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MacroShares Alters Leverage On Home Prices ETFs
Written by IndexUniverse Staff   
Tuesday, 17 February 2009 15:03

Are more teeter-totter exchange-traded funds on the way?

If approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission, they'll certainly have a bit more juice.

MacroMarkets has submitted a revised prospectus for its request to the SEC to offer two new funds.  

Much like earlier versions of MacroShares that gave investors a different sort of way to play the oil markets, the new ETFs will have an "up" and a "down" version. That has commonly been referred to as a "teeter-totter" type of approach to investing.

This time, MacroShares is targeting U.S. home prices. (See related article here.)

"The major difference we're making in the amendments is that we've gone from having each fund provide two-times leverage to three-times leverage," said Sam Masucci, MacroMarkets' chief executive.

The changes also include shortening the terms on each fund from 10-years to five-years.

The new Macros will give investors their first chance to trade or hedge home prices using ETFs. The funds will provide both inverse and leveraged exposure to home prices:

  • The MacroShares Major Metro Housing Up (NYSE Arca: UMM) ETF will deliver three-times the return of the benchmark index.
  • The MacroShares Major Metro Housing Down (NYSE Arca: DMM) will deliver three-times the inverse return of the index.

A date for an auction has yet to be set, says Masucci. "We anticipate the auction to be sometime in April," he said. "But that's going to be dependent on the SEC's approval of our product."

The expense ratios for each ETF is expected to be 1.25% per year. The estimated price range for the securities is between $28 and $42 per share in the 10-day auction process, according to the new filings.

-- This article was submitted by IndexUniverse's Murray Coleman. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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