Levered ETFs have been called out of late by major ETF promoters expressing concern that their naming conventions are in need of fine tuning. The argument is these products are currently lumped into the general category of ETFs/ETPs (exchange traded products) which has a benign connotation given that most ETFs are fairly straightforward index replication funds largely considered inherently diversified and relatively safe. For this reason, retail investors may not be fully aware of the make-up of some of the riskier products out there and find themselves with some unforeseen outcomes as a result. That larger ETF managers would want

Authored by Brenda Zhang. With the explosive growth in passive exchange-traded products (ETPs), constructing appropriate investing strategies in this area is more important now than ever. In recent years, investors’ interest in index mutual funds and ETPs has dramatically increased. The Investment Company Institute reports that between 2007 and 2016, index domestic equity mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) received $1.4 trillion in net new cash and reinvested dividends. In contrast, actively managed domestic equity mutual funds experienced a net outflow of $1.1 trillion.[1] StarMine quantitative models have a long and proven track record of being strong predictive tools to

With just $23.9 billion in net inflows this year, exchange-traded products (ETPs) are having their slowest start since the first five months of 2010 when only $18.7 billion in net inflows were made. But the industry continues to launch new products anyway and through this week (May 18) another 88 products have been unveiled. We took a look to see which ones have had the best luck attracting cash. Through May 18 the fastest-growing ETP is SPDR SSGA Gender Diversity Index (SHE), which tracks a market-cap weighted index of large U.S. companies that that exhibit gender diversity in their senior

After dropping to $26.20/barrel on February 11, domestic crude oil prices staged a substantial comeback over the following month to reach nearly $41.50/barrel for a trough-to-peak gain of over 58%. While prices have since pulled back (see chart below) volatile oil prices may be tempting to play through exchange-traded products (ETPs). Given the two types (equity-based, like Energy Select SPDR and crude oil futures-based, like US Oil) neither is a perfect fit to track spot oil prices. Due to the effects of contango (where the future spot price is below the current spot price) USO has severely underperformed quoted oil

We couldn’t help but notice that in this past week’s fund flows data (through Wednesday, November 12) a certain exchange-traded product (ETP) from First Trust Investors, with net inflows of over $1 billion, outdrew all other products. That was quite a haul, considering the fund had just $6 million in assets two weeks earlier. This past week we took a look at the fastest growing ETPs so far this year; of the top ten ETPs First Trust sponsors the first two. iShares and WBI also had two each on the list, although their assets are considerably smaller at about $200

As exchange-traded products (ETPs, which include ETFs, ETNs, ETCs, and the like) have proliferated in the marketplace, the once-simple product has become much more complex and is perhaps even a trap for unsuspecting investors. ETPs, therefore, warrant a brief review and discussion of a plan of action for helping clients identify the right ETP. Since 1993 when the first U.S. ETF was brought to market, assets and the number of offerings have grown exponentially. The few offerings of the mid- to late-90s have blossomed to over 1,473 issues with a total value as of September 2012 of $1.3 trillion. Figure