AllWorldETFs

DWA Minute with Tom Dorsey - 5/17/2013

2013-05-17T21:05:12+00:00

Tom Dorsey talks about the Dorsey, Wright Global Technical Leaders Portfolio that is now available on covestor.com. Individual investors can start investing in this model with a minimum of $5,000.

ETF News - 05/16/2013

2013-05-16T20:38:32+00:00

Vanguard intends to launch the Vanguard Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund [VWOB]. Currently, shares of the mutual fund related to the same strategy are in "subscription period" until the end of May, which is the time used to attract enough assets to build the portfolio. The benchmark for this strategy is the Barclays USD Emerging Markets Government RIC Capped Index, which is comprised of US-dollar denominated debt instruments from approximately 560 issuers. According to the company's Press Release the fund "is intended for investors who are seeking emerging markets government debt exposure and are willing to accept the higher risk of emerging markets bonds relative to the collective fixed income market. Vanguard suggests that only investors with well-diversified, balanced investment programs consider the fund for a portion of their overall holdings."The VWOB will charge and expense ratio of 0.35%.

WisdomTree recently filed with the SEC for permission to bring to market the Vident International Fund. The filing was sited as being "mysterious" and "opaque" in a recent article from IndexUniverse.com, which went on to explain, "the fund will invest in developed- and emerging-market equities via an index created by Vident Financial, there is precious little information in the filing. The filing is notable if only because WisdomTree's passively managed funds have up to this point only tracked in-house indexes. The fund will trade on the Nasdaq under the ticker [VIDI]. The filing did not include fees."

A recent article on ETFdb.com states that ArrowShares plans to launch a second ETF, after the success of their Arrow Dow Jones Global Yield ETF [GYLD], which celebrated its 1-year anniversary last week. The new ETF, Arrow Global Enhanced High Yield Bond ETF, stays consistent within the yield category. The article states that, "this proposed ETF will follow the Global Enhanced High Yield Bond Issuers Index, which is comprised of low to below investment grade corporate debt from around the world, denominated in U.S. dollars, euros, British Pounds, or Canadian dollars."

On Thursday, May 9th, PowerShares launched the Fundamental Emerging Markets Local Debt ETF [PFEM]. According to the fund's overview page, it is "based on the Citi RAFI Bonds Sovereign Emerging Markets Extended Local Currency Index (Index). The Fund generally will invest at least 80% of its total assets in the bonds issued by the national governments of emerging market countries that comprise the Index. The Index measures the potential return of a portfolio of bonds issued by the national governments of 18 emerging market countries, all in the respective local currency. To be included in the Index, countries must have a domestic sovereign debt rating of at least CC by Standard & Poor’s (S&P) and Ca by Moody’s Investors Service, Inc. (Moody’s). The Fund and the Index are reconstituted annually in October and rebalanced quarterly in January, April, July and October."

Dorsey Wright's Podcast 391 - Sector Rotation

2013-05-15T21:00:00+00:00

Jay Gragnani and Ben Jones - Sector Rotation

Dorsey Wright Relative Strength International Dividend Portfolio

2013-05-14T21:10:31+00:00

We have recently partnered with First Trust to bring to market Series 1 of the Relative Strength International Dividend UIT. Within this portfolio we employ relative strength to select stocks designed to be held over the fixed 15-month term of the trust. We'll briefly describe this product below, which is currently in deposit. Please feel free to contact First Trust with additional questions at 1 (800) 621-1675.

Description:

This portfolio is Dorsey, Wright's 3rd unit investment trust (UIT), and seeks above-average total return within International Equity investments through a combination of capital appreciation and dividend income. The goal is to construct a portfolio of high relative strength securities, while avoiding concentrations in individual emerging markets, or specific industry groups and sectors.

