Ross and Wiandt On ETFs

The U.S. News and World Report continues to explore the world of exchange-traded funds. It has an interview with State Street Global Advisors ETF guru James Ross in its most recent issue, and in a companion piece, some quotes from IndexUniverse.com publisher Jim Wiandt.

SSgA's Ross alludes to target date ETFs as being a big area for future ETF product development. Does that mean SSgA will be heating up the competition for iShares' new target dates soon? Ross also believes that the industry may be headed into a period of being gobbled up by bigger asset managers, and that active ETFs may never see the light of day. You can read the Ross interview here.

And for some IU.com-branded comments on ETF use by Wiandt, read the companion U.S. News and World Report piece here.

Inverse ETFs are the darling of the industry at a time when long-only strategies are suffering huge losses in market depreciation and investor assets.

TheStreet.com notes today that the Top 25 ETFs in performance this year are all inverse ETFs. Not surprising, but the article also includes some tips on how to effectively trade these risky inverse ETFs. You can read the story, at your own risk, here.

Winners & Losers

Investor's Business Daily markets reporter Trang Ho has a wrap on November ETF performance and ETF launches. It was not just a good month for inverse ETFs, as TheStreet.com article references, but a banner month for Treasuries and gold.

And IBD does not leave out the month's biggest ETFs dogs, though some think that these dogs are victims of the oversold markets and may be poised for a major comeback. You can read the November ETF analysis here.