Tag Archives: vwo

Sell This Rumor: Hedge Funds Exploit ETF Ecosystem

The battle between business news pontificaters across the 4th estate is in full season, as evidenced by a smart article yesterday by Bloomberg LP’s Eric Balchunas and suggests that MarketsMuse curators are apparently not the only topic experts who noticed and took aim at a recent WSJ article that proclaimed savvy hedge fund types are increasingly exploiting exchange-traded funds by arbitraging price anomalies between the underlying constituents and the ETF cash product that occur in volatile moments.

That original WSJ article, “Traders Seek Ways to benefit from ETF woes …At the Expense of Investors” was misleading, and as noted by MarketsMuse Sept 30 op-ed reply to the WSJ piece, one long time ETF expert asserted that WSJ’s conclusions was “much ado about nothing.” Bloomberg’s Balchunas has since reached a similar conclusion; below are extracted observations from his Oct 12 column..

Hedge funds may need to get back to the drawing board if they’re planning to turn around their performance struggles by capitalizing on “shortcomings in the ETFs’ structure” via some unusual trade ideas, as highlighted in this recent Wall Street Journal article. Most funds do nothing of the sort.

Eric Balchunas, Bloomberg LP
Eric Balchunas Bloomberg LP

The vast majority of ETF usage by hedge funds is very boring. They love to short ETFs to get their hedge on and isolate some kind of risk. For example, they may short the Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLV) and then make a bet on one of the health-care stocks in the basket in order to quarantine a single security bet. Hedge funds have about $116 billion worth of ETF shares shorted, compared with only $34 billion in long positions, according to data compiled by Goldman Sachs last year.

The $34 billion in long positions is them using ETFs like everyone else — as a way to get quick and convenient exposure to a particular market. For example, the world’s largest hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates, has a $4 billion position in the Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF (VWO), which it has held for six years now.  There’s also Paulson & Co.’s famous $1 billion position in SPDR Gold Trust (GLD), which it has been holding for almost seven years. Like anyone else, they like the cheap exposure and liquidity VWO and GLD serve up.

With that context in place, yes, there are a tiny minority of hedge funds that engage in some complex trades like the ones highlighted in the article. But each trade comes with at least one big problem.

Before anyone tries any of these at home, it’s important to deconstruct them.

Trade #1: Robbing Grandma

How it works: During a major selloff, try and scoop up shares at discounted prices put in by small investors using market orders.

The problem: It’s super rare. Aug. 24, which saw hundreds of ETFs trade at sharp discounts amid a major selloff, was basically an anomaly. At best, a day like that happens once every two years. Thus, to capitalize on discounts of the 20-30 percent variety is like standing on a beach waiting for a hurricane to hit. And you won’t be the only one, so you may wait two years only to find you can’t get your order filled on the day the big one hits. In addition, no large institutional investors are putting in market orders. So this low-hanging fruit is sell orders for tiny amounts put in by unknowing small investors. Essentially this is the white-collar equivalent of robbing Grandma for some loose change in her purse.

Moreover, Aug. 24 may never happen again, at least the way it unfolded. ETF issuers are working with the exchanges, the regulators, and the market makers — and even making significant recommendations — to make sure those kinds of small investors aren’t exposed again like that.

It should be noted, though, that arbitrage between the ETF price and the value of the holdings happens day in and day out with ETFs — that’s how ETFs work. They rely on a network of market makers and authorized participants to arbitrage away the discrepancy between the ETF’s underlyings and its net asset value (NAV).

Trade #2: The Double Short

To continue reading the straight scoop from Bloomberg columnist Eric Balchunas, click here

Philippines Has Rising Star in the ETFs Market

MarketMuse update courtesy of ETF Trends’ Todd Shriber.

After finishing lower for a second consecutive year in 2014, diversified emerging markets exchange traded funds are off to decent though not spectacular starts in 2015.

Off to a more impressive start than broader peers, such as the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (NYSEArca: EEM) and the Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF (NYSEArca: VWO), is the iShares MSCI Philippines ETF (NYSEArca: EPHE). EPHE, the lone Philippines ETF, entered Friday with a 2015 gain of 2.6%, or nearly quadruple that of VWO.

