ProShares introduced four more double inverse international ETFs to their lineup today. The new funds provide 2x inverse exposure to MSCI indexes covering Europe, Pacific ex-Japan, Brazil, and Mexico. The ProShares catalog now contains 10 inverse international products and 84 ETFs in all.
The new funds introduced today:
ProShares UltraShort MSCI Europe (EPV) (fund overview) (index data) seeks to provide twice the inverse of the daily performance of the MSCI Europe Index through the use of swaps. As of 3/31/09, the index had weightings of 32% United Kingdom, 16% France, 13% Switzerland, and 12% Germany.
ProShares UltraShort MSCI Pacific ex-Japan (JPX) (fund overview) (index data) seeks to provide twice the inverse of the daily performance of the MSCI Pacific ex-Japan Index through the use of swaps. As of 3/31/09, the index had sector weightings of 45% financials, 17% materials, 8% industrials, and 8% consumer staples located in Australia, Hong Kong, New Zealand, and Singapore.
ProShares UltraShort MSCI Brazil (BZQ) (fund overview) (index data) seeks to provide twice the inverse of the daily performance of the MSCI Brazil Index through the use of swaps. As of 3/31/09, the index had sector weightings of 31% energy, 25% materials, 20% financials, and 7% utilities.
ProShares UltraShort MSCI Mexico (SMK) (fund overview) (index data) seeks to provide twice the inverse of the daily performance of the MSCI Mexico Investable Market Index through the use of swaps. As of 3/31/09, the index had sector weightings of 43% telecommunications, 21% consumer staples, 13% consumer discretionary, and 7% industrials. It also has a large (~31%) exposure to America Movil (AMX).
Earlier this month, ProShares launched four 2x “long” international ETFs, which are based on the MSCI EAFE, MSCI Emerging Markets, FTSE/Xinhua China 25, and MSCI Japan indexes. They also have four additional 2x inverse and two non-leveraged inverse international ETFs that were introduced in 2007.
For a firm with 84 ETFs, CEO Michael Sapir and his team at ProShares have done an excellent job of keeping their funds off of ETF Deathwatch by delivering desirable products at a pace the market can absorb them.
As with other leveraged ETFs, the new ProShares aim to deliver 2X their benchmark on a daily basis. The leverage will be reset each day, which means the results over periods longer than one day will vary, perhaps considerably. ETFs like these can be exceedingly dangerous in the wrong hands. For those who know the score and can handle the risk, however, they are a welcome addition to the toolbox.