Tag Archives: etf

The Highly Anticipated Launch Of The Apple Watch Isn’t Reflecting In Its ETFs

What time is it? Time for you to a buy a watch, an Apple Watch that is. After the announcement of the Apple Watch this past Fall, consumers have been waiting to get their hands on this product. Understandably so, investors couldn’t wait the launch either. With prices for an Apple Watch ranging from $349-$17,000, it will most likely bring a good return on investment. However, as pre-orders have been coming in for the Apple Watch, the same can’t be said for ETFs heavy on shares of Apple. MarketsMuse blog update profiling the little excitement in Apple ETFs is courtesy of ETF Trends, Todd Shriber, with an extract from his article, “Apple Watch a Non-Event for Apple ETFs” below.

ETFTrends-logoApple (NasdaqGS: AAPL) is taking preorders for its much ballyhooed Apple Watch. Or was taking preorders.

Nearly of the models made available to U.S. consumers sold out in just six hours and it looks the April 24 availability date announced by the company at the Apple Watch unveiling event last month is getting pushed back. Perhaps as far out as the third quarter.

“Whether due to high demand or low supply, all models of Apple Watch have now almost entirely sold out with many slipping delivery date estimates in mere minutes of preorders opening. In the US, the 38 mm Stainless Steel Case with Black Classic Buckle is the only model still on offer with a ‘April 24th – May 8th’ shipping date,” reports9to5Mac.com.

Unveiling a new product with preexisting, pent-up demand is old hat for Apple and that might explain the lack of enthusiasm for the blowout preorders being displayed by exchange traded funds heavy on shares of Apple. Even shares of California-based Apple are trading slightly lower today.

To read the full article from ETF Trends’ Todd Shriber, click here.

ETF Providers Look To Level Playing Field

MarketsMuse blog update profiles ETF providers pushing to level the playing field with their mutual fund competitors by pushing to gain more information on clients who invest in ETFs, just like mutual funds already do. A new initiative from the Canadian ETF Association is doing just that. An excerpt from The Globe and Mail’s article, “ETF providers want to know who’s buying” is below explaining more about the initiative.    

Exchange-traded fund providers say they’re at a disadvantage compared to their mutual fund competitors and are aiming to level the playing field with a new lobbying effort to obtain data on the financial advisers who sell ETFs.

The initiative, which is being spearheaded by the Canadian ETF Association (CETFA), will provide ETF companies with information on the financial advisers who are selling exchange-traded funds, and the breakdown on which funds they are selling to their clients. Mutual fund companies already receive such information.

If implemented, it could result in a surge of ETF sales within the Canadian marketplace.

The lack of adviser information has plagued the rapidly growing ETF industry, which competes in a market where investors are heavily invested in mutual funds. Canadians hold more than $1.22-trillion in mutual funds compared to $80-billion in ETFs, as of February, 2015.

Currently, ETF providers may receive a report from an individual investment firm that shows the total number of ETFs held by their clients. But the reports are not sent on a regular basis and do not include information on the individual financial advisers who purchase the funds on behalf of clients.

To read the rest of the article from the Globe and Mail, click here.

Coca Cola, Procter & Gamble, and Walmart ETF Is Promising

MarketsMuse blog update profiles a safe ETF that thrives with the market during the good times and is safe during the bad times. The Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLP), whose top three holdings are Procter and Gamble, Coca Cola, and Walmart, is the best ETF to invest in. This MarketsMuse blog update is courtesy of Investopedia with an excerpt below. 

If you’re looking for a safe investment that’s highly likely to appreciate during good times and capable of holding its own during the worst of times, then you have come to the right place. The Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLP) is one of the most appealing exchange-traded funds (ETF) in the ETF universe for those who are looking for an investment opposed to a trade.

