ETFs

Faithshares is getting out of the Christian values exchange-traded fund business, confirming this week it will shutter its last remaining religious values-based ETF, the Christian Values Fund ETF (FOC), sometime next month.

BlackRock said Thursday it is moving the production of its research on exchange-traded funds to a new unit and the long-timer producer of its "ETF Landscape" reports will be leaving the company.

BlackRock plans to get active in active ETFs, its chairman and chief executive said this week.

A flood of new exchange-traded funds are enticing many investors to move out of mutual funds and into these chic funds despite their relatively scant -- if not nonexistent -- track records. But one S&P analyst said that shouldn't stop investors from hoping on the ETF bandwagon.

As the exchange-traded funds industry continues to evolve, marketing campaigns to support its growth must become far more complex and richer, according to a report from Financial Research Corp., “ETF Trends: Insider Insights on Distribution, Portfolio Construction, Risk & Regulation.”

Assets in exchange-traded funds in the U.S. will double to $2 trillion by 2015, according to a new report from BNY Mellon and Strategic Insight. Non-traditional investment strategies, which currently comprise 30% of ETF assets, will drive most of this growth, the two companies said.

ProShares has launched the ProShares Hedge Replication ETF, benchmarked against Merrill Lynch’s hedge fund replication model.

Charles Schwab is a bit late to the party with its new U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF -- but the company may use its brokerage platform to help even the playing field.

For years, PIMCO’s taxable bond Total Return Fund (PTTRX) has been a top-performer in its class, with five-star ratings from both Morningstar and S&P, five-year annualized trailing returns of 8.9%, and a manager, William Gross, widely respected as among one of the top in industry.

The Rye Brook, N.Y. developer of index-based commodity and liquid alternative investment products, this week unveiled a new exchange-traded fund designed for investors looking for even more exposure to emerging markets.

Unless high-speed professional trading somehow leads to more Flash Crashes and everybody decides they need complete liquidity on all investments, how fast you can get in and out of these funds should not matter much.

Too many investors and even their financial advisors are not paying enough attention to “what’s under the hood” of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that have become so popular with investors in the past two or three years, according to S&P equity analyst Todd Rosenbluth.

After seeing assets flow out of ETFs in May -- the first time flows have reversed direction since August 2010 -- the ETF Industry saw a 1.4%, or $8 billion, decline in overall assets in June, according to State Street Global Advisors, which just released its latest Snapshot report tracking ETF funds.

After a strong start in the first four months of 2011, exchange-traded funds and mutual funds both saw cash flow out of products that invest long-term in stocks at the end of the second quarter.

Exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, have become increasingly popular among investors because they're more liquid and tax efficient than mutual funds and give them exposure to stocks, bonds and commodities they otherwise might not be able to access.

Assets in U.S.-listed exchange-traded funds and exchange-traded notes rose 39% from a year ago to $1.098 trillion at the end of June, up from nearly $788 billion at the end of June 2010, the National Stock Exchange said.

First Trust Advisors is planning to launch the First Trust ISE Cloud Computing exchange-traded fund on Nasdaq on Wednesday, which it says is the first ETF focused on cloud computing.

When it comes to trading, there are some considerations advisors can take into account to make their utilization of exchange-traded funds more efficient.

Understanding the Dynamics of ETF Liquidity, Pricing, and Trading

While France has devised a plan to roll over Greece’s debts and the Greek parliament -- in the face of a national strike and major protests -- just passed austerity measures requested by the European Union, these early signs that worst of the Greek debt crisis is over doesn't mean investors can relax and assume all is well.