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GLD Now Has Bigger Gold Cache Than Japan

Gold holdings in exchange-traded funds rose 150 tons in the third quarter, compared with an increase of 4 tons in the previous quarter and 139.5 tons in the same period a year ago, according to industry research compiled by Dow Jones Newswires.

The most popular gold ETF, the SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE: GLD), was the biggest draw for that new money, the report added. The surge in buying pushed GLD's holdings to more than 770 tons in October, a cache "that exceeds the official holdings of Japan, which has the world's seventh-biggest gold reserves," the story noted.

For a broader view of what's going on in gold markets, you can read the full article here.

Swiss Investors Flocking To ETFs

More costly and complicated investment products are out-of-favor with European investors, reports the Wall Street Journal. "Spooked by complicated and often expensive financial products, many of Europe's private-client investors are piling into exchange-traded funds as they dump exposure to structured products. That trend is being felt particularly acutely in Switzerland," writes reporter Tara Loader Wilkinson.

She notes that the Swiss stock exchange figures demand for ETFs grew more than 90% in October compared with the previous month, bringing the amount invested in them to 7.6 billion Swiss francs ($6.3 billion).

Those with WSJ subscriptions can read the full account here.

Jane Bryant Quinn: Investors Wrong On Munis

In her latest Bloomberg column,  the renowned financial writer notes that investors "poured a net of $20 billion into municipal funds this year. Then, in late September, they changed their minds. So far this quarter, $7.4 billion has fled the scene."

Of course, those moves didn't prove to be very good timing decisions. "Investors may have jumped out of their tax-exempt bond funds at just the wrong time," Quinn wrote.  She goes on to track the recent moves of munis as a whole and does a nice job of looking at all sorts of exchange-traded funds as well as other types of investments.

You can check the story out here.

Half The Story On Muni ETFs

Contrast what a real pro like Jane Bryant Quinn writes about munis and the following. The Bond Buyer chronicles the problems that bond ETFs had in tracking their indexes when the liquidity crunch came to a head in mid-September and lasted into October.

Keep in mind that bond ETFs still proved to have much lower spreads and served as about the only way traders were able to price fixed-income. The report correctly details how 15 municipal bond ETFs have been launched since Sept. 2007 and how tough of a job these portfolios have had tracking their underlying muni indexes.

But as those of us following ETFs know, that's only half the story. Still, you can get a glimpse of how others are reporting the ETF role in the ongoing credit crunch here.

How Progressive Is Global Transport ETF?

Gary Gordon takes an interesting peek underneath the hoods of the PowerShares Global Progressive Transportation ETF (Nasdaq: PTRP) on Seeking Alpha.

The long-time advisor compares it with the iShares Dow Jones Transports (NYSE: IYT). It's a short review but winds up pointing out that investors might want to avoid "cutesy"  funds.  Whether you agree with his conclusions or not, Gordon has an obvious message - know what you're really buying!

You can read his story here.

Actively Managed REIT ETF

An article on TheStreet.com looks at the launch this week of the PowerShares Active U.S. Real Estate Portfolio, which will trade on the NYSE under the ticker PSR.

Besides launching as the industry's first actively managed REIT ETF, PSR will be managed by Invesco's institutional team that has a long history of managing real estate portfolios, the article notes.

It's not a new story. We actually previewed the new fund ourselves at IU.com. But with its launch now coming, more stories are bound to come. TheStreet's take can be viewed here.