ETF News Archive

Van Eck Launches India Small-Cap ETF

Van Eck has an introduced a new exchange traded fund that focuses on small-cap companies in India.

The Market Vectors India Small-Cap Index ETF (SCIF) tracks an index of 122 companies that generate the majority of revenue in India and have an average market cap of $456 million as of July 23, 2010.

A Van Eck executive stated that "small-cap stocks are an excellent way to gain direct exposure to a country’s domestic economy. India, in particular, has exhibited demographic and economic factors that support strong continued domestic growth for years to come."

The index uses a float-adjusted modified market capitalization-weighting methodology. The top three industry weightings in the Index as of July 31, 2010 were Industrials (27%), Financials (20%) and Materials (14%).

The new fund's net expense ratio is 0.85%. 

For more on Van Eck's exchange traded funds, see the list of Van Eck ETFs.

Claymore Closes 4 ETFs

Claymore plans to close four exchange traded funds that failed to attract enough investor interest.

The affected ETFs include:

Claymore/Zacks Dividend Rotation ETF (IRO)

Claymore/Zacks Country Rotation ETF (CRO)

Claymore/Beacon Global Exchanges, Brokers & Asset Managers Index ETF (EXB)

Claymore/Robb Report Global Luxury Index ETF (ROB)

Trading will halt on September 10, 2010 and any remaining shares will be exchanged for cash on September 17, 2010.

For more on Claymore's exchange traded funds, see the list of Claymore ETFs.

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Invesco PowerShares Lists International Corporate Bond Portfolio

Invesco PowerShares has listed an international corporate bond ETF.

The PowerShares International Corporate Bond Portfolio (PICB) is based on the S&P International Corporate Bond Index.

This Index measures the performance of investment-grade corporate bonds issued by non-U.S.

iShares Launches Poland ETF

iShares has launched an exchange traded fund that provides investors with exposure to Poland.

The MSCI Poland  Investable Market Index Fund (EPOL) tracks an index designed to measure the performance of the top 99% of equity securities listed on stock exchanges in Poland.

The top three sectors of the index are financials, energy and materials.

The expense ratio for the ETF is 0.65%

For more ETF investing choices, see the list of country ETFs.

International Corporate Bond ETF Starts Trading

State Street has launched the SPDR Barclays Capital International Corporate Bond ETF (IBND), an exchange traded fund designed to provide investors with cost efficient exposure to investment-grade corporate bonds outside of the US.

According to State Street, foreign debt issues account for more than 60 percent of the world’s bond supply and U.S.

Index IQ Launches Taiwan Small-Cap ETF

Adding to its portfolio of international small cap ETFs, IndexIQ recently launched a Taiwan fund.

The IQ Taiwan Small Cap ETF (TWON) tracks the overall performance of the small capitalization sector of publicly traded companies domiciled and primarily listed on an exchange in Taiwan.

The expense ratio for the ETF is 0.79%.

To be included in the Taiwan small cap index, companies must have a minimum average market capitalization of $150 million for the prior 90-day period; the average maximum capitalization must be equal to the bottom 15 percent ranking of companies in Taiwan.

Other international small-cap funds sponsored by IndexIQ include the IQ Canada Small Cap ETF (CNDA), IQ Australia Small Cap ETF (KROO) and IQ South Korea Small Cap ETF (SKOR)

Three Single Country Funds Start Trading

Three single country exchange traded funds that provide exposure to Ireland, Indonesia and the US recently started trading.

The iShares MSCI Ireland Capped Investable Market Index (EIRL) tracks an index that measures the performance of the top 99% of equity securities listed on stock exchanges in Ireland.

The iShares MSCI Indonesia Investalbe Market Index Fund (EIDO) provides investors with exposure to the fast growing economy of Indonesia.  The index measures the performance of equity securtieis in the top 99% of market capitalization of equities listed on stock exchanges in Indonesia.

The iShares MSCI USA Index Fund (EUSA) measure the performance of equity securities in the top 85% by market capitalization of equity securities listed on stock exchanges in the US.

Vanguard Introduces Commission-Free ETFs

Vanguard has joined Fidelity and Schwab in offering commission-free ETFs.

Vanguard brokerage clients may make commission-free transactions in Vanguard’s entire line-up of 46 low-cost ETFs. In addition, most Vanguard brokerage clients will pay $7 or $2 to trade stocks and non-Vanguard ETFs.

The same commissions will apply to transactions conducted on the firm's website or with the help of a Vanguard broker.

Vanguard offers 46 ETFs that seek to track an array of domestic and international stock benchmarks, as well as broad and discrete segments of the domestic bond market. The average expense ratio of Vanguard ETFs is 0.18%, compared with the industry average of 0.52%.

Vanguard is the industry leader in ETF net cash flow this year, with an estimated $11.7 billion through April 29, 2010, according to Bloomberg data. The firm’s ETF assets have more than doubled over the past year and now total more than $100 billion.

ProShares Adds International Ultra Funds

ProShares has added four leveraged international ETFs that complement existing short funds.

The new exchange traded funds provided leveraged exposure to Mexico Ultra MSCI Mexico Investable Market (UMX), Brazil Ultra MSCI Brazil (UBR), Asia Ultra MSCI Pacific Ex-Japan (UXJ) and Europe Ultra MSCI Europe (UPV).  The expense ratio for the new ETFs is 0.95%.

The complementary short funds include the UltraShort MSCI Mexico Investable Market (SMK), UltraShort MSCI Brazil (BZQ), UltraShort MSCI Pacific Ex-Japan (JPX) and UltraShort MSCI Europe (EPV)  

For more ETF in