Blog

Remembering Collateral Costs

pamery@indexuniverse.com (Paul Amery) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 08:22:48 +0000

There’s been a lengthy discussion on other blogs this week about how ETF Securities’ new currency ETCs work. In my view, the blogs’ authors, Felix Salmon of Reuters and Izabella Kaminska of FT Alphaville, have missed one key subject – collateral costs.

Resource Shortage?

pamery@indexuniverse.com (Paul Amery) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:22:15 +0000

In which European equity sector have four of the five largest companies cut or scrapped dividends this year, while share prices have doubled?

Mind The Gap

pamery@indexuniverse.com (Paul Amery) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 08:34:02 +0000

With sharp falls in corporate bond yields this year, are equities now looking cheap?

Rolling Into Trouble

pamery@indexuniverse.com (Paul Amery) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:42:16 +0000

After I published my article on contango yesterday, my colleague Matt Hougan asked me why the top- and bottom-performing ETCs were both short maturity trackers.

Welcome, Mr Schwab!

pamery@indexuniverse.com (Paul Amery) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:45:07 +0000

I confess that at first glance I looked at Schwab’s ETF launch, with its promise of no-commission trading in the firm’s own funds, with a slightly jaded eye.

Remembering Carry

pamery@indexuniverse.com (Paul Amery) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 09:48:38 +0000

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, as the old saying goes.

Swap-Based, Physically Backed Or Red Herring?

matt@hougan.com (Matt Hougan) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 07:18:43 +0000

I spent most of the past week in London visiting issuers. The goal of my trip was to get my head around two questions: who is actually using ETFs in Europe? And what is the deal with physically backed and swap-based ETFs?

Are ETNs Safe?

pamery@indexuniverse.com (Paul Amery) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 12:14:19 +0000

In his latest IndexUniverse.com blog, Matt Hougan sings the praises of ETNs and argues that the risk of losing money is “vanishingly small”.

Hedging The Wrong Currency

pamery@indexuniverse.com (Paul Amery) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:29:37 +0000

When it comes to currency ETFs, are many investors missing the biggest opportunity of all?

Protecting The Natives?

pamery@indexuniverse.com (Paul Amery) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 15:59:11 +0000

Could a regulatory crackdown in Europe push tracker vehicle assets away from the established trading centres?