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ETF Watch: February 19 – February 25
By Heather Bell | February 26, 2009

Related ETFs: DOO
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  • Page 1: New ETF listings
  • Page 2: The complete list of ETFs (and ETNs) in registration

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NEW LISTINGS

There were no new listings during the covered period.

NEW FILINGS

Van Eck’s Mysterious Filings

Van Eck has filed papers with the SEC for two more funds, mysteriously referred to as the Market Vectors Regional Sector ETF and Market Vectors Regional Market Cap ETF. No indexes are mentioned in the filings, so it is rather unclear what exactly they will be tracking.

However, there is some indication of what the funds could be covering in the “Risks” sections. The list of principal risks of investing in the regional sector ETF include “Special Risk Considerations of Investing in Latin America,” with additional mentions about the risks of investing in real estate and construction. The list for the regional market-cap ETF includes a comparatively lengthy section on the risks of investing in Brazil, and also mentions the risks of investing in small-cap and micro-cap stocks.

There is no mention of fees or where the ETFs will list.

Read the filing here.

OTHER NEWS

WisdomTree Modifies Two ETFs To Exclude Financials

WisdomTree Investments is changing the investment strategy of two of its dividend-focused exchange-traded funds so that they exclude exposure to the Financials sector.

Beginning in late April, the WisdomTree Dividend Top 100 (NYSE Arca: DTN) will be renamed the WisdomTree Dividend ex-Financials Fund; its international counterpart, the WisdomTree International Dividend Top 100 (NYSE Arca: DOO), will be renamed the WisdomTree International Dividend Ex-Financials Fund.

The funds will become the first dividend-focused ETFs to exclude Financials. A WisdomTree representative says there are quite a few dividend-focused ETFs on the market with significant exposure to Financials and that WisdomTree was looking to provide investors with a dividend-based choice that did not have Financials stocks. He added that he did not expect a significant impact on the funds' yields.

The Financials sector tends to be one of the higher-yielding sectors in the market, and dividend-focused ETFs tend to be overweight Financials. As of February 25, both DTN and DOO had large positions in the Financials: 23.18% for DTN and 39.10% for DOO. The funds will trade out of those positions by late April, replacing them with other high-yielding stocks. WisdomTree says that there will be no tax consequences, which is not surprising given that most Financial stocks are trading at multiyear lows.

The filing announcing the move is available here.

 

 

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