Portfolio Selection Process:

Our selection process begins from a universe of stocks of foreign companies that trade on a U.S. exchange (either directly, or through ADRs) and meet basic market capitalization and trading volume minimums. All of the securities are scored on several measures of relative strength, with much of the inventory being "cut" at this stage of the process. Each security must meet a minimum relative strength ranking score to be eligible for inclusion in the portfolio. The portfolio’s macro sector and country exposure is determined by a combination of current market weights, relative strength ranking and the highest dividend yield. We keep the top 50 international companies for the portfolio based on the combination of relative strength and dividend yield, from which point the stocks are equally-weighted within the portfolio. For more information on this new UIT offering, please contact , or link to the reference materials below:

Product Summary
Factsheet
Prospectus
Portfolio Holdings
Guide to UITs
Related Products: RS Top 50 UIT, US Relative Strength Dividend UIT

ETF News - 5/13/2013

2013-05-13T20:43:22+00:00

On April 26th, iShares filed paperwork with the SEC seeking permission to bring to market a passively managed ETF. The proposed iShares MSCI USA Quality Factor ETF will track the MSCI USA Index, which is composed of U.S. large and mid-capitalization stocks, and will select securities on variables that include: low financial leverage, high return on earnings and stable year-over year earnings growth. The filing did not include a ticker symbol or expense ratio.

Early last week, WisdomTree submitted three separate filings of regulatory paperwork in hopes of launching three emerging market based ETFs. Each fund will employ a passive investment strategy and select their funds based on either low volatility, consumer growth or dividend growth from 17 different emerging markets. No ticker symbols or expense ratios were provided. For further information on the proposed funds please visit their respective filings below.

On May 1st, Direxion launched two triple leveraged country based ETFs. The Direxion Daily Brazil Bear 3x Shares [BRZS] and the Direxion Daily South Korea Bear 3x Shares [KORZ] will both seek, "daily investment results of 300% of the inverse performance" of their respective indices which are the the MSCI Brazil 25/50 Index and the MSCI Korea 25/50 Index. Both funds have an expense ratio of 1.0%.

On May 9th, First Trust brought to market an actively managed ETF that focuses on below investment grade securities or senior loans. The First Trust Senior Loan Fund [FTSL] will seek, "to provide high income by investing primarily in a diversified portfolio of first lien senior floating rate bank loans." The fund has an expense ratio of 0.85%.

DWA Minute with Tom Dorsey - 5/10/2013

2013-05-10T20:54:45+00:00

Tom Dorsey takes a look at an electric car company that has so far this year produced a return of over 100%. That company is Tesla Motors (TSLA).

Practical Portfolio Application for Market Seasonality - Part 3

2013-05-10T20:45:30+00:00

As a contiuation of the PDPSPLV study we discussed earlier this week, today we are going to look at the volatility of this particular portfolio.

In addition to the outperformance the PDP/SPLV Seasonal Switching Strategy (PDPSPLVSEAS) has produced, it has done so with generally lower volatility (standard deviation) over time. On the chart below we have plotted monthly rolling 3 year standard deviation numbers for the five portfolios examined in yesterday's article. While the PDP has provided far superior returns to just the S&P 500 over time, it has done so with generally higher standard deviation, and for nearly the past seven years, PDP has constantly shown a higher standard deviation than the S&P 500. The PDP/SPLV Seasonal Switching Strategy, on the other hand, has provided superior returns to the S&P 500; however, has done so with generally lower standard deviation. The standard deviation of the PDP/SPLV Seasonal Switching Strategy currently shows a standard deviation of just 10.564 while the standard deviation of the S&P 500 remains north of 15 (15.279).

This same "seasonality" tilting can be applied to our other DWA Technical Leaders ETFs. PowerShares has low volatility products that cover: Emerging Markets (EELV), Developed International Markets (IDLV) and Small Cap (XSLV). All three of these can be matched up with the DWA Emerging Markets Tech Leaders (PIE), DWA Developed Markets Tech Leaders (PIZ), and the DWA Small Cap Tech Leaders (DWAS), respectively.

Practical Portfolio Application for Market Seasonality - Part 2

2013-05-09T20:47:55+00:00

Earlier this week, we presented you with a practical portfolio application that allows you to tilt your portfolio based on market seasonality. In particular, the two ETFs that we did a study on are the PowerShares Technical Leaders Portfolio (PDP) and the PowerShares S&P Low Volatility ETF (SPLV). To get to the first part of this study, click here.

The initial testing provided some rather impressive numbers, so we took it a step further. In the table below you will see a graph displaying the growth of $100,000 of five different investments (plotted on a logarithmic scale).