In 2014, EPHE gained more than 22% while EEM and VWO each finished the year in the red. EPHE now resides less than 10% below its all-time high set in January 2013 and more gains could be on the way after stocks in Manila rose to a record during Friday’s Asian session.

Like India, the Philippines is getting a significant economic boost from lower oil prices because the Philippines is dependent on oil imports to help power one of Southeast Asia’s fastest-growing economies. Over the past six months, the U.S. Oil Fund (NYSEArca: USO) has plunged 51%, but the WisdomTree India Earnings Fund (NYSEArca: EPI) and EPHE have traded modestly higher over that period.

Investors are paying up to be involved with Philippine equities.

“Shares in the Philippine Stock Exchange Index are valued at 18.4 times 12-month estimated earnings, the highest since Nov. 26. The gauge has the highest multiple among Asia’s benchmark equity indexes,” reports Michael Patterson for Bloomberg.

The MSCI Emerging Markets Index trades at about 11 times earnings, but that did not prevent EPHE from hauling in $44.3 million in new assets last year. That is nearly 12% of the ETF’s current assets under management, indicating U.S. investors remain underweight Philippine equities. That may not be the case for long.

“The Taiwanese, Philippine and South Korean stock markets also warrant over-emphases on account of their stable political regimes, reliable policymaking climates and healthy economic prognoses,” said S&P Capital IQ.

For 2015, Morgan Stanley “said the Philippines was the best-positioned market due to its ample liquidity, strong forecast gross domestic product growth and low levels of credit penetration,” reports The Star.

A stronger U.S. dollar is helping Philippine stocks beyond lower oil prices. Foreign remittances are now worth more when converted into pesos, helping boost the local economy. EPHE allocates nearly 12% of its weight to consumer sectors.

In fact, the Philippines has already issued dollar-denominated bonds this year, becoming the first emerging market to do so. The Philippines can afford to do that because its external funding costs are low relative to other developing economies and the country has an investment-grade rating from all three major ratings agencies.

For the original article by Todd Shriber from ETF Trends, click here.

ETF Trading Desk Head Says: “Risk is On…Today..”

Courtesy of the ETF Professor at Benzinga.com

U.S. equities and other riskier assets are in rally mode in the first trading session of 2013 after lawmakers finally got around to agrbenzinga-logoeeing on legislation that steered the U.S. away from the dreaded fiscal cliff. News that a deal was in the works ignited a rally on Monday while news that the cliff will be dodged has done the same today as the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up about 230 points at this writing while the Nasdaq Composite is sitting on a gain of 2.3 percent.

The tenor of Wednesday’s U.S. trading session is clearly risk on, so much so that before 10:30 AM Eastern time, the overall value of equities and ETFs traded was $73 billion, according to data provided by ETF execution firm WallachBeth. New York-based WallachBeth noted that only trading day in all of 2012 – December options expiration – saw equity value traded exceed $70 billion in the first hour of trading.

Chris Hempstead, WallachBeth Capital
Chris Hempstead, WallachBeth Capital

In a note to clients, WallachBeth Director of ETF Execution Services Chris Hempstead highlighted intense buying activity “on the ask” in several marquee broad market ETFs. Buying on the ask could be described as “panic buying” to some extent as traders that are willing to buy on the ask price being shown are indicating they are willing to pay up to acquire shares of a particular stock or ETF. The more times the ask price is hit, the more intense a rally becomes.

Read the full story at Benzinga.com

 

Institutional Investor: Vanguard’s Risky Switch in ETF Indexes

ii_logo_240px-wide  Courtesy of Rosalyn Retkwa

When it comes to the broad-based emerging-markets equity ETFs, Vanguard’s MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (VWO) is clearly the top dog. As of December 11, VWO had a market cap of $58.66 billion and an average daily volume of 17.74 million shares.

