Ultime notizie per SPDR S&P Capital Markets ETF (ARCA:KCE)

SPDR S&P Capital Markets ETF

Financial Services

Technology

Other

Consumer Cyclical

Healthcare

Communication Services

Consumer Defensive

Energy

Industrials

Real Estate

Utilities

Basic Materials

The fund generally invests substantially all, but at least 80%, of its total assets in the securities comprising the index. The index represents the capital markets segment of the S&P Total Market Index (S&P TMI) and tracks the performance of publicly traded companies that do business as broker-dealers, asset managers, trust and custody banks or exchanges.

Piper Sandler Companies

Lazard Inc Common Stock Usd.01

Jefferies Financial Group Inc.

Pjt Partners Inc

Moelis & Co

Carlyle Group Lp Mlp Usd1.0

Evercore Inc

Affiliated Managers Group Inc.

Tpg Inc

Hamilton Lane Inc

Equities

Large Cap

Hedge Funds

AIRR

Il noto miliardario ha aumentato le sue partecipazioni in due società chiave, dimostrando fiducia nel loro potenziale di crescita.

Strategie di investimento: 2 titoli su cui punta il miliardario Dan S. Loeb

KCE ELECTRONICS PUB ADR by KCE Electronics Pub Co Ltd.

KCE Electronics PCL

Billionaire&nbsp;Dan S. Loeb is the founder of Third Point and is renowned for his bold activist strategies that challenge the status quo and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.benzinga.com/top-stories/24/12/42619157/5-top-performing-stocks-in-dan-loebs-portfolio-cinemark-corpay-amazon-lead" rel="noreferrer noopener">drive&nbsp;transformation in global companies</a>.
In the fourth quarter of 2024, renowned hedge fund manager Loeb significantly increased stakes in several companies, including more than doubling Third Point&#8217;s holdings in Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/ICE#NYSE">ICE</a>) and CRH PLC (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/CRH#NYSE">CRH</a>), <a href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1040273/000108514624005927/xslForm13F_X02/infotable.xml">according </a>to quarterly 13F filings.
ICE: Intercontinental Exchange operates exchanges, including the New York Stock Exchange, and clearing houses that enable investment, capital raising, and risk management across various asset classes.
Read: <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/analyst-ratings/analyst-color/24/09/41073619/ices-resilient-business-model-and-technological-advancements-drive-an-outperform-ra" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ICE&#8217;s Resilient Business Model and Technological Advancements Drive an Outperform Rating &#8211; Here&#8217;s Why</a>
Loeb added 1.08 million shares in the third quarter at an average price of $148.77, bringing the <a href="https://hedgefollow.com/funds/Third+Point" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">total</a> to 2.08 million shares.
This represents a 108.5% increase in share count from Q2, with a total portfolio value of $334.93 million.
Third Point revealed<a href="https://www.benzinga.com/trading-ideas/movers/24/11/41997557/third-point-hedge-fund-buys-tesla-dumps-micron" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"> its stake in a 13F filing</a> in November. The stock has declined about 5.7% in the last month.
Meanwhile, the capital market sector, as measured by the SPDR S&amp;P Capital Markets ETF (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/KCE#NYSE">KCE</a>), has declined roughly by 4.29% in the last month.
In the third quarter, the company&#8217;s adjusted EPS of $1.55 was in line with the consensus expectations, while sales of $2.349 billion were slightly <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/pressreleases/24/10/b41649430/intercontinental-exchange-reports-strong-third-quarter-2024" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">below the $2.354 billion estimate</a>.
Also Read: <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/markets/equities/24/09/41001146/big-changes-at-building-products-company-crh-ceo-albert-manifold-set-to-retire-cfo-jim-mintern-g" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Big Changes At Building Products Company CRH: CEO Albert Manifold Set To Retire, CFO Jim Mintern Gears Up To Lead In 2025</a>
CRH: The company provides building materials solutions and has leadership positions in both North America and Europe.&nbsp;
Loeb added 1.40 million shares at an average price of $83.86 in the third quarter, raising the <a href="https://hedgefollow.com/stocks/CRH" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">total</a> count to 2.05 million shares.
This marks a 215.38% increase in share count, with a total value of $190.12 million.
CRH shares have dipped around 7.8% compared to First Trust RBA American Industrial Renaissance ETF&#8216;s (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/AIRR#NASDAQ">AIRR</a>) decline of 7.9% in the past month.
The company&#8217;s third-quarter results missed analyst consensus, with adjusted EPS of $1.97 coming below the consensus of $2.09 and sales of $10.515 billion falling short <a href="https://www.benzinga.com//node/41797347" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">of the street view of $10.56 billion</a>.
Read Next:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.benzinga.com//node/42688545" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bitcoin Investors Should Be Optimistic Ahead Of 2025: Here&#8217;s Why</a></li>
</ul>
Image created using artificial intelligence via Midjourney.