PDP/SPLV Seasonally Switching Strategy (PDPSPLVSEAS) - This portfolio is 70% PDP and 30% SPLV during the seasonally strong periods and switches to 30% PDP and 70% SPLV during the seasonally weak period.
S&P 500 (SPX)
PowerShares DWA Technical Leaders ETF (PDP)
50 / 50 PDP and SPLV (PDPSPLV) - This portfolio is 50% PDP and 50% SPLV, rebalanced at the end of every year.
PowerShares S&P Low Volatility ETF (SPLV)

The beginning date of this test is 4/30/97 and concludes 4/30/2013. Over this study period you will notice that a $100,000 investment in the PDP/SPLV Seasonality Portfolio (PDPSPLVSEAS) has grown to $584,294, which beats a 100% investment in either PDP or SPLV. Not only does this "seasonality portfolio" outperform either of the components, it has dramatically outpaced the S&P 500 (SPX), which has only grown to $199,362 over the same time. (As a sidebar, for those that want a completely "plug and play" approach that is still quite robust, the 50/50 PDPSPLV portfolio that always owns 50% PDP and 50% SPLV with only a yearly rebalance, has seen a $100,000 investment over the same time period grow to $458,779.)

Dorsey Wright's Podcast 390 - Watching the Big Picture

2013-05-08T21:00:00+00:00

Tammy DeRosier and Susan Morrison - Watching the Big Picture

Practical Portfolio Application for Market Seasonality

2013-05-07T20:41:38+00:00

"Sell in May and Go Away" is one of those old market adages that, over time, has shown some rather impressive validity. The idea of the adage is that the markets tend to be weak during the six month period from May through October is something that hits close to home for investors, given that we have just turned the calendar to the month of May. As we look back over the past couple of years, we find that May has ushered in some choppy, if not sloppy market behavior. For example, in 2012 the market (as measured by the S&P 500 (SPX)) peaked in April and the slid roughly -10.6% by early June, pushed higher in the later Summer months, only to experience an -8% starting in October. Point being, the "weak period" in 2012 was filled with periods of "fits and starts." And we all remember 2011, as it truly tested investor's mettle, as the SPX dove -21% from its peak in May to its October bottom. Tack this on to 2010 in which the markets experienced the "flash crash" in May, and it's not surprising that recent memories of the markets from May through October have left a bad taste in investors mouths. This is not to say that all May through October time periods result in major corrections or seismic market events, but it is a period of time that the market has not historically made great strides.

So as we hit May and the beginning of the historically "seasonally "weak" period for Equities, now is the time to think about positioning your portfolios accordingly. "Tilting" seasonally, using a combination of low-volatility and Technical Leaders ETFs, is a powerful way to do that. With that said, we wanted to spend some time discussing a concept that we introduced last year, and that is the combination of the PDP and SPLV, rebalanced biannually based on market

While the allure of coming to work twice a year to buy the market the first of November and then sell the market the first of May might conjure up dreams of sitting on a tropical island for the other 363 days, the practical application of such a strategy leaves a bit to be desired. Therefore, today we wanted to present you with a practical portfolio application that you could utilize as a part of your overall equity exposure through the seasonally strong six month period as well as the seasonally weak.

The backdrop for our strategy all lies in the historical bias that having exposure to the market during the seasonally strong six months is a good thing, and having exposure to the market during the seasonally weak period has caused more headache than actual return. Also, the idea of being completely out of the market for an entire six months every single year is not likely to get you excited, let alone being prudent from a compliance standpoint. With that said, we want to generally have an overweighted position to the strongest areas of the market during the seasonally strong period, and an overweighted exposure to the more defensive, lower volatility names during the seasonally weak period. Therefore, in our study we tested a portfolio that owned both the PowerShares DWA Technical Leaders Index [PDP] along with the PowerShares S&P Low Volatility ETF [SPLV]. During the seasonally strong six months (Nov 1- Apr 30) our portfolio would be 70% PDP and 30% SPLV and during the seasonally weak six months our portfolio would be 30% PDP and 70% SPLV.

As you can see in the table below, the SPLV has generally provided greater returns during the seasonally weak six months (cumulative of 23.83% since 4/30/1997) than the PDP (-10.97%). However, the SPLV has notably lagged the return of the PDP during the seasonally strong six months, up 113.82% compared to 555.10%, respectively. Therefore, a 30% PDP/70% SPLV split during the seasonally weak six months has seen a cumulative return of 16.01%, while a 70% PDP/30% SPLV split during the seasonally strong six months has seen a return of 403.66%.

PIE: "Ticker of the Week"

2013-05-06T21:30:48+00:00

Last Friday, May 3rd, the PowerShares DWA Emerging Markets Technical Leaders Portfolio (PIE) was featured on Bloomberg TV as "ticker of the week." The image below illustrates the sector and country breakdown, which was also mentioned in the video. To view the video, click here.

