ETFs

In the latest move in the ETF pricing war, BlackRock unveiled a series of cost-cutting initiatives aimed, almost directly, at rival Vanguard, which last week enacted some price-saving moves of its own.

The exchange-traded funds industry continues to boom, as assets under management topped a record $1.29 trillion as of the end of the third quarter of this year, according to the ETF Snapshot: September 2012, from State Street Global Advisors.

In spite of all the worries about investor sentiment amidst a sluggish recovery, assets in mutual funds and ETFs both hit record highs in August, with $8.8 trillion and $1.2 trillion, respectively., according to Cerulli.

The pursuit of double-digit returns means taking greater risks. Some ETF investors are making the move.

Exchange-traded funds added $22.36 billion in August, driving total ETF assets to $1.215 trillion.

Global X Funds, the New York-based provider of exchange-traded funds is liquidating four funds next month.

Schwab has lowered fees on all of its fifteen proprietary exchange-traded funds, Marie Chandoha, president, Charles Schwab Investment Management., said during a monthly media briefing Friday.

Fidelity Investments seems to be not-so-secretly building its long-awaited foray into the exchange-traded fund market out West, after hiring an executive and creating a new division in Denver.

Equity mutual fund investors pulled $1.3 billion from their accounts (their fifth straight week of outflows), while equity ETF investors made a U-turn from the previous week's withdrawal numbers and added a $12.1 billion to their accounts for the week ended Sept. 12.

ALPS Advisors this week revealed that it is teaming up with Goldman, Sachs & Co. to collaborate on exchange-traded products. ALPS will license Goldman Sachs' proprietary indices, which will be used as benchmarks to create exchange traded funds.

AdvisorShares is launching the STAR Global Buy-Write ETF (VEGA), which will begin trading on Sept. 18 on the NYSE's Archipelago Exchange.

ETF managed portfolios-those that typically have more than 50% of portfolio assets invested in ETFs-are one of the fastest-growing segments of the managed account sector, according to a newly released Morningstar report.

U.S. exchange-traded fund assets totaled $1.2 trillion as of August 31 - up 16.6% year-to-date, according to State Street Global Advisors' ETF Snapshot.

BlackRock is cutting fees for its large exchange-traded funds next quarter in response to pricing pressure from the Vanguard Group, Bloomberg reports.

Herb Morgan has a good barometer to tell how hot the market for exchange-traded funds is getting.

Global assets invested in exchange-traded funds and exchange-traded products eclipsed the $1.7 trillion threshold in August - an all-time high.

Global exchange-traded fund assets have increased by 13.9% from $1.35 trillion to $1.54 trillion year-to-date, through the end of July 2012.

Fixed income ETPs now account for 18% of global ETP assets, up from 7% in 2007 at the onset of the financial crisis, according to BlackRock. Bond ETPs garnered a 35% share of industry flows in the first seven months of 2012, according to a BlackRock report on the fixed income ETP landscape. …

After peaking at over $1,900 an ounce in August 2011, gold prices are now down around 12% from that apex. However, investors' demand for gold bullion ETFs has not dulled.

The inclusion of alternative ETFs in a portfolio provides a risk-adjusted benefit to investors, according to research from Lipper.