• BGI launches two emerging markets iShares
• U.S. Commodity Fund files for 12-month natural gas fund
• ProShares filing covers triple exposure ETFs tied to S&P 500

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iShares Rolls Out Emerging Markets Infrastructure ETF

Barclays Global Investors launched a new emerging markets infrastructure exchange-traded fund on June 19. The iShares S&P Emerging Markets Infrastructure Index Fund (NASDAQ: EMIF) holds a portfolio of 30 large-cap emerging market infrastructure companies focused in markets like China, Brazil and Argentina.

The fund goes head-to-head with the PowerShares Emerging Markets Infrastructure Portfolio (NYSE Arca: PXR), which launched in October of this year and currently has $45.5 million in assets under management. Both funds charge management fees of 0.75%.

EMIF and PXR differ markedly in how they approach the market. EMIF breaks the emerging markets infrastructure field down into three subsectors—transportation, energy and utilities—that it resets to 20%, 40% and 40% weightings respectively at each semiannual rebalance. Meanwhile, PXR holds a broader portfolio of 60 names that it selects from seven categories. EMIF’s components are selected for size and liquidity; PXR’s holdings are from across the size spectrum.

Read the original IU.com article here.

Read the prospectus here.

iShares Debuts First Peru Fund

BGI launched the iShares MSCI All Peru Capped Index (NYSE Arca: EPU) on June 21. A similar fund is also expected from new ETF provider Global X Management Co. soon.

According to a BGI statement, Peru is Latin America's fastest-growing economy, with a gross domestic product growth rate of more than 9% last year. The firm added that in May, emerging markets net inflow of $14.9 billion into ETFs included some $6 billion from ETF investors.

EPU tracks an MSCI index holding the top 25 Peruvian stocks by free-float adjusted market cap sizes. It comes with an expense ratio of 0.63%.

Read the original IU.com article here.

Read the prospectus here.

NEW FILINGS

USL Creator Files For 12-Month Natural Gas Fund

United States Commodity Funds LLC—formerly Victoria Bay Asset Management—is seeking approval for a “12-month” commodities fund for natural gas. The firm already runs the U.S. 12-Month Oil Fund (NYSE Arca: USL).

The proposed fund would invest in futures contracts that promise delivery of natural gas to Louisiana’s Henry Hub. As with USL, the most recent filing indicates that the fund generally will hold a complete basket of the next 12 months’ futures contracts (as opposed to UNG, which simply holds the upcoming month).

The investment purpose of such a strategy is to protect against contango, which occurs when the cost of a near-month contract is cheaper than a far-month contract. That means every time an investor (or a fund in this case) has to roll forward a month, they take a hit.

The proposed fund will trade on the NYSE Arca and carry an expense ratio of 0.60%, according to the filing.

Read the original IU.com article here.

Read the filing here.

ProShares Filing Covers Triple Leveraged Funds

The world's more recognized investable blue-chip index could be getting triple-leverage coverage for the first time.

ProShares has filed to launch an exchange-traded fund seeking to provide 300% of the daily returns of the S&P 500 index. It's also requesting approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission for a new ETF that would give investors 300% short exposure of the index.

Earlier this year, ProShares filed to offer 3x leverage with 94 new ETFs. But in that April filing, no mention was made of the S&P 500. The launch of such funds would put ProShares in direct competition with Direxion, a relative newcomer to ETFs—and one that has seen strong success with its lineup of triple exposure ETFs.

The ProShares UltraPro S&P 500 (NYSE Arca: UPRO) and the ProShares UltraPro Short S&P 500 (NYSE Arca: SPXU) would have expense ratios of 0.95%.

Read the original IU.com article here.

Read the filing here.

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