Covered Call Portfolios-Lower Volatility, Better Performance
In ETF News, Strike Price> By MarketsMuse Staff Reporter
For those not aware, the bloom is off the rose right now as equity markets are on track to record the biggest string of down days in a long time.  With the media distracting every investor re: FB’s IPO, the fact is, equities markets in general are confounding long-only fund managers. The good news is […] Read More

17 May, 2012

Institutional Investors Increase Use of ETFs, says Greenwich Associates
In ETF News, Strike Price> By MarketsMuse Staff Reporter
At first used by Institutional Investors for manager transitions, rebalancing and other tactics, fund managers strategic use of ETFs are on the rise, in particular to gain long-term exposure to desired asset classes, according to a freshly-published study by Greenwich Associates. In the hot-off-the press study, “57% of institutional ETF users employ these products to […] Read More

17 May, 2012

Actively managed ETFs get big-name backing
In ETF News> By MarketsMuse Staff Reporter
Article courtesy of Rachel Koning Beals.. Actively managed exchange-traded funds may have gotten the headliner needed to push this sleepy category into the investing mainstream. Bill Gross and his bond-fund-giant Pimco in early May added a third actively managed ETF to their roster. This offering follows their actively managed Pimco Total Return ETF BOND +0.04% […] Read More

15 May, 2012

#Facebook Over-Booked? Or Over-Cooked?
In People Profiles> By MarketsMuse Staff Reporter
Breaking News: Bloomberg LP reports Facebook will be raising its IPO price range by 15% (from $28-$34 to $34-$38) and AAPL co-founder Steve Wozniak said he will buy shares in Facebook at the get go, regardless of price. In the same story, Bloomberg LP also reported  a “Bloomberg Global Poll” of more than 1,250 investors, […] Read More

14 May, 2012

State Street’s Junk ETF Sees Biggest Redemptions Since 07
In ETF News> By MarketsMuse Staff Reporter
An investor used State Street Corp. (STT)’s exchange-traded fund to anonymously obtain almost $780 million of speculative-grade bonds without moving prices in the secondary market. The investor on May 10 exchanged as much as 19.7 million shares in the SPDR Barclays Capital High Yield Bond ETF (JNK) for the equivalent of about $779.3 million in […] Read More

14 May, 2012

Actively Managed ETFs Are Less Volatile, Lipper Finds
In ETF News> By MarketsMuse Staff Reporter
Courtesy of  Barron’s Brendan Conway: By Brendan Conway Actively managed exchange-traded funds attempt to pick winners much like, say, Bill Miller does in mutual funds. The number of such funds has taken off, and while they’ve tended to underperform versus passive index-tracking ETFs, they’ve also been less volatile. Those are some of the findings of […] Read More

11 May, 2012

NYSE Backs Payments for ETF Market Makers; Incentives To…
In ETF News> By MarketsMuse Staff Reporter
  Reporting courtesy of James Armstrong/Traders Mag. Following a similar proposal by Nasdaq OMX, NYSE Euronext has unveiled a plan to allow market makers to get paid for providing liquidity for exchange-traded funds. If approved, the plan could reduce the number of funds listed without lead market makers. On April 27, NYSE formally asked the […] Read More

4 May, 2012

UofMass Study: Option Collar Strategies Deliver Better Performance With…
In ETF News, Strike Price> By MarketsMuse Staff Reporter
As reported by Pension&Investments Magazine, a newly-published research report from the University of Massachussetts has found options-based collar strategies would have outperformed the market in most asset classes, while providing drastically reduced risk leading up to the 2008 financial crisis, AND as well, throughout the subsequent recovery. “The contagion across asset classes during the financial […] Read More

4 May, 2012

Narrowing Spreads for Illiquid ETFs
In ETF News, People Profiles> By MarketsMuse Staff Reporter
Excerpts Courtesy of James Armstrong/Traders Magazine For some illiquid exchange-traded funds, the price isn’t always right. Spreads can be unreasonably wide, luring the less informed to take the bait and accept a price that is far from reasonable. Fortunately, those spreads are slowly narrowing due to competition. With illiquid funds, the screen does not always […] Read More