XLP Basics

IPO Date: Dec. 16, 1998 (Up 82.65% since IPO)

Total Assets: $8.10 billion (as of 4/2/15)

Yield: 2.33% (fairly generous)

Expense Ratio: 0.15% (well below average)

Annual Holdings Turnover: 3.94% (not too actively managed, demonstrates poise)

Purpose: Tracks the performance of the Consumer Staples Sector Index

Top 3 Holdings:

The Procter & Gamble Co. (PG): 12.39% of assets

The Coca-Cola Co. (KO): 8.93% of assets

WalMart Stores Inc. (WMT): 7.28% of assets

To read more about XLP from Investopedia, click here.

Bull Week For High Yield Bonds, Thanks To ETFs

MarketMuse blog update profiles the positive market conditions bringing a good cash flow to high yield bonds, some say both are due to the ETF market. MarketMuse blog update is courtesy of Forbes’ article “High Yield Bond Funds See $315M Cash Inflow, Thanks To ETFs” with an excerpt below. 

Retail cash flows for U.S. high-yield funds were positive $315 million for the week ended April 1, down from positive $856 million last week, according to Lipper. Both were essentially all related to the exchange-traded-fund segment, with this week’s ETF inflow of $318 million dented by a small, $3 million outflow from mutual funds.

The two-week inflow total of approximately $1.2 billion follows two weeks of outflows totaling $3 billion in mid-March. Those were the first outflows after six weeks of heady inflows.

Even with the fresh inflow this week, the trailing-four-week average holds fairly steady, at negative $446 million per week, from negative $448 million per week last week, as an inflow five weeks ago was essentially the same as this week’s inflow. Recall that the trailing-four-week reading of positive $2.5 billion seven weeks ago was the largest in this measure on record.

To read the full article from Forbes, click here.

How To Score In The 2nd Quarter: Which ETFs To Invest In

With all of first quarter’s numbers in seeing the success of some ETFs, like the solar ETFs, where should you invest for the second quarter? MarketMuse blog update looks to panel of investment strategists with experience of managing billions of dollars for which ETFs to invest  in this quarter. MarketsMuse blog update is courtesy of Reuter’s Trang Ho and her article, “Q2 Investing Strategies: Top Five ETF Buys From Powerhouses With $1 Billion+ In Assets Under Management“, with an excerpt below.

If you were stranded on an island in the second quarter and could only take one exchange traded fund with you, what would it be? We asked a panel of investment strategists whose firms manage more than a billion in assets to share their best ETF investing idea for Q2.

1. Market Vectors Agribusiness ETF (MOO)

The Market Vectors Agribusiness ETF (MOO) should do well when we have a bad weather summer. The constituents of this ETF are lagging because grain prices have been so low. The May 2015 futures contract for corn is $3.92 a bushel. In 2012, a bushel was almost $8. The May 2015 contract for soybeans is $9.63 a bushel. In 2012, it was close to $18. So when will this change? When we have a summer that is way too dry or way too wet. Or, as with any commodity, the cure for low prices is low prices–farmers will stop planting grains if the prices are too low and supplies could fall, thus increasing prices. Seven billion people can’t be wrong. Those seven billion people need to be fed.

The fund only has a fee of 0.55%. Not bad. It is truly global with companies from Israel to Russia, denominated in every currency from the Norwegian kroner to the Russian ruble. You won’t find that type of diversity too often. The SEC dividend yield is 1.58%. Not horrible.

– Holmes Osborne, principal of Osborne Global Investments with $1.5 billion in assets under management in Santa Monica, Calif.

2. iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Germany ETF (HEWG)

The European Central Bank (ECB) has embarked on an ambitious quantitative easing program in the Eurozone, creating investment opportunities in European equities. We think European equities represent a good value relative to expensive US stocks, both from a price-to-earnings and price-to-book perspective.

Furthermore, Germany, the strongest economy in Europe, represents a potentially attractive way to access the driving forces behind Europe’s momentum higher-quality, cyclical tilt. First, there are few attractive opportunities for German investors outside of stocks as most German sovereign bonds currently offer negative real yield. Second, Germany, as the fifth largest exporter to the U.S., appears poised to capitalize on a strong dollar/weak euro and an improving American economy.

