February 2012
1 post
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Declaration of ETFolution
“Growth for ETFs will be circumscribed by cutting and splicing the market as finely as possible,” says Morningstar’s Traulsen. “Firms will have to put out new funds and compete on price.”
The quote above is from an article I wrote in 2003 entitled “ETFs Turning Ten.” Nearly a decade (and billions in assets) later, most of the observations in that...
January 2012
3 posts
1 tag
Turning TRXT: The End of the Beginning? The...
The March 1 listing of the PIMCO Total Return Exchange Traded Fund will be a pivotal event for the mutual fund industry.
As the exchange-traded version of the $244 billion Total Return Fund starts trading, the industry will get see one of its flagship actively-managed funds price throughout the day. Yet the new ETF’s ability to build assets over time will be the true test of the structure...
2 tags
Tax Issues and ETFs
My latest (last?) story at WSJ is a primer on the tax issues affecting ETFs. For the most part, they are straight forward. Equity ETFs are as efficient (or slightly more so) than equity-indexed mutual funds.
Bond ETFs, especially with cash create/redeem during a year of rising bond prices, had some capital gains to distribute.
IndexUniverse put out two compendia on ETFs and taxes late last year....
1 tag
ETFidelity
In early December, Fidelity Investments went “state of the art” in updating its exchange-traded fund application, according to one of my sources.
While I detailted in my story at The Wall Street Journal that filing is very preliminary (as was pointed out in Index Universe in early December and Barron’s more recently), there is no reason to think that Fidelity can’t take...
December 2011
1 post
1 tag
ETF Tools for ETF Tools
My latest story at SmartMoney.com, How to Sift Through All Those ETFs, sheds light on some new and interesting tools for ETF investors, or any investor. While I didn’t approach portfolio theory and risk profiles, these tools can constitute a good second step for adding ETFs to your investments.
The ETF market has grown significantly this year, some might even say to its own detriment, but...
November 2011
1 post
ETFs Running out of Levers
My latest stories on exchange-traded funds are both about the competition brewing among ETF firms to gather assets.
The first highlights strategy-based or factor ETFs being launched by several firms to mimic stock-picking methodologies. Many of these are new and untested. The second recaps a recent fee tussle between StateStreet and PowerShares over a collection of financial indexes.
The current...
October 2011
1 post
To Which Wall St. Responds
I already gave you index funds, penny increments and ARMs. What more do you want, proxy access? Sorry about that.
September 2011
2 posts
1 tag
Understanding My ETF Coverage
Following on my coverage of ETFs for The Wall Street Journal’s monthly “Investing in Funds,” I’ve been writing every few weeks at SmartMoney.com as well.
You can find my recent work stories at my author page.
Unlike the pieces I write for WSJ, the stories at SmartMoney are designed to be timely and actionable. The stories in WSJ are necessarily deeper and more about the...
August 2011
2 posts
1 tag
Where's My Money (Fund)?
Watching weekly money market fund flows at ICI, the mutual fund industry group, can be confusing. Too many variables go in to flows to actually divine something meaningful. But the past few weeks (and years) have started to bear out divergent issues.
Investors continue to dump prime and tax-exempt funds, on all levels, and move in to government funds. The why is all over the map: most funds are...
1 tag
ETFs Complex and Less So for Volatile Days
Watching the stock market’s spectacular drop this week, I took a look at FactorShares spread ETFs as well as a collection of long-term bond ETFs.
The first, a post on WSJ’s MarketBeat, jumps into the world of quadruple leverage. Factor Advisors launched a collection of commodity pools that offered a leveraged long position in one thing (you pick) and a leveraged short position in...
July 2011
1 post
ETFs On the Loan Again →
In my recent piece on securities lending in and around ETFs, I rolled through a lot of data on both how ETFs are lending out their portfolio securities, as well as how they themselves are being lent.
Check out this Marketbeat post and the original story.
To find out how your ETF or mutual fund is participating in securities lending, just take a look at the fund’s income statement in its...
June 2011
1 post
On Tickers and Marketing →
A quick post at WSJ on single-stock tickers and crazy ETF words!
May 2011
3 posts
1 tag
What did Dominique Strauss-Kahn use to get out of...
Bailout Greece.
Feel free to boo, hiss or add your own in the comments.
The Retirement Planner from SmartMoney →
We spent several months trying to improve upon a tool that is commonplace at most financial services and financial media sites. I think we have succeeded.
The key lesson for anyone testing this out is to learn from the tool and not try to use the tool to tell the future. Our tool does a fantastic job of detailing the degree to which minor saving or spending decisions in your life come out in the...
1 tag
Are ETFs Good or Bad for Brokers?
My story in today’s WSJ tries to get at a difficult point. Do brokers, and specifically discount brokers, owe it to themselves to protect their customer from themselves?
The proliferation of new ETF products - not just leveraged and inverse leveraged funds - have begun to make the world of ETFs look like open-end funds, closed-end funds and hedge funds all in one.
Several sources...
April 2011
4 posts
Active ETFs Flaunt Their Differences
I shot this before the PIMCO announcement - still relevant.
3 tags
The Other Side of Active ETFs: Follow the Money
PIMCO made a big splash in the small world of actively-managed exchange-traded funds by filing for an ETF version of its Total Return Fund.