Billionaire Dan Loeb Doubles Down On These 2 Stocks

Vanguard got the ball rolling a while back by saying it would not charge commissions on anything but leveraged exchange traded funds. That was good news for investors and since Vanguard is a private company, there was no ensuing fallout for equity holders.
However, the ante got upped in a big way earlier this week when Charles Schwab (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/schw#NYSE">SCHW</a>) eliminated commissions on ETFs, options and stocks. <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/money/td-ameritrade-review/">TD Ameritrade</a> (NASDAQ: <a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/amtd#NASDAQ">AMTD</a>) followed suit, with <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/money/etrade-review/">E*Trade Financial</a> (NASDAQ: <a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/etfc#NASDAQ">ETFC</a>) joining the party on Wednesday.
For investors, savings are meaningful, but shares of the aforementioned brokers aren&#39;t reflecting that ebullience. As one example, shares of Charles Schwab are lower by nearly 13% just this week.
Here are some of the ETF&#39;s that are being pinched as Wall Street reassesses exactly how brokerage firms are going to generate profits going forward.
See Also: <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/money/free-stock-trading/">The Best Free Stock Trading Brokers</a>
<h3>iShares U.S. Broker-Dealers &amp; Securities Exchanges ETF (IAI)</h3>
The iShares U.S. Broker-Dealers &amp; Securities Exchanges ETF (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/iai#NYSE">IAI</a>) has been ground zero among ETFs when it comes to this week&#39;s carnage in brokerage stocks for the simple reason that among ETFs tracking the financial services sector, IAI has some of the largest exposure to discount brokers.
For example, IAI allocates over 8% of its combined weight to Schwab and E*Trade and those are two of the fund&#39;s top 10 holdings. The other issue for IAI is that it devotes over 17% of its weight to Goldman Sachs (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/gs#NYSE">GS</a>) and while that company&#39;s clientele differs from the Schwabs and E*Trades of the world, the stock is languishing, down almost 6% this week.
<h3>Invesco S&amp;P 500 Equal Weight Financials ETF (RYF)</h3>
As an equal-weight fund, the Invesco S&amp;P 500 Equal Weight Financials ETF (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/ryf#NYSE">RYF</a>) isn&#39;t excessively exposed to any one of its 67 holdings in particular, but the fund does allocate nearly a third of its weight to capital markets companies, meaning it has exposure to the &ldquo;everything for free&rdquo; theme permeating the brokerage business.
Schwab and E*Trade combine for less than 3% of RYF&#39;s weight, yet the fund is down more than 5% this week due in large part to its exposure to other brokerages and banks with brokerage exposure that may be forced into a no commission way of doing business.
That&#39;s one problem. Another is the slowing economy that could force the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates again, further depressing net interest margins for banks.
See Also: <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/analyst-ratings/analyst-color/19/10/14530239/zero-commissions-now-a-reality-wall-street-reacts-to-broker-commission-cuts">&#39;Zero Commissions Now A Reality&#39;: Wall Street Reacts To Broker Commission Cuts</a>
<h3>SPDR S&amp;P Capital Markets ETF (KCE)</h3>
Although the SPDR S&amp;P Capital Markets ETF (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/kce#NYSE">KCE</a>) is an equal-weight ETF and doesn&#39;t hold any of the aforementioned stocks among its top 10 components, the fund has been repudiated this week, tumbling 7.51%.
KCE devotes 45% of its weight to asset managers and custody banks and 31.67% to investment banks and brokers. KCE&#39;s brokerage exposure includes Schwab, Ameritrade and E*Trade as well as a stake in <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/money/interactive-brokers-review/">Interactive Brokers</a> (IEX: <a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/ibkr#IEX">IBKR</a>), a stock that has also been slammed this week.