U.S. dollar-based investors can consider accessing the strong momentum and potential opportunities presented by Europe’s quantitative easing and seek to mitigate the risk of a depreciating euro through the iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Germany ETF (HEWG). HEWG invests in large- and mid-cap German equities and seeks to mitigate exposure to fluctuations in the value of the euro and the U.S. dollar. Investors should consider risks including a potential global economic slowdown, strengthening of the euro, and a rally in European bonds. We will also be watching the outcome of the ECB’s bond buying program, Greece’s economic situation and its impact on the eurozone, and European debt issues.

– Heidi Richardson, global investment strategist, BlackRock with $4.652 trillion AUM in New York City.

To see the complete list from Reuters, click here.

MarketsMuse: This ETF Trading Expert Has This To Say About That…

MarketsMuse.com ETF update is pleased to share an informative perspective about best practices and “best execution” that institutional investment managers, RIAs and others should consider when using ETFs, courtesy of insight from one of the more widely respected members of ETF “agency-only” execution space. Here’s the excerpt of the ETFdb.com interview:

etfdb logoAll walks have come to embrace the exchange-traded product structure as the preferred vehicle when it comes to building out low-cost, well diversified portfolios. Furthermore, active traders have also taken note of the inherent advantages associated with the ETF wrapper, embracing the product structure for its unparalleled ease-of-use and intraday liquidity.

ETFdb.com recently had the opportunity to talk with Mohit Bajaj, Director of ETF Trading Solutions at WallachBeth Capital, about his firm’s role in the industry as well as the evolution of ETF trading in recent years.

ETF Database (ETFdb): What’s your firm’s story? What role do you play in the ETF industry?

Continue reading

ETFs, solar

Solar ETFs Shine Bright

You might need some SPF 100 after the 1st Quarter. MarketsMuse blog update profiles the huge come back solar stocks and ETFs have had after a rocky year, last year. MarketsMuse blog update is courtesy of ETFTrends’ Max Chen’s article, “Solar ETFs Perform Radiantly in Q1“. An excerpt from ETFTrends is below.

Solar stocks and related exchange traded funds have powered ahead and are among the leading sectors over the first quarter after underperforming the equities market last year.

The Guggenheim Solar ETF (NYSEArca:TAN) is the third best performing ETF for the first three months of the year. TAN has increased 31.6% year-to-date. [Solar ETFs: Industry Growth Not Reflected in Market]

Additionally, other clean energy ETFs were among the top ten performing non-leveraged ETFs so far this year, including the iShares Global Clean Energy ETF (NYSEArca:ICLN), which rose 22.8%, and the Market Vectors Solar Energy ETF (NYSEArca:KWT), which gained 22.6%. ICLN tracks a broader exposure to clean energy stocks, including solar, wind and other renewable resources.

To read the full article from ETFTrends, click here.

The Merging of Kraft and Heinz Makes Investor ETF Hungry

MarketMuse blog update profiles the jolt the food and beverage ETFs received on Wednesday when Kraft Foods and the H.J. Heinz Company announced a merge making the new company the world’s fifth-largest food company. This MarketMuse update is courtesy of Benzinga’s 25 March article “Heinz-Kraft News Lifts Food & Beverage ETF“, with an excerpt from the article below. 

This week it was announced that Kraft Foods Group Inc KRFT 4.49% would combine with H.J. Heinz Co. in a move engineered by Brazil-based 3G Capital and Berkshire Hathaway Inc (NYSE: BRK-B).

The combination of these two iconic brands will create a powerhouse consumer staples company with far reaching global exposure.

On Thursday, Kraft rose more than 35 percent on news of the deal, which will include a special cash dividend and 49 percent ownership share in the new combined company.

This jump also impacted a specialty ETF designed to capitalize on the strength of food, beverage, and restaurant stocks.

The PowerShares Dynamic Food & Beverage Portfolio PBJ 0.63% invests in a portfolio of 30 U.S. food and beverage companies based on strict selection criteria that includes price and earnings momentum, quality and value.