But back on October 2, Vanguard rocked the ETF world when it said it would drop MSCI of New York City as its index provider on 22 ETFs and substitute two other index providers, in the belief that by doing so, it could achieve “considerable savings for the funds’ shareholders over time.” That includes VWO, which will transition to a FTSE index at some unspecified point next year. Vanguard has been deliberately vague about any sort of schedule.

“We’re not saying exactly when the transitions will begin in order to prevent front-running,” says Joel Dickson, a senior investment strategist and principal in Vanguard’s Investment Strategy Group in Malvern, Pennsylvania. “The transitions will be staggered over several months,” he says, noting that VWO “will take longer than the other funds because it will be divesting all of its holdings in South Korea and investing the proceeds in some markets that are less liquid.”

And VWO’s exposure to South Korea is the problem. As of its latest statement on October 31, VWO had a 15.3 percent weighting in South Korea, including its No. 1 stock holding, Samsung Electronics. And that entire position will have to be eliminated when VWO moves from the MSCI index to the FTSE index.

Among index providers, there’s a vigorous debate as to whether South Korea should be classified as emerging or developed, and while MSCI still considers it to be emerging because of stock market and currency constraints, FTSE upgraded it to the developed-nation status in September of 2008, and implemented the change a year later, says Jonathan Horton, the New York City–based president of FTSE North America and head of its exchange-traded product unit. There’s also a budding price war among ETF sponsors.

Dong Lee CFA WallachBeth Capital
Dong Lee, CFA WallachBeth Capital

Still, the change in benchmarks is “a headache” for some institutional investors, says Dong Lee, the director of institutional sales at New York City’s WallachBeth Capital.  It often means they “have to present the investment case for the switch in indices in order to obtain board approval; and there’s a lot of work involved in that,” he says.

But will institutional investors switch to that other big dog of the category, BlackRock’s iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index Fund (EEM), and in the process pay a much higher expense ratio of 67 basis points versus VWO’s 20 basis points to stick with MSCI? Continue reading

China ETFs: A Chinese Menu of Share Class Descriptions

Courtesy of Dennis Hudacheck

Investing in China is tricky. There are now more than 20 China-focused ETFs to choose from, ranging from size and style funds to sector-specific funds. As if sifting through expense ratios, liquidity and holdings isn’t enough, China investors have another big, fundamental factor to consider: Chinese share classes.

Foreign investment in China is still restricted: A U.S. investor cannot simply open a brokerage account and trade locally listed Chinese shares. As a result, there are multiple shares classes of Chinese companies floating around on various exchanges, allowing investors different ways to access this complex market.

Depending on the underlying index that an ETF tracks, some funds are eligible to hold only a certain type of shares. This matters because the different share classes an ETF is eligible, or ineligible, to hold can significantly impact the fund’s performance, and ultimately determine the type of Chinese companies in the portfolio.

Chinese share classes, especially as they relate to ETFs, are often misunderstood—or worse, ignored altogether. We at IndexUniverse think investors deserve better, so we prepared this document to provide insight and guidance on the topic to help investors make an informed decision on choosing the right China ETF. Continue reading

Errors Abound When It Comes to ETF Tracking Errors

Courtesy of Dave Nadig

Here’s how I know the ETF Revolution has long since passed, and what we’re living in now is the new ETF normal: The questions from advisors are getting a lot smarter.

I used to get emails about how creation and redemption worked. Now I get questions about tracking error.

Unfortunately, most people think about tracking error all wrong.

Here’s a perfect example. Take two funds that have been in the headlines a lot these past few weeks, the Vanguard MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (NYSEArca: VWO) and the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index Fund (NYSEArca: EEM).

Now imagine you’re a Sophisticated Investor. You know a few things: You know expense ratio matters. You know spreads matter. You know tracking error matters.

So you pop up your Bloomberg, and here’s what you see:

 

 

Even on trading, Vanguard wins on expenses. But Holy Meatballs Batman, what are those guys down in Pennsylvania doing!? A tracking error of 4.433 percent?

And at this point, many advisors will make a critical mistake, assuming that the Vanguard fund is horribly mismanaged. It’s not an unreasonable assumption, if in fact this was an accurate tracking error number. But it’s not.

