Americas ETP News
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New Jersey Backs Off $3.2 Billion Emerging-Markets Bet
April 9, 2014--No other U.S. pension, endowment or foundation manager has invested as heavily in emerging-market ETFs as the New Jersey Pension Fund, a $3.2 billion gamble at its height. Now the state's reversing course.
The $76.8 billion fund, the 12th largest public pension manager in the U.S., has cut its holding of developing-nation exchange-traded funds to less than $1.8 billion, according to filings through March 31 compiled by Bloomberg. The fund's managers had boosted the position from just $115 million in 2009 to more than $3 billion by the end of 2012.
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Source: Bloomberg
According to ETFGI: Assets of ETFs and ETPs listed in the United Sates reached 1.76 trillion US dollars, a new record high, at the end of April 2014
April 8, 2014--ETFs and ETPs listed in the United States gathered US$19.9 billion in net new assets in April which, when combined with a small positive market performance in the month, pushed assets in the US ETF/ETP industry to a new record high of $1.76 trillion, according to preliminary data from ETFGI’s April 2014 Global ETF and ETP industry insights report. At the end of April 2014, the US ETF/ETP industry had 1,577 ETFs/ETPs, from 57 providers listed on 3 exchanges.
The ETF/ETP industry globally hit a record high of US$2.49 trillion in assets at the end of April 2014.
"In April, as was the case in March, investors continued to show a strong preference to equity allocations. Equity markets were again choppy in April-the S&P 500 closed at an all-time high on April 2nd but ended the month up less than 1%. The DJIA closed the month at an all-time high of 16,581. Outside the U.S., developed markets improved slightly; European equities continued to strengthen, while emerging markets remained flat for the month.” according to Deborah Fuhr, Managing Partner at ETFGI.
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Source: ETFGI
According to ETFGI: Assets of ETFs and ETPs listed globally reached US$2.49 trillion, a new record high, at the end of April 2014
May 8, 2014--ETFs and ETPs listed globally gathered US$34.0 billion in net new assets in April which, when combined with a small positive market performance in the month, pushed assets in the global ETF/ETP industry to a new record high of US$2.49 trillion, according to preliminary data from ETFGI's April 2014 Global ETF and ETP industry insights report.
At the end of April 2014 there were 5,241 ETFs/ETPs, with 10,238 listings, from 221 providers listed on 59 exchanges around the world.
The ETF/ETP industry in many countries and regions also hit record highs in assets at the end of April 2014 including: the United States at US$1.76 Trn, Europe at US$449.7 Bn, Japan at US$82.4 Bn, Canada at US$61.1 Bn, and the Middle East/Africa at US$41.4 Bn.
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Source: ETFGI
Horizons ETFs Launches Canada's First Swap-Based Bond Index ETF
May 8, 2014--Horizons ETFs Management (Canada) Inc. ("Horizons ETFs") is pleased to announce the launch of the Horizons Cdn Select Universe Bond ETF ("HBB"), which will provide investors with low-cost and tax-efficient exposure to the Canadian investment grade bond universe.
HBB will begin trading today on the Toronto Stock Exchange ("TSX") under the symbol HBB.
HBB seeks to replicate the performance of the Solactive Canadian Select Universe Bond Index (the "Index"), net of expenses.
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Source: Horizons ETFs Management (Canada) Inc.
BlackRock faces lawsuits over "disproportionately large" fees
Powerball-winning Florida adviser with stake in fund accuses firm of breaching fiduciary obligations
May 8, 2014--BlackRock Inc. is facing a potential class-action lawsuit by investors - and a lottery-winning Florida adviser-who assert the firm has breached its fiduciary obligations by charging exorbitant fees.
In the fourth legal complaint this year asserting similar claims, Florida investment adviser Timothy C. Davidson claims the world's largest money manager keeps too much of the value generated by one of its funds even as it gets larger and cheaper to maintain.
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Source: Investment News
CBO-Monthly Budget Review for April 2014
May 7, 2014--The federal government ran a budget deficit of $301 billion for the first seven months of fiscal year 2014, CBO estimates-$187 billion less than the shortfall recorded in the same span last year.
Revenues were about 8 percent higher and outlays about 3 percent lower.
Total Receipts: Up by 8 Percent in the First Seven Months of Fiscal Year 2014
Receipts for the first seven months of fiscal year 2014 totaled $1,735 billion, CBO estimates-$132 billion more than receipts in the same period last year. That increase is $10 billion to $20 billion less than what CBO expected when it published its most recent projections in its April 2014 report Updated Budget Projections: 2014 to 2024.
view the CBO-Monthly Budget Review for April 2014
Source: Congressional Budget Office (CBO)
WisdomTree Launches International Hedged Dividend Growth Fund (IHDG) and Europe Dividend Growth Fund (EUDG)
Demonstrating Continued Leadership in Currency Hedged ETFs
Expanding Forward-Looking Dividend Growth Screens To Key Regions
Expanding Suite of Europe-Focused Funds
May 7, 2014--WisdomTree (Nasdaq:WETF), an exchange-traded product ("ETP") sponsor and asset manager, today announced the launch of the WisdomTree International Hedged Dividend Growth Fund (IHDG), and the WisdomTree Europe Dividend Growth Fund (EUDG) on the NYSE Arca.