Kraft is the eighth largest holding in PBJ, with a 4.69 percent allocation, that sent the fund soaring to new 52-week highs on Thursday.

Read more: http://www.benzinga.com/etfs/sector-etfs/15/03/5356681/heinz-kraft-news-lifts-food-beverage-etf#ixzz3VbblOTeG


To read the entire article from Benzinga on the boost in food and beverage ETFs, click here.

LSE Scores Listing of China’s First ETF

MarketMuse blog update profiles the London Stock Exchange’s (LSE) Wednesday announcement that it had welcomed their first China ETF, Commerzbank CCBI RQFII Money Market UCITS ETF. This is an exciting new step as China hopes to have more offshore trading in the very near future. This ETF offers the abiltiy for those in the LSE to invest in China’s inter-bank market. This MarketMuse update is courtesy of BloombergBusiness’s Will Hadfield. An excerpt of the article, “The Yuan Comes to Europe as LSE Hosts ETF Tracking Chinese Money” is below.

A Chinese bank has launched the first money-market fund denominated in yuan that’s based in Europe, a milestone in the currency’s emergence as a major force in world markets.

China Construction Bank Corp.’s new exchange-traded fund, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange and available to investors throughout the European Union, is the first product to give Western investors access to securities in China’s interbank bond market. The fund, called the Commerzbank CCBI RQFII Money Market UCITS ETF, started trading Wednesday.

The ETF could be the first of many Chinese-currency funds to launch in developed markets as the country’s banks seek to attract investors with higher returns than they could get from dollar-, euro- or pound-denominated accounts.

To read the rest of the article from BloombergBusiness, click here

Survey Says: Retail Investors Need An ETF Education

MarketMuse update profiles a recent study done by Fidelity Investments and BlackRock, inc., have discovered a huge reason why retail investors are not comfortable investing in ETFs. The study which survey 1,000 individual investors and 250 advisors found that in order for retail investors to get on board the ETF train, they need some basic ETF education. MarketMuse update is courtesy of Nasdaq’s article, “ETF Watch: Retail Investors Still Shy Away From ETFs“, an a excerpt from the article is below.

The exchange-traded funds or ETFs, are lagging in popularity among retail investors due primarily to the lack of familiarity with the investment products, according to a new study.

While the ETF industry in the U.S. has grow at a breakneck pace to more than $2 trillion in assets in just more than two decades, most of that interest has come from institutional investors.

Two-thirds of retail investors have not yet moved ETFs in their portfolios.

The study revealed that the key to further growth for ETF adoption among retail investors and advisors lies in educating them on ETF basics.

“While ETF investments have more than doubled in the last five years , there is still significant opportunity to raise awareness as more than two-thirds of investors report they have yet to tap the potential benefits of ETFs in their portfolios,” said Andrew Brownsword, SVP Fidelity retail brokerage. “ETF adoption will keep growing.”

The study showed that current ETF owners are increasingly turning to ETFs for long-term holdings, while 80 percent of them see benefit in combining ETFs and mutual funds in a portfolio.

To read the entire article from Nasdaq, click here.

 

 

 

Contango Could Be Killer For Those Who Want Oil Via ETF products

MarketMuse update profiles the close watch oil traders currently have on oil related ETF products such as the DNO or the USL. As investments into oil ETF products have continued to soar, resulting in a more stable oil market price, there is a risk that oil prices could drop and as a result cause people to drown. With more, below is an excerpt from the Globe and Mail article, “Why oil traders are keeping a watch on exchange-traded products”.

Tumult in Libya, U.S. rig counts, production plans of the oil exporting cartel and a pact on nuclear relations with Iran can all affect crude supply and demand, but oil traders have kept an equally close watch on retail investors in recent weeks.

Those investors and hedge funds, betting on a reversal of oil’s long rout, poured billions of dollars into exchange traded products at the tail end of the slide last year, providing unexpected support that helped prices stabilize.

