1.
3. Deutsche Bank will change the brand on its 22 US-listed ETFs from “db X-trackers” to “Deutsche X-trackers” effective August 11.
4. Fidelity is placing five additional iShares ETFs (IUSV, IUSG, HDV, DGRO, and IEUR) on its $0 commission online trading list effective August 13. This brings the count to 81 commission-free ETFs at Fidelity (70 iShares and 11 Fidelity).
5. Six silver ETFs from various sponsors will begin using the new “London Silver Price” as a benchmark effective August 15. Affected funds are ETFS Physical Precious Metals Basket Shares (GLTR), ETFS Physical Silver Shares (SIVR), ETFS Physical White Metals Basket Shares (WITE), iShares Silver Trust (SLV), ProShares Ultra Silver (AGQ), and ProShares UltraShort Silver (ZSL).
6. iShares 2014 AMT-Free Muni Bond ETF (MUAC) is maturing and will have its last day of trading August 15.
7. Global X will change the index provider to MSCI on three international ETFs effective August 15. The new names are Global X MSCI Argentina ETF (ARGT), Global X MSCI Nigeria ETF (NGE), and Global X MSCI Southeast Asia ETF (ASEA).

Previous monthly ETF statistics reports are available here.

Disclosure covering writer, editor, publisher, and affiliates: No positions in any of the securities mentioned. No positions in any of the companies or ETF sponsors mentioned. No income, revenue, or other compensation (either directly or indirectly) received from, or on behalf of, any of the companies or ETF sponsors mentioned.