Michael Johnston

High Yield International Bond ETF Debuts (IHY)

by Michael Johnston on April 3, 2012

Van Eck notched yet another first for the ETF industry today with the launch of a product designed to deliver exposure to high yielding bonds from international issuers. The Market Vectors International High Yield Bond ETF (IHY) will seek to replicate an index comprised of below investment grade debt from issuers in both emerging and developed markets outside the U.S. The index underlying IHY will include bonds denominated in U.S. dollars, Euros, Canadian dollars, and pound sterling.

Under The Hood

The related BofA Merrill Lynch Global ex-U.S. Issuers High Yield Constrained Index has an average yield to worst of about 8.3% with an average modified duration of about four years. About 1,000 individual securities make up the index, spread across a number of different industries and countries. Industrials bonds make up close to 75% of the underlying index, though that total includes companies engaged in a number of different industries such as automotive, energy, media, health care, and real estate. Financial issuers make up about 20% of the underlying portfolio.  [click to continue…]

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ProShares Adds -3x Treasury ETF (TTT)

by Michael Johnston on April 3, 2012

ProShares announced last week an expansion to its lineup of 3x leveraged ETFs, rolling out a fund that delivers -3x daily exposure to long-term U.S. Treasuries. The new UltraPro Short 20+ Year Treasury (TTT) will seek to deliver daily results that correspond to -300% of movements in the Barclays Capital U.S. 20+ Year Treasury Index, a benchmark comprised of long-dated debt obligations of the U.S. government.

The new ETF is linked to the same index as the extremely popular UltraShort 20+ Year Treasury (TBT), which offers -2x daily exposure to long-term Treasuries. That ETF, which debuted about four years ago, has become one of the most popular leveraged bond ETFs out there; TBT has more than $3.5 billion in assets and trades about 12 million shares on an average day. [click to continue…]

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Guggenheim Debuts Three More BulletShares Bond ETFs

by Michael Johnston on April 2, 2012

Guggenheim, a pioneer in the area of target date fixed income products, has responded to strong interest in its BulletShares product lineup with the launch of three more products targeting investment grade corporate debt maturing in a specific year. The recent addition, which took effect last week, extends the existing product lineup by three years, [...]

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Teucrium Debuts New Agriculture ETF (TAGS)

by Michael Johnston on March 29, 2012

Teucrium, the Vermont-based firm behind a growing lineup of exchange-traded commodity products, announced today the launch of a new fund targeting agricultural resources. The Teucrium Agriculture Fund (TAGS) will offer equal exposure to the “big 4″ of the agriculture commodity space: sugar, corn, wheat, and soybeans [see also Special Report: In Search Of The Best [...]

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Comparing A Dividend ETF With A Dividend Weighted ETF

by Michael Johnston on March 27, 2012

In recent years ETFs have become the vehicle of choice for accessing a wide range of asset classes, from traditional stocks and bonds to more “exotic” strategies such as commodities and hedge fund-like positions. So it is no surprise that there are now dozens of dividend-focused ETFs designed to deliver cheap, efficient, and targeted exposure [...]

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Direxion Debuts Equal Weight NASDAQ ETF (QQQE)

by Michael Johnston on March 22, 2012

Direxion, one of the largest issuers of leveraged and inverse ETFs, announced the addition of a non-leveraged ETF this week that will offer a unique way to access one of the world’s most widely-followed benchmarks. The new NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Shares (QQQE) will focus on the largest stocks listed on the tech-heavy NASDAQ, but [...]

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UBS Launches Leveraged Real Estate ETN (RWXL)

by Michael Johnston on March 22, 2012

UBS continued to expand its lineup of monthly leveraged ETPs this month, debuting a product that is designed to deliver amplified exposure to international real estate firms. The new Monthly Pay 2x Leveraged Dow Jones International Real Estate ETN (RWXL) will deliver leveraged exposure to a benchmark that consists of REITs from around the world, [...]

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Small Cap Indonesia ETF Debuts (IDXJ)

by Michael Johnston on March 21, 2012

Van Eck, the firm that rolled out the first Indonesia ETF a little more than three years ago, introduced a complementary ETF today that will target small cap stocks in the emerging Asian economy. The Market Vectors Indonesia Small-Cap ETF (IDXJ) began trading on the NYSE Arca on Wednesday, becoming the first ETF to offer targeted [...]

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ETFs To Bet Against Apple

by Michael Johnston on March 19, 2012

Apple (AAPL) has been one of the best performing stocks of the last several years, and has also become one of the most widely followed companies ever. The stock has been climbing sharply higher, recently piercing through the $600 level–a feat that just a few years ago would have seemed impossible. Given the red hot [...]

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State Street Adds Short Term Junk Bond ETF

by Michael Johnston on March 17, 2012

State Street has made another addition to its fixed income ETF lineup, recently rolling out the SPDR Barclays Capital Short Term HighYield Bond ETF (SJNK). The new fund will target junk bonds that have less than five years remaining to maturity, thereby delivering a unique combination of low interest rate risk with significant credit risk. [...]

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Russell Debuts Large Cap, Small Cap Dividend ETFs

by Michael Johnston on March 16, 2012

Russell rolled out two more products to add to its rapidly expanding suite of ETFs this week, launching two funds that specifically target stocks with high dividend yields. The Russell High Dividend Yield ETF (HDIV) will target components of the Russell 1000 that exhibit the highest dividend yields, while the Russell Small Cap High Dividend [...]

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Three ETFs Trading At A Huge Premium To NAV (And Three Alternatives)

by Michael Johnston on March 14, 2012

Though ETFs may appear as very simple and straightforward investment vehicles, there is a rather complex infrastructure that lies beneath the surface. Under the hood of exchange-traded products is a unique “creation / redemption” mechanism that allows for the number of shares outstanding to fluctuate based on supply and demand. Generally, this mechanism serves a [...]

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