Even as concerns about U.S. storage capacity triggered renewed slide over the past week investors have stuck with the view that a bottom might be in sight, pouring more money into financial products backed by oil futures.

There is a risk, however, that their bets could unravel and send oil prices tumbling again because of a market constellation where spot prices may head lower, but storage bottlenecks make futures contracts months ahead more expensive.

Some market participants warn that if that happens, the U.S. benchmark could slide towards $20 from around $47 now.

Holdings in exchange traded financial products have soared since the beginning of the year, especially highly-leveraged ones such as VelocityShares 3x Long Crude Oil ETN (UWTI). according to data from Morningstar investment research firm.

Reuters analysis of weekly flows data shows investors have been boosting positions in several long funds, while unwinding short positions over the past four weeks.

To read the entire article from the Globe and Mail, click here.

An ETF-only Exchange? BATS at Bat

They say you should always shoot for the moon and that is exactly what BATs exchange is doing. MarketMuse update profiles BATS exchange looks to hit it out of Nasdaq’s and the New York Stock Exchange’s parks. The ETF-only exchange out of Kansas City, BATS, is planning on becoming the number one ETF trading venue by 2020 which means passing both the Nasdaq and the NYSE. BATS. This MarketMuse update is courtesy of Tom Lydon’s article “BATS Looks to be Dominant ETF Exchange” on ETFTrends.com. An excerpt from the article is below.

ETFTrends-logo   Most exchange traded products in the U.S. trade on the New York Stock Exchange or the or the Nasdaq Global Market. That is not stopping Kansas City-based BATS Global Markets from the ambitious goal of being the largest U.S. ETF listing venue in three to five years.

“There was a total of 1,411 U.S.-domiciled ETFs at the end of 2014, according to the Investment Company Institute, with more than 1,000 listed by Intercontinental Exchange’s NYSE unit and the balance by Nasdaq OMX Group,” report John McCrank and Jessica Toonkel for Reuters.

To read the entire article from ETFTrends, click here

Vanguard To Launch Its First Ever Muni Bond ETF

MarketMuse update profiles the largest mutual funds provider, Vanguard push to become the top ETF provider. Currently,  Vanguard is the second-largest provider of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the world, with about $451 billion in ETF assets under management, as of March 2015. Now Vanguard seeks to become the top ETF provider with its first ever muni bond, the Vanguard Tax Exempt Bond ETF. The MarketMuse update is courtesy of an article from Investopedia’s 20 March article “Vanguard to Launch Muni Bond ETF”. Extracts from the article are below:  

Vanguard, well known for its stable of index mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), is rolling out its first muni bond index fund, the Vanguard Tax Exempt Bond ETF. The fund, which will have a mutual fund share class as well, doesn’t have a ticker symbol yet. This is Vanguard’s first muni bond index fund.

Muni bonds typically appeal to investors in a higher income tax bracket and are held in taxable investment accounts. The ETF will track the S&P National AMT Free Municipal Bond Index. The index currently yields 1.7% which equates to a 2.5% yield for those in the 33% income tax bracket.

The new fund is in line with Vanguard’s big push in the ETF space. Vanguard is currently the third largest issuer of ETFs and has been aggressively cutting expenses in an effort to build its asset base. It recently lowered expenses on 12 of its equity ETFs including 10 sector ETFs. Vanguard currently has 13 fixed-income ETFs including the giant Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF (BND) with more than $24 billion in assets.

The Vanguard Tax Exempt Bond ETF (and associated mutual fund share classes) will likely be a viable competitor in the muni bond space right out of the box. The low expense ratio of 0.12% is less than half that of the largest index ETF competitor. Add to this Vanguard’s solid reputation as an index fund provider and its distribution muscle and the new fund will be well positioned to gain market share in this asset class.

To read the entire article from Investopedia, click here.

