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- Page 1: New ETF listings and new ETFs in registration
- Page 2: ETF industry statistics?including weekly performance update
- Page 3: The complete list of ETFs (and ETNs) in registration
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NEW LISTINGS
There were no new ETF launches in from January 31 through February 5, 2008.
NEW FILINGS
SPDR DJ Wilshire Global Real Estate ETF
State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) has taken the popular global real estate theme to the limit, filing for a new fund tied to the Dow Jones Wilshire Global Real Estate index. The underlying index tracks substantially all publicly traded real estate companies throughout the world, including both U.S. and internationally, and including most of the developing world (even China, via Hong Kong listings).
The index is float-weighted, and SSgA intends to track it using a sampling methodology. There is no word yet on fees or expenses.
The prospectus is available here.
Three New Currency ETNs
Barclays Capital has filed for three new currency-based exchange-traded notes (ETNs). Interestingly, two of the ETNs will pay quarterly cash interest payments, which is a first in the ETN structure. This is meant to compensate for the fact that ETN noteholders now have to pay income tax on an annual basis for implied interest in the note.
Asian and Gulf Currency
The first ETN filing with this interest income payout is for the Barclays Asian and Gulf Currency Revaluation Notes, which are designed to provide exposure to five Middle Eastern and Asian market currencies that are officially tied to the value of the U.S. dollar. They are the Chinese yuan, Hong Kong dollar, Saudi Arabia riyal, Singapore dollar and United Arab Emirates dirham. With the dollar under severe pressure, there are widespread expectations that these governments will revalue their currencies, or allow them to float further away from the dollar. If they do, this ETN should benefit. In the meantime, investors will be paid interest based on local interest rates. The ETN charges 0.89%. The pricing supplement is here.
Barclays GEMS Strategy
Barclays will also make interest payments on the new Barclays GEMS Strategy ETN, which offers exposure to 15-currency money market accounts in emerging nations. The notes incorporate both local currency movements and local interest rates into the value of the note. The notes charges 0.89% in annual expenses. The pricing supplement is available here.
The Carry Trade ETN
The final ETN?and one that Barclays will not make interest payments for?is the Barclays Intelligent Carry ETN, which intends to offer exposure to the carry trade. The carry trade is an institutional strategy that seeks to profit by borrowing money in low-yielding currencies and investing that money in high-yielding currencies. This index uses long and short forward positions in G10 currencies to execute the trade. The actual way the underlying index is calculated is complicated, relying on constrained mean variance optimization techniques to target a specific risk/reward trade-off. Interestingly, the ETN charges investors for the bid/ask spread required to buy and sell the various currencies; it levies a fee of 0.007% for each index component. The note charges 0.65%. The pricing supplement is available here.
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