As many have accurately noted, PIMCO’s filing makes a statement to the traditional mutual fund world that Bill Gross, who has $236 billion at his command, isn’t afraid to disclose the daily positions and valuations for thousands of assets.
Gross...
More Worthwhile Things to Shout About →
Matt Taibbi did a number on TALF. I’m still not sure why.
Remembering the Rams →
A piece I wrote about my decades as a Ram fan.
March 2011
2 posts
WatchMy first video at WSJDN.
“An earlier version of this article misspelled the last name of John A....”
– The New York Times
February 2011
2 posts
Swaps Complicate Risk for Funds →
You’ll hear more about this in the coming months. The market has self-corrected, but the regulators continue to move in.
“We’re convinced it’s going to happen,” says Kevin Ferry,...”
– CNBC via Yahoo
January 2011
3 posts
“Michael is good people.”
– Unequal Technologies CEO Rob Vito on Michael Vick. (I don’t agree or disagree, but I am pretty sure that there is only one Michael Vick.)
“Despite China’s desire to break out of reliance on US Treasuries, in particular,...”
– From the Financial Times on China’s reserves. There’s always the moon…and maybe Mars too.
Big Ben at Quarterback
Posted at The Baltimore Sun by Mike Caughlin
“Big Ben At Quarterback”
The outlook suddenly dimmed for the Pittsburgh eleven that day; The relentless Ravens lead by four, with two minutes left to play, When Mendenhall took a dive on first down, and on second Big Ben threw it away, A sickly silence fell upon the yellow towel wavers that day.
No one budged an inch from their seat. Not...
December 2010
3 posts
“They are taking two airplanes and smashing them together?”
– My daughter, after watching United CEO Jeff Smisek discuss combining Continental and United during the in-flight video.
September 2010
1 post
BancVue to Acquire Large Credit Card Portfolio... →
Interesting business shift for a company that had been mostly a service provider.
August 2010
1 post
July 2010
6 posts
1 tag
“It takes the auditors six months to count the bars.”
– From the FT’s Interview with Scott Powers, head of SSGA, on managing the SPDR Gold Trust. And then they must start again.
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FT: Spill costs to cut BP tax bill by $10bn
Here’s proof that reporters are running out of angles on the BP oil spill story.
The headline above and subsequent story by the FT, includes this quote:
The shortfall, representing a drop of more than a quarter in BP’s tax payments, is a particular concern for the British government attempting to cut the country’s budget deficit.
The consequence of diminished profits is undoubtedly...
1 tag
“Very truly, it is America’s greatest export.”
– WWE EVP Stephanie McMahon, as told to @kenli729 in the FT.
June 2010
4 posts
“The English said ‘thank you.’ The Mexicans, they just go with the head,” Blatter...”
– Sepp Blatter on his apology to England and Mexico.
Standard & Poor's Licenses S&P 500 to Vanguard →
How many years did it take to make this happen?
drank® Expands Internationally; Company Set to... →
Noted…
The Harrah's Foundation Underwrites the AARP... →
Fitting…
March 2010
2 posts
2 tags
WatchBailout!
Just caught this from March of last year.
This seems about right…even the kazoo.
2 tags
Are Glatt Kosher Investments Next?
An article in the FT today highlights “kosher investments” - which sound similar to Islamic finance - and are just another trend of investing along ethical, not financial guidelines.
Unfortunately, the article doesn’t offer any return information and only says that a total of $263 million has been put toward Halakhah investments.
Like green, Christian, Islamic or any other...
October 2009
6 posts
1 tag
4 tags
Don't Weep for the Rally
Gross and Grantham quarterly letters, presented without comment.
GMO1025
Bill Gross Nov 09 comment -
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Lessons from the Value Set
Originally published at FiLife.
Growth investors favor fast-growing, young companies which tend to be light on dividends and heavy on moon-shot products or disruptive technologies.
Value investors, introspective geeks of the investing world, are bargain hunters. They like to buy out-of-favor companies with consistent earnings.
Last week, value investors took center stage at the Value Investing...
2 tags
Who Will Protect Us from the CFPA?
President Barack Obama spent Friday afternoon stumping for the Consumer Financial Protection Agency.
The new regulating body, first proposed in June, would stand up for consumers in a broken world of financial regulation largely built on ensuring the safety of institutions and products.
The agency is for those “who signed contracts they didn’t always understand offered by lenders who didn’t always...
Sirius XM and Loose Options
Sirius XM, for its troubles and debt load, is supposedly working itself out of a ditch.
The stock, long a favorite of daytraders, has gone from an all-time low of $.05 to $.55 in just 8 months. That’s an 1100% return for the most meticulous timers. But just because the market likes to fling the company’s stock around doesn’t mean the company should do so.
A story in...
2 tags
The Wisdom of Twits
Always be wary of financial advice given for free.
Take this lesson to heart and then dig in to StockTwits, a start-up stock-talk site built on Twitter streams.
The site filters Twitter messages using stock ticker symbols (annotated: $IBM or $MCD) or general market commentary including a “$$.” In order for your posts to show up on the site, you must follow @stocktwits on Twitter.
To the...