Remember, academic tracking error is the annualized standard deviation of daily return differences. If the index is up 1 percent today, and VWO is up 0.95 percent, well, that’s -.05 percent to add to the series. Take that whole series, plug it into your stats package, get the standard deviation, annualize it, and there you go.

There are a few reasons this is all a terrible idea. First of all, imagine that VWO was actually missing its mark by 0.05 percent, day in and day out. Well, the standard deviation of those daily differences will be zero. It’s enormously consistent. Continue reading

Vanguard Drops MSCI..

Widely reported..and excuse our delayed tape i.e. dissemination.

Excerpt courtesy of IndexUniverse

Vanguard, the world’s biggest mutual fund company, has decided to segue away from some MSCI indexes over the next several months in favor of benchmarks created by FTSE. The move was motivated in part by lower index licensing costs and will involve its $67 billion Vanguard MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (NYSEArca: VWO).

Vanguard’s switch affects six international equity funds that had total assets of $170 billion as of Aug. 31, FTSE said today in a press release, noting the transaction was the largest ever international index-provider switch. The switch leaves iShares, the world’s biggest ETF firm, as the ETF firm with the deepest ties to MSCI.

The six funds will change to benchmarks in the FTSE Global Equity Index Series, replacing MSCI, and VWO and the index mutual fund of which it is part will be based on the FTSE Emerging Index, FTSE said. One huge difference is the absence of South Korea from the FTSE index, while the MSCI index weights the country at around 15 percent.

In its own press release, Vanguard said that in addition to the six international benchmarks moving to FTSE indexes, it also plans to switch indexes on 16 U.S. stock and balanced index funds to benchmarks developed by the University of Chicago’s Center for Research in Security Prices (CRSP)—a leading provider of research-quality, historical market data and returns. The existing indexes on these U.S.-focused funds are also provided by MSCI.

Full story: Click Here for IU update

ETFs Are Duking It Out Over Fees

By LIAM PLEVEN

Exchange-traded funds have lured many investors away from mutual funds by offering lower fees. But increasingly, some ETFs are also using fees to compete with other ETFs.

In a handful of high-profile cases, particularly in commodities and stocks, investors can choose between two ETFs that are virtually identical except for their fees. Gold bugs, for instance, can buy into a bar of bullion by holding shares in either SPDR Gold Shares GLD +3.88% or iShares Gold Trust IAU +3.94% . But the SPDR fund charges 0.4% of assets a year in fees, compared with the iShares fund’s 0.25%.

Disparities like that point to the rising importance of price as a distinguishing factor in what has become a crowded and confusing ETF marketplace for many individual investors. It isn’t clear yet how effective the tactic will be in the long run—there may be good reasons in some cases for investors to stick with or buy a higher-priced fund. But it seems to hold promise as a marketing tool.

Mega Millions Winner’s ETF Model Portfolio

The “ETF Professor” over at Benzinga has already constructed his ETF portfolio in advance of winning the now, $640 million jackpot scheduled for drawing tonight.  The model portfolio comprises a nice mix representing energy, gold, emerging market, consumer staples, high yield bonds, blah blah blah…

Here’s the verbatim extract courtesy of Benzinga On Line:

Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR (NYSE: XLP [FREE Stock Trend Analysis]) The Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR is of course low-beta and almost downright boring in the world of sector ETFs, but just because one has $360 million to play with doesn’t mean that they should be taking on excessive risk. At least one of your new ETF positions should be something for the long-term and something that won’t cause lost sleep at night.

A stake in XLP would make your grandad and Warren Buffett proud. Rounding up a bit, 1 million shares of XLP would run about $34 million, leaving the Mega Millions winner with $325 million, some of which can be devoted to the…

WisdomTree Emerging Markets Equity Income Fund (NYSE: DEM) Of course some of the winnings should go to an emerging markets fund, but we can do better than standard fare such s the Vanguard MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (NYSE: VWO). There’s a lot to like with DEM, including a yield approaching 4% and that the fund is up 12% year-to-date, just be advised Brazil and Taiwan account for over 43% of the fund’s country allocation.