Sector ETFs

Short Ideas

Trading Ideas

ETFs

AMTD

ETFC

iShares Dow Jones US Broker Dealers Index Fund

IBKR

Rydex ETF Trust Rydex S&P Equal Weight Financial ETF

SCHW

Brokers Free ETF Push Isn't Free For These Funds

Widely documented have been the struggles of the financial services sector this year. The Financial Select Sector SPDR (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/xlf#NYSE">XLF</a>), although that exchange traded fund has recently rallied, is off 1.6 percent year-to-date.

	Some other ETFs tracking parts of the second-largest sector weight in the S&amp;P 500 have lagged XLF in significant fashion. Blame Wall Street. Seriously, ETFs dedicated to brokerage houses and capital markets firms have lagged broader financial services ETFs like XLF in a big way this year.

	Just look at the iShares U.S. Broker-Dealers &amp; Securities Exchanges ETF (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/iai#NYSE">IAI</a>) and the SPDR S&amp;P Capital Markets ETF (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/kce#NYSE">KCE</a>). The average year-to-date loss for those ETFs is more than eight percent. In the essence of fairness, it should be noted that KCE and IAI are up 9.4 percent and 4.8 percent, respectively over the past 90 days.

	Adding to the near-term problems for U.S. bank stocks and ETFs like XLF is that when the sector climbed last year as investors were betting on the Federal Reserve raising interest rates, the group became expensive on valuation. Capital markets ETFs face Fed issues and some other problems.

	&ldquo;Volatile markets over the past several months subdued new debt and equity issuance and weighed on the performance of trading businesses, signaling a challenging start toward full-year results,&rdquo; said <a href="https://www.fitchratings.com/site/fitch-home/pressrelease?id=1003412">Fitch Ratings</a> in a recent note. &ldquo;Overall capital markets net revenue for the five US Global Trading and Universal Banks (GTUBs) down 22% in 1Q16 from the particularly strong prior-year quarter. However, overall capital markets net revenue rose 18% from the sequential quarter as the fourth quarter tends to be slower.&rdquo;

	As a cap-weighted ETF, IAI is more sensitive to negativity for capital markets firms because the fund is dominated by two stocks. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/gs#NYSE">GS</a>) and Morgan Stanley (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/ms#NYSE">MS</a>) combine for 20.6 percent of the ETF&#39;s weight.

	KCE is an equal-weight ETF where none of its 46 holdings command more than 3.1 percent of the fund&#39;s weight. Interestingly, KCE can be viewed as the ETF of the ETF industry as roughly a quarter of the ETF&#39;s holdings are either issuers or involved in the ETF industry in another capacity.

	&ldquo;More significantly, results from the Fixed Income Currencies and Commodities (FICC) businesses, which are the largest components of overall capital markets revenues, remained challenging, notably in the credit, mortgage and securitized products areas,&rdquo; adds Fitch. &ldquo;As a result, the US GTUBs continue to examine the amount of resources devoted to FICC given the level of fixed costs and the amount of capital that must be held in the business. There have been headcount reductions in FICC across all of the firms so far this year, and management teams have indicated that more could be forthcoming in the event that market conditions do not begin to improve more meaningfully.&rdquo;

	Disclosure: The author owns shares of XLF.

Intraday Update

Markets

Capital Markets ETFs Maybe Not Capital Ideas

ETF Outlook for Friday October 25, 2013

	PowerShares QQQ ETF (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/qqq#NYSE">QQQ</a>)

	The NASDAQ tracking ETF is poised to open higher today after some solid tech earnings after the bell Thrusday. Two tech bellwethers, Microsoft (NASDAQ: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/msft#NASDAQ">MSFT</a>)and Amazon.com (NASDAQ: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/amzn#NASDAQ">AMZN</a>) both surged higher in after hours yesterday after beating estimates and proving that technology is the place to be this earnings season.

