ETF Watch: December 21 – December 24
By Heather Bell | December 28, 2009

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Here are some of last week’s highlights:

Claymore plans ETFs tied to Wilshire indexes
Goldman Sachs files with SEC for exemptive relief
MacroMarkets announces liquidation of housing MacroShares

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NEW LISTINGS

No exchange-traded products were listed during the time period covered.

NEW FILINGS

New Claymore Filing Covers Wilshire Indexes

Claymore, a company known for providing interesting “satellite” ETFs, is making a play for the core section of the market with its most recent filing. The four funds would cover the Wilshire 5000 Total Market Index, the Wilshire 4500 Completion Index (which excludes the components of the S&P 500), the Wilshire US REIT Index and the Wilshire 5000 Equal-Weighted Index.

However, among the four ETFs, the equal-weighted fund is likely to attract the most buzz. While similar equal-weighted ETFs exist, an equal-weighted Wilshire 5000 ETF would be unique in that it would significantly skew the portfolio to small- and mid-cap names. As of Nov. 30, 2009, Claymore had $1.7 billion in assets under management.

Read the original IU.com article here.

Read the SEC filing here.

Goldman Sachs To Enter ETF Arena

Goldman Sachs filed papers with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Dec. 24, paving the way for the investment banking giant to begin offering its own ETFs. The so-called 40-APP filing asks for broad relief from the SEC to launch a variety of funds, including equity, fixed-income and blended portfolios. The filing only mentions index-based ETFs—not actively managed ones. While the filing does not detail any specific funds, it seems likely that investors can expect the first Goldman Sachs ETFs to appear sometime in 2010.

Read the original IU.com article here.

Read the SEC filing here.

OTHER NEWS

MacroShares To Terminate

MacroMarkets LLC announced on Dec. 21 that the MacroShares Major Metro Housing Up (NYSEArca: UMM) and MacroShares Major Metro Housing Down (NYSEArca: DMM) will cease trading on Dec. 28, 2009. Shareholders of record on Dec. 28 will receive cash payments equal to the full net asset value of the trusts, minus expenses.

MacroMarkets said that the trusts are being liquidated because they failed to accrue at least $50 million in assets under management. Launched in June, the trusts had a combined $20.8 million in assets as of Dec. 22, 2009. UMM and DMM are the third pair of MacroMarkets trusts to terminate; previously two pairs of trusts tied to oil prices were liquidated—one due to insufficient assets and the other when too many assets shifted into the “up” trust and out of the “down” trust due to rising oil prices.

Read the original IU.com article here.