Expanding The WisdomTree Currency Hedged Equity and Dividend Growth Families Jeremy Schwartz, WisdomTree Director of Research, commented, "During the past year, we continue to see investor interest in currency hedged strategies, including the WisdomTree Japan Hedged Equity Fund (DXJ) and the WisdomTree Europe Hedged Equity Fund (HEDJ). We believe that a currency-hedged exposure to the broader-based developed world may be attractive to certain investors."
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Source: WisdomTree
Investor Alert: Bitcoin and Other Virtual Currency-Related Investments
May 7, 2014--The SEC's Office of Investor Education and Advocacy is issuing this Investor Alert to make investors aware about the potential risks of investments involving Bitcoin and other forms of virtual currency.
The rise of Bitcoin and other virtual and digital currencies creates new concerns for investors. A new product, technology, or innovation-such as Bitcoin-has the potential to give rise both to frauds and high-risk investment opportunities. Potential investors can be easily enticed with the promise of high returns in a new investment space and also may be less skeptical when assessing something novel, new and cutting-edge.
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Source: SEC.gov
First Trust to Launch the First Trust Managed Municipal ETF
An actively managed ETF that seeks to provide federally tax-exempt income
May 7, 2014--First Trust Advisors L.P. ("First Trust"), a leading ETF provider and asset manager, expects to launch a new actively managed exchange-traded fund ("ETF"), the First Trust Managed Municipal ETF (NASDAQ: FMB) (the "fund"). The new fund is expected to begin trading on The NASDAQ Stock Market on May 15, 2014.
The fund seeks to generate current income that is exempt from regular federal income taxes. Long-term capital appreciation is a secondary objective. Under normal market conditions, the fund will seek to achieve its investment objectives by investing at least 80% of its net assets (including investment borrowings) in municipal debt securities.
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Source: First Trust Advisors L.P.
DB-Synthetic Equity & Index Strategy-North America-US ETF Monthly Review-Equity ETPs gather $16.9bn; ETP
Data in this report is as of Wednesday April 30, 2014
May 6, 2014--US ETP assets increased by $24.3bn
ETP assets in the US rose by $24.3bn to $1.737 trillion [YTD +3.5%] last month. Global ETP industry assets closed at $2.356 trillion [YTD +4.1%]
Flows Review: Risk appetite increases, caution persists
US ETPs experienced inflows of $19.5bn during April (+1.1% of last month's AUM).
Within long-only ETPs, total flows were +$19.1bn in April vs. +$10.3bn in March. Equity, Fixed Income, and Commodity long-only ETPs experienced flows of +$16.7bn, +$3.4bn and -$1.1bn, respectively.
Long-only flows suggest that investors continue to take on risk in their portfolios, but within a controlled environment. For example, last month, equities captured most of the attention, with net inflows of $16.7bn; furthermore, geography-wise, ETPs focusing on the US received the largest monthly inflows, gathering $8.6bn, followed by emerging markets (+$4.7bn) ETPs which, driven by a technical rebound, were the largest since September of last year; while international developed markets captured $2.9bn in new cash; it’s worth to highlight that with the exception of Spain (+$0.5bn), Italy (+$0.2bn) and Mexico (+$0.2bn), most of the international interest was expressed at a regional level. Within the US, sector allocation favored Energy focused ETPs, which ended the month with $1.6bn in fresh new cash. Style-wise, there was a clear rotation into Value-focused (+$3.3bn) ETPs away from Growth ETPs (-$1.2bn). Moving into the Fixed Income space, flows suggest investors sentiment towards the asset class is still uncertain, for once, flows favored credit over rates, led by Corporate (+$1.2bn) ETPs; moreover, allocation shifted towards higher duration products; Long and Medium Duration ETPs captured the largest monthly net inflows with similar net creations of $0.7bn each; on the other hand, investors favored higher quality debt, pouring $1.9bn into IG ETPs, while HY ETPs only captured $0.2bn during the same period . Lastly, commodities experienced negative flows during April, mostly due to Gold benchmarked ETPs, which saw $1.1bn outflows, erasing the inflows captured during the previous months.
New Launch Calendar: China, Japan, MLPs, Gold, EM and US bonds
There were ten new ETPs and one new ETN listed during the previous month in the NYSE Arca. The new products offer exposure to MLPs, China, Japanese sectors, gold, emerging markets, and broad US bond market.
Turnover Review: Floor activity decreased by 4.9% in April
ETP turnover totaled $1.427 trillion last month, 4.9% (-$73.9bn) lower than the previous month figure of $1.501 trillion; however, 15.0% above last year's monthly average of $1.240 trillion. Equity, Fixed Income and Commodity ETPs turnover decreased by $41.2bn (-3.0%), $19.4bn (-21.2%) and $11.2bn (-27.7%) during April, respectively.
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Source: Deutsche Bank-Synthetic Equity & Index Strategy-North America