	A close above $82.45 will but QQQ at the best level in over a decade and trigger a new breakout after consolidating for a week.

	Guggenheim Insider Sentiment ETF (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/nfo#NYSE">NFO</a>)

	Every investor wants to be an insider or “know what the insider knows." NFO does not invest based on information that is illegal or unethical, however their strategy is based on what the insiders (big money) are doing with their investments. Apparently that has been a good strategy to follow as NFO was up another 1.3 percent yesterday to close at a new all-time high.

	The ETF is now up 29.7 percent on the year and has consistently been able to outperform the major indices. Look for NFO to continue that track record as long as the market continues to run with the bulls.

	SPDR Consumer Discretionary ETF (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/xly#NYSE">XLY</a>)

	The economy is not doing well. The consumer is dead. That has been the theme on Wall Street for years, fortunately for investors the talking heads have been wrong. For proof all an investor has to do is look at the performance of XLY, up 29.7 percent this year and sitting at a new all-time high.

	The number two holding is AMZN and another company that reported strong earnings this week is also in the top ten, Ford Motor (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/f#NYSE">F</a>). Look for XLY to hit a new all-time high again today on the back of AMZN.

	SPDR S&amp;P Capital Markets ETF (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/kce#NYSE">KCE</a>)

	The financial stocks have done well recently with a specific portion of the sector breakout out yesterday. KCE is a little known ETF that invests in broker-dealers, asset managers, trust and custody banks and exchanges.

	The ETF is up 32 percent in 2013 and trading at the best level in five years. The top holdings are Waddell &amp; Reed Financial (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/wdr#NYSE">WDR</a>) and BlackRock (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/blk#NYSE">BLK</a>). Even though the ETF is at a multi-year high, there is still a lot of upside potential for the ETF if it were to ever attempt to retest the 2007 high.

Broad U.S. Equity ETFs

Specialty ETFs

Previews

Pre-Market Outlook

AMZN

MSFT

Select Sector SPDR-Consumer Discretionary

ETF Outlook for Friday October 25, 2013

Financial services ETFs have been stellar performers this year. An average year-to-date return of 19 percent for the Financial Select Sector SPDR (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/xlf#NYSE">XLF</a>) and the Vanguard Financials ETF (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/vfh#NYSE">VFH</a>) indicates as much.

	Add to that, it is not a stretch to say that this sector is one of the most covered by the financial press. Whether it is good news or bad news, investors are treated to ample coverage on companies such as Goldman Sachs (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/gs#NYSE">GS</a>) and Morgan Stanley (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/ms#NYSE">MS</a>). For those reasons, it is somewhat surprising that more attention is not paid to the sub-sector ETFs that are explicit plays on investment banks, brokerage houses and capital markets firms.

	There at least three such ETFs and that trio, which will be highlighted, barely has a combined $200 million in assets under management. Only one of those funds, the iShares U.S. Broker-Dealers ETF (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/iai#NYSE">IAI</a>), has over $100 million in AUM, and IAI only recently accomplished that feat.

	In other words, these are the type of the ETFs that critics love to hate. Let the haters hate because ignoring the following ETFs based on size, or lack thereof, <a href="http://www.benzinga.com/trading-ideas/long-ideas/12/10/2994238/ignoring-sub-100m-etfs-a-costly-idea">has proven quite costly</a>.

	iShares U.S. Broker-Dealers ETF 
	Starting with the group's largest member, let's have a look at the iShares U.S. Broker-Dealers ETF. As an aside, it appears as though money is continuing to flow into IAI as the ETF is up 1.2 percent today on volume that is more than double its daily average, a pretty nifty feat for a slow trading day such as the day after the Fourth of July.

	The 19 percent average year-to-date return offered by XLF and VFH is nice and should not be complained about. Well, if one does not know about IAI and the nearly 29 percent the ETF has returned this year then 19 percent is nice.

	IAI is home to 22 stocks with Goldman, Charles Schwab (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/schw#NYSE">SCHW</a>) and Morgan Stanley combining for over 20 percent of the fund's weight. In other words, this is not an ETF that suffers from liquidity problems and we know this because in the second quarter, IAI never traded at a premium or discount to its net asset value of more than 0.5 percent, <a href="http://tools.ishares.wallst.com/ishares/qc/old_us/research/tools/premiumDiscount.asp?symbol=IAI">according to iShares data</a>.