ETF News - 05/03/2013

2013-05-03T20:07:58+00:00

On April 18th, Van Eck submitted two filings with the SEC seeking permission to self-index two of their frontier market ETFs. According to the filings, the ETFs that will be affected are the Market Vectors Africa ETF [AFK] and the Market Vectors Gulf States Index ETF [MES]. Changes in the expense ratios or ticker symbols for either fund were not mentioned in the filing.

On April 25th, iShares announced in a filing to the SEC that it plans to close and liquidate the actively managed iShares Diversified Alternatives Trust [ALT]. In addition to the filing, iShares also released a letter to shareholders that states the closure of this exchange traded fund was, "based on a variety of factors including: Client feedback on limited application in investment portfolios and a lack of long term demand for ALT." The fund will halt trading on May 29th and the liquidation process will being on approximately June 4th, 2013.

Late last week, Vanguard announced in a press release that they will be lowering the expense ratios on various ETFs and Mutual Funds. In addition to the ETFs mentioned in the April 17th ETF Spotlight Vanguard has added the Vanguard MSCI EAFE ETF [VEA] to the list as its expense ratio will be lowered from 0.12% to 0.10%.

Multi-Asset Class High Yield

2013-05-02T21:17:33+00:00

Late last week and earlier this week, we have been discussing various yield ideas. Another interesting idea to consider within the yield space is an ETF from ArrowShares which is known as the Arrow Dow Jones Global Yield ETF [GYLD], which has an attractive dividend yield of 5.82%. The GYLD is an ETF that is designed to track the "Dow Jones Global Composite Yield Index", which "is a multi-asset class composite index comprised of equally weighted exposure across five global yield categories." Those five categories that are covered within the scope of the GYLD are Global Equity, Global Real Estate, Global Alternative, Global Corporate Debt, and Global Sovereign Debt, and each of the categories has a target weight of 20% and is designed to have 30 holdings within each category, for a total of 150 holdings within the ETF. According to ArrowShares:

"The Dow Jones Global Composite Yield Index sources its yield from equally weighted exposure to five sub-indexes. Three of the sub-indexes are equity-based and reflect dividend distributions. The equity index baskets provide global exposure to corporate stocks, real estate, and alternative assets through energy-related preferred stocks, Mater Limited Partnerships (MLPs), and Canadian Royalty Trusts (CRTs). The other two sub-indexes are comprised of global corporate and government fixed income securities and generate yield from the interest payments of the underlying bonds."

Below is an image of how this ETF is constructed. For more information, you can click here for the fact sheet.

Dorsey Wright's Podcast 389 - Tending to Your Financial Garden

2013-05-01T21:00:00+00:00

Tammy DeRosier and Susan Morrison - Tending to Your Financial Garden

Global Dividend Strategy

2013-04-29T20:43:38+00:00

Last Friday, we discussed the use of master limted partnerships as a means of providing dependable source of income. Today we will look at another strategy, which is the global dividend strategy.

As the name of the Global X Super Dividend ETF (SDIV) fund implies, SDIV offers a handsome dividend yield of 7.68%, and provides that dividend yield through exposure to both US and International Equities. According to Global X:

The Global X SuperDividend ETF tracks the performance of companies that rank among the highest dividend yielding equity securities in the world. By equal weighting across a diverse group of 100 securities, investors may have less exposure to single-company risk. The global scope of the index also provides investors with geographic and industry diversification. Filters are applied to eliminate companies that are most likely to cut their dividends, as determined by Structured Solutions AG. Furthermore, all companies are reviewed on a quarterly basis and can be removed from the index if they forecast a significant dividend cut. The Fund expects to pay monthly dividends."

The net result of the SDIV is a 100 stock ETF with roughly a quarter of the members hailing from the US and the rest of the exposure comes from outside the borders, primarily from Australia, UK, Canada, and Singapore, as shown in the pie graph below. If you look at the sector breakdown of SDIV, you'll see that currently Financial has the highest weighting of 36.6% while Utilities is the next one on the list, which comes in at 10.82%. To generate these pie charts, simply put in the ETF ticker on the top of the AllETF page, and on the information page, you will find the sector and country breakdown as well the underlying holdings.