BlackRock New Bond ETF To Trade Like Common Stock

BlackRock is the world’s largest asset manager with over $4.59 trillion in assets under management. iShares is a section of BlackRock that is in control of hundreds of ETFs. As noted on iShares page and continued to ring true today, Many people are turning to ETFs for diversified, low-cost and tax efficient investing. ETFs can be a powerful addition to your investment portfolio.

MarketMuse blog update is courtesy of the New York Times’ Landon Thomas Jr. with an extract from Thomas’s article, “BlackRock’s New Breed of Exchange-Traded Bond Fund Prizes Stability Over Swagger

While he may not live the life of a swaggering bond market pro, Mr. Radell, a bond manager at the fund giant BlackRock, is challenging a strategy that has rewarded some of his flashier peers: the pursuit of high-risk, high-return investments.

The weapon that Mr. Radell will be using is a new variety of exchange-traded fund, or E.T.F., which tracks an index of stocks or bonds but trades like a common stock, allowing investors to jump in and out.

For years now, these funds have been a hit with passive investors. Now, BlackRock is introducing a new breed of bond E.T.F. that aims to blend the best of active investing (security selection) with index investing (cost and consistency).

Scott Radell has been with BlackRock since 2003 and currently is in charge of more than 80 ETFs for BlackRock’s iShares. 

To read the entire article on the new bond ETF from BlackRock found in the New York Times, click here.

Hedged Vs. Unhedged International Currency ETFs

MarketMuse blog update courtesy of CNBC. With investing overseas being so dangerous right now, because of enormous moves in currency, buying stocks overseas—including ETFs, why are people so keen on doing it. CNBC reporter, Bob Pisani’s ask the question:

Why doesn’t everyone buy hedged international ETFs when they want international exposure, rather than unhedged ETFs?

There are several reasons:

1) Until recently, it was almost impossible for the average investor to do so. There simply were no ETFs that enabled an investor to hedge out currency. A professional could hedge, of course, but at considerable cost.

Now that more hedged ETF products are becoming available, investors are taking note. In fact, the biggest European ETF is now a hedged product, the WisdomTree International Hedged, which recently surpassed its biggest unhedged rival, the Vanguard European ETF.

2) There was not a huge demand for such a product because currency moves like we have seen in euro this year (down 5 percent against the dollar) are very rare. Oh sure, maybe if you were investing in Argentina, but not the euro, not the yen. Most years did not involve anywhere near such dramatic moves.

This year, for example, the yen has barely moved against the dollar, so the difference between a hedged Japan ETF and an unhedged Japan ETF is very small:

That was not the case last year, when there was an enormous move in the yen versus the dollar, and investors made the DXJ the hottest ETF in years.

For the entire article from CNBC’s Bob Pisani’s story “Why currency-hedged ETFs are hot”, click here.

Investors Seek ETF To Protect Against The Great Wall Of China’s Crumble

MarketMuse blog update is courtesy of Business Times’ article “China slowdown concern spurs record option hedges on ETF” . The update profiles the largest US exchange-traded fund tracking China’s mainland market reaching its highest since the ETF was created. An excerpt from Business Times is below. 

Investors are rushing to buy protection against declines in Chinese stocks amid concern an economic slowdown will undermine their world-beating rally.

Demand to hedge against future losses on the largest US exchange-traded fund tracking China’s mainland market climbed to the highest since the ETF was created in November 2013, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The buying pushed the ratio of bearish to bullish contracts to a five-month high on March 11 as investors pulled $34 million from the fund in a second week of outflows.

The bets underscore growing investor skepticism that the Shanghai Composite Index can sustain its advance after rising 39 per cent since October against a backdrop of monetary easing and weaker-than-estimated economic data. The central bank has cut interest rates twice in four months to revive an economy expanding at its slowest pace in 24 years, helping fuel gains in the so-called A-share market.

“There’ll be some pull-back,” Chang Liu, a London-based China economist at Capital Economics Ltd, said by phone on March 12. His firm predicts a decline of about 11 per cent from last week’s close on the Shanghai gauge by the end of 2015.

