ETF investors put some $43 billion in new money to work in February, according to our database tracking 1,546 ETFs with $2.7 trillion in AUM. Investors expressed a preference for higher risk areas like emerging markets and small cap stocks, but also hedged their bets by increasing short positions pretty much across the board. Among equity ETFs, overall short interest increased…
The ETF Analyzer, Sector SPDR Edition for March 2017 is ready for download. This monthly publication has succinct one-page reports on each of the 10 Select Sector SPDR ETFs in three easy-to-read sections: Investment Summary, Fundamentals, and Composition. It helps investors: Evaluate the funds based on investment merit using fundamental data and analysis Compare the Sector SPDRs with ease on…
Shares of Tesla Motors (TSLA) are down around 5% today after the company reported fourth quarter 2016 earnings that concerned Wall Street, given the firm’s rate of cash burn and the possibility for a fresh round of capital raising. There are 79 ETFs will exposure to TSLA, including three with double-digit weightings. Below are the top…
Guggenhiem offers a suite of 18 fixed income ETFs called BulletShares that offer investors a fixed portfolio of corporate bonds all maturing in the same year. Investors can choose either investment grade or high yield flavors, with maturities ranging from 2017 to 2026 (Table 1). At the end of each target year, when all bonds in…
ETFs have long been a favorite vehicle for short sellers, not only because they are easy to borrow—market makers can always create more shares when demand is sufficient—but also because they allow investors to easily express a negative view on a particular asset class or sector without taking on single-stock risk. But short interest in…
The ETF Analyzer, Sector SPDR Edition for February 2017 is ready for download. This monthly publication has succinct one-page reports on each of the 10 Select Sector SPDR ETFs in three easy-to-read sections: Investment Summary, Fundamentals, and Composition. It helps investors: Evaluate the funds based on investment merit using fundamental data and analysis Compare the Sector SPDRs with ease on…
Athletic apparel maker Under Armour Inc today reported Q4 2016 earnings results that missed Wall Street’s expectations, causing shares to plunge by about 25% as of this writing. The company also set disappointing guidance going forward and said that its CFO would resign for personal reasons. The tanking share prices affect not only investors who…
Over the weekend we initiated coverage of 39 new ETFs, totaling about $341 million in assets under management. Two thirds of them are classified as “Smart Beta” funds, while one third are traditional beta. One of the most significant may be the ALPS Dorsey Wright Sector Momentum ETF (SWIN), which will bring more some competition…
Market share gains by “Smart Beta” ETFs appear to have all but stalled last year. By our calculations, assets under management (AUM) grew by just one half of one percentage point to 28.8% of all equity ETFs, excluding leveraged and inverse funds. Back at the end of 2010, smart beta funds had a market share of 18.3% of AUM (Figure 1). Our…
It’s still early in reporting season, but early results indicate that Financials were likely the largest single contributor to S&P 500 earnings growth during the fourth quarter of 2016. With only about 10% of S&P 500 firms having reports results—and using consensus expectations for the remaining 90%—we calculate that overall index earnings likely grew by about…