Exploring MLPs

2013-04-26T20:49:11+00:00

According to the Investment Company Institute (ICI), while investors are perhaps not flocking to Equity Funds at unprecedented levels, the tide of asset hemorrhaging that had become commonplace over the past two years has quelled substantially. In 2012, for instance, ICI data showed net outflows of $153 billion from Equity-based Mutual funds. In contrast, Fixed Income funds had net inflows of more than $300 billion over the same time period despite vast underperformance. So far in 2013, however, the difference in new flow data is just $3 billion (favoring Fixed Income Funds), and Equity Funds have enjoyed three consecutive months of inflows for the first time in 2 years.

While the appetite for equities has unquestionably increased, this increase has not come primarily at the expense of Fixed Income assets yet. The "Total Bond" category for ICI's data has not experienced a month of net outflows since August 2011, and has only seen four such months in the past four years. In other words, as the risk appetite has grown, an apparent need for income and/or balance has remained. Demand for income may ebb and flow to a degree, but it is always present in some capacity within any diverse book of high net worth clients. So today one area we will explore is master limtied partnerships.

Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs)

Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs) are an area of the financial market that is generally considered to be a dependable source of income with a historically low correlation to equities, bonds, and just about everything in between. In addition to the high yielding characteristics of this space, this has generally been a low volatility way to participate in rising demand for aspects of the Natural Resource theme, as MLPs are often referred to as the "toll booth operators" of the Energy Infrastructure network. It is for these reasons that MLPs are often an attractive investment option for advisors, but historically they have been just as difficult in terms of the actual investment vehicles available. For starters, the MLP world has not been a particularly accessible area of the market for many investors. Not only do investments in MLPs generally mean dealing with a pile of K-1s each April (a function of their limited partnership structure), but the K-1s included the dreaded "UBTI" which makes the investments like oil to the proverbial water of qualified accounts. Long story, short, MLPs for many have been a very appealing concept with an equally daunting path toward implementation for many investors.

In this case the structure of an ETN or ETF adds a particularly attractive and uncommon element for investors by actually removing the K-1 part of the equation. Neither MLP ETFs or ETNs generate a K-1 as the fund itself is not a partnership and does not hold futures contracts, but yet still provides the diversification of multiple income streams through the various MLPs held within the fund. Income from the exchange traded product is taxable as ordinary income for many of the products, and distributed as qualified income in others. The Alerian MLP ETF [AMLP] was the first to offer a structure that establishes a qualified income stream, the fund is effectively incorporated on its own, and in this manner handles the income distribution from the individual MLPs and the tax treatment that comes with it. The end result for the investor in AMLP is a "qualified" dividend stream and a product that can be used to access the MLP asset class within a broad array of accounts (including most IRAs and 401ks). There are other MLP products out there, and for some situations they may make more sense depending on tax brackets and what not, but AMLP is certainly one that has an appealing structure for many advisors looking to employ MLPs as a component to yield strategies.

Additionally, AMLP offers a dividend yield of 5.7%, and the fund has hit a new all-time high in each month of 2013 thus far. There are several other MLP ETFs and ETNs available today. You can use the www.AllETF.com search string of "MLP" for a complete list of the 15 MLP-related ETPs listed in the US. For more information specifically on the Alerian MLP ETF: Click here

ETF News - 04/25/2013

2013-04-25T19:59:56+00:00

Early last week, Deutsche Bank announced that it will be resuming creations on 26 ETNs that had previously been suspended in March due to a delay in paperwork according to IndexUniverse. For a full list of the ETNs affected please visit the article published on Index Universe on April 16th.

On April 16th, State Street filed paperwork with the SEC seeking permission to bring to market a passively managed ETF. The proposed SPDR Russell 2000 ETF [TWOK] will employ a sampling strategy that attempts to hold securities that will generally have the same risk and return characteristics as the Russell 2000. In addition to the aforementioned proposal the filing also references a request to make changes to three existing funds. The funds and their changes are:

The SPDR Dow Jones Mid Cap ETF[EMM] would become the SPDR Russell Small Cap Completeness ETF [RSCO].
The SPDR Dow Jones Large Cap ETF[ELR] would become the SPDR Russell 1000 ETF [ONEK].
The SPDR Dow Jones Total Market ETF[EMM] would become the SPDR Russell 3000 ETF [THRK].

