Finance

The passively managed fund will be made available to qualified purchasers through family offices, RIAs and other institutions, a person familiar with the matter says.

Previously, criteria focused on an investor’s wealth. Now, a broader group has access to investments that include private company offerings and certain private equity funds.

More than half of these funds have fees higher than 75 basis points.

The saga lays bare the rough-and-tumble ways of distressed investing, where investors look to pull every lever in their favor.

Total fees for the top 10 gold ETFs, based on current prices and holdings, are about $610 million a year.

The ready-made strategies have been around for years, but in an era of fee wars and ETFs its popularity is exploding.

Market recovery has made the risk of missing out more pronounced this year, forcing many funds to position themselves towards historically bullish levels.

It’s the latest dramatic twist in the story of USO, which was at the center of the storm as crude prices plunged earlier this year.

Clients opened almost 1.2 million retail accounts, boosting flows to mutual funds and ETFs, the firm reports.

While stimulus talks have stalled, better-than-feared economic data and corporate earnings have instilled optimism that a recovery is taking shape.