“GDP growth will be slower, the property market remains weak and overcapacity is still an issue.”

Purchases of so-called puts, or options to sell the US$1 billion Deutsche Bank’s X-trackers Harvest CSI 300 China A- Shares ETF, has jumped fourfold to an all-time high of 44,760 contracts last week from a January low. The open interest on options to buy the ETF, or calls, increased 45 per cent during the period to 52,924, also a record.

For the entire article from the Business Times, click here.

Mr Robot: Tom Dorsey’s ETF Uses Computers To Outperform Humans

MarketMuse update is courtesy of BloombergBusiness’s Anthony Effinger and Eric Balchunas’s 15 March article, “Funds Run by Robots Now Account for $400 Billion” profiles self proclaimed money manager, Tom Dorsey’s key to  a successful portfolio just takes pressing a button. 

Few people have profited more from the so-called smart-beta craze than Tom Dorsey. A new exchange-traded fund that he runs using a century-old charting methods took in $1.2 billion last year. Then, in January, he sold his 22-person investment firm, Dorsey, Wright & Associates, to Nasdaq OMX Group for $225 million.

Dorsey calls himself a money manager, Bloomberg Markets will report in its April issue, but his methods are more robot designer. He says so himself, proudly. If Dorsey and his team got abducted from their Richmond, Virginia, office by aliens, their algorithms could keep picking investments for the firm’s new money magnet, the First Trust Dorsey Wright Focus 5 ETF, forever.

“Once a quarter, we press a button,’’ Dorsey says. The Focus 5 algorithm then generates a list of investments, and First Trust Portfolios, his partner company, executes them. Otherwise, they don’t meddle with the robot. “We just need someone to press the button.’’

That, for Dorsey, is the essence of smart beta, or strategic beta, or scientific beta, or factor-based investing, or fundamental indexing, depending on which Ph.D. is talking. (Many smart-beta funds are designed by finance geeks.) It’s index investing with key twists, all of them rules-based, with no active management required. Most smart-beta funds track custom indexes. Some are simple variants of the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index and do what they say on the box. Others are hand-crafted and small batch, made by people with little more than a stock-filtering system and a dream.

For the entire article from BloombergBusiness, click here.

Investors Reach For Euro ETFs as the US Dollar Recovers

MarketMuse update courtesy of MarketWatch’s 12 March article, “Dollar surge has investors scrambling for a piece of this European ETF”. From the National Swiss Bank’s huge announcement in January to Greece’s continued demise, the European market has seen better days. While the US market continues to recover, the US dollar has almost completely recovered to the being equivalent with the Euro which is making investor grab at Euro ETFs. 

Back in 2008, $1.60 bought one euro EURUSD, -1.10% Fast forward to today, and the U.S. dollar is surging toward parity with the hobbled currency. Just a few more ticks to go.

Of course, the huge currency shake-up is bad news for U.S. exporters but it’s great for investors in the WisdomTree Europe Hedged Equity fund HEDJ, +0.19% And they are throwing gobs of money at it. Read: 4 stock plays that are attracting investor dollars this year.

In the past year alone, $12 billion has flowed into the fund, a more than tenfold increase. The ETF is now the biggest covering Europe with almost $14 billion in assets, according to ETF Database. That’s enough to displace the Vanguard FTSE Europe giant VGK, -0.85% as the region’s top dog.

Olly Ludwig, managing editor for ETF.com, points out that the dollar’s rise has turned a neutral investment into a world beater.

“There’s an elegant mirror-like quality to the chart that isolates the currency factor rather cleanly,” Ludwig said. “Were it not for the currency hedge, HEDJ would be about flat.”

Investors have obviously been taking notice, and currency-hedged ETFs, in general, have seen spikes in asset growth. Ludwig pointed out that, on Monday alone, HEDJ and the WisdomTree Japan Hedged Equity fund DXJ, -0.39% combined to attract $1 billion. In a single day.

For the entire article from MarketWatch, click here.