As mentioned in the Oct. 3rd ETF Spotlight, Vanguard replaced the indices of eight of their domestic based ETFs on Wednesday of last week. This ongoing change from MSCI indices to CRSP alternatives is an ongoing attempt to reduce expenses and will continue as these current changes only tally eight of the total 16 domestic ETFs up for replacement. Ticker symbols and expense ratios remain the same and the ETFs affected are as follows:

On April 18th, iShares brought to market three passively managed factor based ETFs and two actively managed equity based ETFs. The three factor based ETF's will track MSCI indexes and will choose securities based on either value, momentum or size from their respective indices. The factor based funds are the iShares MSCI USA Value Factor ETF [VLUE], the iShares MSCI USA Momentum Factor ETF [MTUM] and the iShares MSCI USA Size Factor ETF [SIZE]. The remaining equity based ETFs are the iShares Enhanced U.S. Small-Cap ETF [IESM] and the iShares Enhanced U.S. Large-Cap ETF [IELG].

The factor based funds have an expense ratio of 0.15% each, while IESM charges 0.35% and IELG charges 0.18%.

On Friday of last week, iShares also debuted a suite of "bond-like" ETFs. These newly added investment grade corporate bond ETFs will all expire on March 31st of their corresponding year and accomponied with a managment fee of 0.10%. The four target-date maturity fixed income ETFs and their ticker symbols are as follows:

The iShares 2016 Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF [IBCB]
The iShares 2018 Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF [IBCC]
The iShares 2020 Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF [IBCD]
The iShares 2023 Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF [IBCE]

Dorsey Wright's Podcast 388 - Put the Blinders On

2013-04-24T21:00:00+00:00

Tom Dorsey and Tammy DeRosier - Put the Blinders On

ETF News - 4/18/2013

2013-04-18T15:05:06+00:00

Early last week, Van Eck filed paperwork with the SEC seeking permission to bring to market a passively managed ETF with focus on Israel based companies. The proposed Market Vectors Israel ETF [ISRA] is, "intended to give investors a means of tracking the overall performance of publicly traded companies that are generally considered Israeli companies." The fund has an expense ratio of 0.59%.

On April 8th, Direxion entered registration with the SEC seeking permission to create eight triple-leveraged ETFs. The proposed funds will be created in bull and bear pairs and each pair focuses on a particular country. No expense ratios or ticker symbols were provided within the filing. The funds are as follows:

Last week, VelocityShares, which has strictly focused on ETNs in the past, launched its first three ETFs on Monday of last week. The newly available ETFs are, "designed to track the performance of depositary receipts of companies located in emerging markets." All three funds have an expense ratio of 0.65%. The funds are;

VelocityShares Russia Select Depositary Receipt ETF[RUDR]
VelocityShares Emerging Markets Depositary Receipt ETF [EMDR]
VelocityShares Emerging Asia Depositary Receipt ETF[ASDR]

Late last week, Vanguard announced in a press release that it will be changing the expense ratios for three of its ETFs, stating, "Vanguard has long been a low-cost leader, which can be attributed to our unique corporate structure and our relentless pursuit to operate more efficiently and productively." The ETFs effected are:

Dorsey Wright's Podcast 387 - Update on Gold

2013-04-17T21:00:00+00:00

Jay Gragnani and Ben Jones - Update On Gold

DWA Minute with Tom Dorsey - 4/12/2013

2013-04-11T20:26:51+00:00

Tom Dorsey discussed the importance of following your indicators such as the bullish percent.

ETF News - 4/11/2013

2013-04-11T20:23:38+00:00

Late last month, USAA, which has provided financial services for military personnel and their families since 1922, filed paperwork with the SEC seeking permission to bring to market a family of actively managed ETFs. The filing references 14 initial funds as well as their investment objectives that includes exposure to equities, bonds, allocation strategies and precious metals offerings. No ticker symbols or expense ratios where provided for the proposed funds.

On April 1st, ALPS filed with the SEC seeking permission to create a passively managed ETF which will follow the familiar "Dogs of the Dow" investment strategy. The proposed ALPS International Sector Dividend Dogs ETF [IDOG] will apply the aforementioned strategy on a sector basis to, "five stocks in each of the ten Global Industry Classification Standard ("GICS") sectors which offer the highest dividend yield. The fund will have an expense ratio of 0.50%.

