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NEW LISTINGS

There have been no new listings since the last publication of ETF Watch.

NEW FILINGS

Claymore Files For CEF-To-ETF Conversion

Claymore Advisors is looking to convert the Claymore/Raymond James SB-1 Equity Fund (NYSE: RYJ), which is a closed-end fund, into an exchange-traded fund—on May 12, RYJ's board of trustees gave preliminary approval to the idea.

This isn't necessarily as radical a step as it sounds—it's actually what RYJ was designed to do. The fund has a clause that says that after 18 months of trading, if it should trade at a discount of 10% or more for more than 75 consecutive days, it will convert from a CEF to an ETF. The crinkle in all this comes in with the 75 consecutive days—while the fund has been trading at a 52-week average discount of 10.15%, it sporadically dips slightly below the 10% threshold, meaning that the 75-day period must begin all over again before the conversion can be triggered. So the board took the step of putting the conversion into effect out of concern that the trigger was not being initiated, even though the discount was usually well over the 10% threshold.

What remains is getting shareholder approval and—should that be achieved—engineering the transformation. The matter will be put to a shareholder vote during the fund's annual shareholder meeting on or before August 29.

RYJ's stated goal is capital appreciation, which it seeks to achieve by investing in equities rated SB-1, or "Strong Buy 1," by equity analyst firm Raymond James & Associates. The portfolio is currently weighted most heavily toward Information Technology (24.40%), Energy (18.30%), Consumer Discretionary (17.40%) and Health Care (13.80%). Its share price is up about 7%, year-to-date.

Should the conversion be completed, the restructured fund would track an equal-dollar-weighted index comprised of SB-1-rated companies.

The Claymore/Raymond James SB-1 Equity ETF is expected to charge an expense ratio of 0.75%.

The filing for the proposed ETF is available here.

PowerShares Tries To Steal First Trust’s… Wind?

PowerShares recently filed for a wind energy ETF, just days after First Trust Advisors made a similar filing (see ETF Watch: May 23 – May 29). ETFs capturing segments of the alternative energy market have been proliferating lately – just recently two solar energy ETFs from Claymore and Van Eck launched within days of each other.

The PowerShares Global Wind Energy Portfolio will track an index calculated by NASDAQ OMX Group. The index is weighted by modified market capitalization and will be rebalanced semi-annually.

Components must have a minimum float-adjusted market capitalization of $200 million. The fund is expected to launch on the NASDAQ exchange.

Read the prospectus for the ETF here.

Note: These numbers refer only to U.S. ETFs and ETNs. Data as of May 30, 2008, from the American Stock Exchange, unless otherwise noted.

Pure Numbers
Total number of ETFs listed in the U.S.: 696
Total number of ETNs listed in the U.S.: 68
Total ETF assets: $613 billion
Total number of ETFs and ETNs in registration: 473

ETFs Filed – By Fund Company

There are currently approximately 464 ETFs and ETNs with prospectuses filed at the SEC.

You can click on any fund and link directly to the prospectus.