Continue reading

Vanguard Cuts Expense Fee on 6 Big ETFs-Cheap access to Emerging Markets Just Got Cheaper

Courtesy of InvestmentNews reporter Jason Kephart.

 

Vanguard Group, one of the world’s biggest issuers of ETFs, has announced they’re cutting the fees on 6 funds, including the world’s 3rd largest ETF by asset size, the $54 billion, EMG flagship “Vanguard MSCI Emerging Markets ETF” (VWO),  to 0.2%, a 9% reduction.

Not to let a good idea go to waste, fee reductions saving investors $15 million +/- in annual expenses will enure to the benefit of those buying the Vanguard Total World Stock ETF  (NYSE Arca: VT), the Vanguard All-World ex-U.S. ETF (VEU), the Vanguard FTSE All-World ex-U.S. Small Cap (VSS), the Vanguard Total International Stock Index (VXUS) and the Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF (VYM).

Of course, there’s more to an ETF than just the expense ratio. Morningstar Inc. analyst Paul Justice said that when it comes to selecting the right fund, index-tracking and liquidity are as important, if not more so, than the expense ratio.

He added that Vanguard’s emerging-markets ETF has grown to its present size because it’s been the leader in all three of those categories for the longest period of time.”

To read the full article from InvestmentNews, click here

ETF Fund Flow: Trumping Mutual Funds

According to technology and trading firm ConvergEx Group, during the first 6 weeks of 2012, more than $8 billion has flowed in to U.S. Equity ETFs, while nearly $8 billion has “flown out” of U.S. equity mutual funds.

“Some of the commentary surrounding these products has made them sound like the hoof beats which precede the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse,”  said Nicholas Colas, ConvergEx’s Chief Market Strategiest, alluding to various critiques of ETFs that have emerged over the past 18 months, notably Kauffmann Foundation reports that blamed ETFs for a dead U.S. initial public offering market, and argued huge short interest in some funds could pose systemic risk.

“If you want to understand how investment capital flows play into the year-to-date rally for risk assets, the world of exchange-traded funds is essentially your ‘One Stop Shop,’” Colas said in the note, stressing that whatever negative comments are being made about ETFs, they are a great way to gauge overall sentiment in financial markets.

“But for 2012, you can just as accurately call them the most visible source of capital to help U.S. stocks and other risk assets higher,” Colas wrote.

Most Popular Funds

As far as the individual funds that have really “Killed it” in year-to-date asset gathering this year-to-date, Colas said the ETFs that have pulled in over $1 billion include:

  • iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond Fund (NYSEArca: HYG)
  • iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index Fund (NYSEArca:EEM)
  • iShares Russell 2000 Fund (NYSEArca:IWM)
  • iShares $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond Fund (NYSEArca: LQD)
  • Vanguard MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (NYSEArca:VWO)
  • Powershares QQQ (NasdaqGM QQQ)
  • SPDR Barclays High Yield Bond ETF (NYSEArca: JNK)
  • SPDR Gold Trust (NYSEArca: GLD)

Apart from the strong push into U.S. equities, Colas said emerging markets and precious metals are coming back into favor, with inflows of $9.1 billion and $2 billion, respectively.

”We’ve noticed a trend now for at least a year where investors use country-specific funds in lieu of regional products,” Colas said, singling out a number of those funds that have gathered more than $100 million dollars in new investments since the start of the year.

Among those are:

  • iShares FTSE China 25 Index Fund (NYSEArca: FXI)
  • iShares MSCI China Index Fund (NYSEArca: MCHI)
  • iShares MSCI Germany Index Fund (NYSEArca: EWG)
  • Market Vectors Russia ETF (NYSEArca: RSX)
  • iShares MSCI Chile Index Fund (NYSEArcaECH).

“I have no doubt that mutual fund flows will eventually turn positive, and we’ll have to keep an eye on this trend when it develops,” Colas said.

“But for now, exchange traded funds look to be the horse pulling the market’s proverbial cart.”