On April 2nd, ProShares filed paperwork with the SEC seeking permission to bring to market a Treasury Hedged ETF that will seek investment results similar to those of the Citi High Yield-Treasury Hedged Index. The proposed ProShares High Yield-Treasury Hedged ETF [HYHG] will consist of, "long positions in USD-denominated high yield corporate bonds and short positions in U.S. Treasury notes in aggregate, equivalent duration to the high yield bonds." The fund will have an expense ratio of 0.50%.

Late last week, State Street launched the first actively managed bank-loan ETF. The SPDR Blackstone/GSO Senior Loan ETF[SRLN] will invest at least 80% of its net assets in Senior Loans that are "made predominantly to businesses operating in North America, but may also invest in Senior Loans made to businesses operating outside of North America." The fund has an expense ratio of 0.90%.

Dorsey Wright's Podcast 386 - A Market Update: Does It Look Like 2003 or 2008?

2013-04-10T21:00:00+00:00

Tammy DeRosier and Susan Morrison - A Market Update: Does It Look Like 2003 or 2008?

Commodities in Q1 of 2013

2013-04-09T20:46:54+00:00

The first quarter has come to a close, and with that we do our customary look-back at how the quarter fared. All told with respect to Commodities, we have started off 2013 with mediocre performance, as measured by the broad commodity indexes; this basically builds upon a mediocre 2012, and what was a lackluster performance in the 4th quarter of 2012. In other words, it was yet another quarter of exemplary performance by Domestic Equities, with all other asset classes pale in comparison.

Before reviewing individual commodity performance, let's first recap the performance of the broad commodity indexes. The best of the bunch was the S&P GSCI Index [GN/Y] which gained a slight +1.24%. The remaining indexes all edged just slightly lower, down roughly a half to 1%, including: the Continuous Commodity Index [UV/Y], down -0.53%, Dow Jones UBS Commodity Index [DJAIG], which lost -1.15%, and Deutsche Bank Liquid Commodity Index [DBLCIX], which fell -1.18%.

When you look more closely at the performance of the individual commodities, we see there was quite a dispersion between the best and the worst commodity, even for just a three month period. For the first quarter of 2013, the difference ran at roughly 32%, with the best performance coming from Natural Gas [NG/] which was up +19.75%, while the worst performance was recorded by Wheat [ZW/], which lost -11.60%. What is interesting is that Wheat had been the second-worst performer last quarter, and merely built upon that negative action over the past three months. The other big winners for the quarter were: Cotton [CT/], Orange Juice [OJ/], Gasoline [UJ/], and Palladium [PA/Y]. In all, ten commodities finished in the black, while 16 ended in negative territory, with the other laggards being: Feeder Cattle [FC/], Sugar [SB/], Aluminum [GYO/Y], and Copper [HG/]. The ever-important Crude Oil [CL/] scratched out a decent performance for the quarter, gaining +6.00%, and this of course helped the energy-laden S&P GSCI Index finish in positive territory, as outlined above. Gold, the other closely-watched commodity, struggled at best throughout the quarter, and finished near the bottom of the list, down -4.67% for Q1. And by and large, the Precious Metals and Base Metals were a notable area of weakness within the commodity landscape.

In turning our attention to the Commodity ETFs and ETNs, we see a similar story as to that above, not surprisingly. For the 1st quarter, the iPath DJ-UBS Cotton ETN [BAL] was the top dog, gaining +16.16%, with the United States Natural Gas Fund [UNG] right on its heels with a gain of +15.77%. Other notable winners include Palladium [PALL] and Energy [JJE]. Conversely, the losers were the iPath DJ-UBS Sugar ETN [SGG], which fell -10.60%, followed by the PowerShares Base Metals [DBB], which dropped -9.02%. Coffee [JO], Corn [CORN], and Copper [JJC] were the other notable losers.

Currency ETFs in Q1 of 2013

2013-04-08T20:30:19+00:00

The dispersion within the Currency asset class could be summed up with two trades last quarter: US Dollar up and Japanese Yen down. The two best performing ETFs within this space implement one of these two strategies. The PowerShares DB G10 Currency Harvest Fund [DBV] was up 4.21%, and the PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish Fund [UUP] was up 3.62%. As you can likely deduce, the biggest "loser" within this asset class out of the funds we measured was the CurrencyShares Japanese Yen Trust [FXY], as it was down nearly 8% during what became a historic period for that currency over these past three months. Weakness across Foreign Currencies creates strength in US Dollars, and vice versa, but Q1 was clearly a case of a stable US Dollar remaining so, and a negative trending Foreign Currency market continuing in its given direction as well.