3 May, 2012

Finra Fines Wells Fargo, Three Others Over ETF Sales
In ETF News> By MarketsMuse Staff Reporter
Citigroup Inc. (C), Morgan Stanley, UBS AG (UBSN) and Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) agreed to pay a combined $9.1 million to settle regulatory claims they failed to adequately supervise the sale of leveraged and inverse exchange-traded funds in 2008 and 2009. The firms also didn’t have a reasonable basis for recommending the securities to […] Read More

1 May, 2012

BNY Mellon Awarded Best ETF Service Provider In The…
In ETF News, People Profiles> By MarketsMuse Staff Reporter
Here’s a morale booster for BNY Mellon staff: NEW YORK, May 1, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — BNY Mellon, the global leader in investment management and investment services, has been named as the 2011 “Best Service Provider – The Americas” at the eighth annual Global ETF Awards, which is sponsored by exchangetradedfunds.com. This is the […] Read More

1 May, 2012

UK’s Abydos Hedge Fund Using Options to Prepare for…
In ETF News, People Profiles, Strike Price> By MarketsMuse Staff Reporter
(Reuters) – Abydos Capital, a new hedge fund run by a former partner at one of London’s most high-profile oil investors, is worried about a potential military strike against Iran and plans to use options to protect his portfolio. Jean-Louis Le Mee, Chief Investment Officer of Abydos, told Reuters he thinks there is a 25 […] Read More

27 April, 2012

State Street Begins Asset-Allocation ETFs in Active Push
In ETF News> By MarketsMuse Staff Reporter
  State Street Corp. (STT), the second- largest manager of exchange-traded funds, opened three products that can spread money across a range of asset classes in a push into actively managed ETFs. The funds will use tactical asset-allocation strategies and invest in ETFs including those run by State Street, James Ross, senior managing director of […] Read More

26 April, 2012

Sponsors Scout Buying Options within SMAs
In Strike Price> By MarketsMuse Staff Reporter
    A little-used and relatively obscure investing strategy – buying options within a separately managed account – has made a bit of a stir in recent months, with a spike in product development talks between asset managers and platform sponsors, mostly for the strategy’s potential to address advisor and client concerns about market volatility. […] Read More

26 April, 2012

Goldman ETF Strikes Gold in India
In ETF News> By MarketsMuse Staff Reporter
  Trading in Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s gold ETF in India surged almost 11 fold, leading an advance in gold securities, as investors bought gold to mark the auspicious Hindu festival of Akshaya Tritiya. Volumes in GS Gold BeEs, India’s biggest exchange-traded fund backed by gold, was 937,816 units on the National Stock Exchange of […] Read More

25 April, 2012

Does Size Really Matter? (with ETF Returns)
In ETF News, People Profiles> By MarketsMuse Staff Reporter
According to Benzinga.com’s ETF Professor, its not necessarily the size of the ETF, but the motion when it comes to investor returns. From Benzinga’s April 23 edition: “..There are plenty of instances in life when bigger is better. When it comes to exchange-traded products, bigger isn’t always associated with better [4]. At least when it […] Read More

24 April, 2012

Better Take a Peak at China’s PEK..Premium Merchandise
In ETF News, People Profiles> By MarketsMuse Staff Reporter
Courtesy of the ETF Professor at Benzinga.com Following the March 22 debacle concerning the VelocityShares Daily 2x VIX Short-Term ETN (NYSE: TVIX  that saw the now infamous ETN tumble 30% in that one trading day, traders and investors predictably wondered what exchange-traded product could be next to fall victim to a similar scenario. That scenario […] Read More

20 April, 2012

China approves new yuan ETFs in Hong Kong
In ETF News> By MarketsMuse Staff Reporter
  (Reuters) – Chinese regulators have started licensing domestic funds to create new yuan-denominated exchange-traded funds (ETFs) for sale in Hong Kong, hoping to attract fresh investors to use yuan they have accumulated offshore to invest in mainland markets. Within two weeks of announcing a 50 billion yuan ($7.9 billion) increase in the quotas for […] Read More

19 April, 2012