	Here's a tip: If you use an adviser or hedge fund manager that told you to stay away from IAI in January because the ETF was too small, fire that person right away.

	SPDR S&amp;P Capital Markets ETF (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/kce#NYSE">KCE</a>) 
	If IAI is too small for the critics, than what will they say about the SPDR S&amp;P Capital Markets ETF? KCE has just $68 million in AUM. There are differences between IAI and KCE, including the fact that the latter holds 51 stocks. KCE is also sort of an equal-weight play as none of its holdings garner more than a 3.3 percent weight.

	The overall breakdown with KCE 63 percent to asset managers and custodial banks and 37 percent to investment banks. KCE is up almost 15 percent year-to-date and features a tidy 3.4 percent dividend yield, <a href="https://www.spdrs.com/product/fund.seam?ticker=KCE">according to State Street data</a>.

	PowerShares KBW Capital Markets Portfolio (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/kbwc#NYSE">KBWC</a>) 
	If IAI is small and KCE is smaller, than the so-called experts would have certainly told investors to stay away from the diminutive PowerShares KBW Capital Markets Portfolio because KBWC has just $8.1 million in AUM.

	Surely, with just $8.1 million in AUM KBWC would qualify as illiquid, providing the aforementioned "experts" with plenty of valid reasons to keep investors away from the fund, right? Wrong. While data for the second quarter is not yet available, the previous four quarters worth of data show that on just one occasion did the mid-point of KBWC's bid/ask spread trade at a sort of noticeable discount or premium <a href="http://www.invescopowershares.com/products/overview.aspx?ticker=KBWC">to the ETFs underlying NAV</a>.

	State Street (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/stt#NYSE">STT</a>), Morgan Stanley and Goldman combine for 27 percent of KBWC's weight. KBWC is proof positive that ignoring some small ETFs due to perceived liquidity risks is a bad idea. The data indicate this ETF is sufficiently liquid. The returns show an ETF that is up more than 26 percent this year.

	For more on ETFs, click <a href="http://www.benzinga.com/etfs">here</a>.

Long Ideas

News

KBWC

Brokerage ETF Battle: Plenty of Winners

For better or worse, the largest investment banks and brokerage houses in the U.S. are household names. Think Goldman Sachs (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/gs#NYSE">GS</a>), Morgan Stanley (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/ms#NYSE">MS</a>) and friends. However, brand recognition and notoriety for these firms has not always translated to popularity and inflows for ETFs that focus on capital markets firms.

This year, new regulatory guidelines could lead to a higher cost of doing businesses for many Wall Street banks and with that in mind, S&amp;P Capital IQ took a look at two ETFs comprised primarily of capital markets firms.

"In the year ahead, we see modest revenue gains in investment banking," said S&amp;P Capital IQ in a research note. "We view several factors as key determinants of whether there will be improvement in underwriting and advisory fees. First, we think there is a positive correlation between equity market appreciation and IPO activity, boosting private companies' incentive to go public when valuations are higher. Second, CEO confidence levels remain near record lows, which is a pretty good barometer for potential M&amp;A activity. And finally, we view high levels of cash on corporate balance sheets as additional support for M&amp;A activity."

Should companies decide to put some excess cash to work through mergers and acquisitions, the iShares Dow Jones U.S. Broker-Dealers Index Fund (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/iai#NYSE">IAI</a>) is one ETF that could benefit. S&amp;P Capital IQ rates that ETF Overweight. IAI, which has almost $49.1 million in assets under management, counts Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley among its top two holdings. Those stocks combine for almost 15 percent of the fund's weight. 

IAI has gained 17.6 percent in the past year and recently broke through some stiff resistance at $24. With a P/E of 18.33 and a price-to-book ratio of 1.57, IAI is a bit more expensive than the iShares Dow Jones U.S. Financial Sector Index Fund (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/iyf#NYSE">IYF</a>), though <a href="http://us.ishares.com/product_info/fund/overview/IAI.htm?fundSearch=true&amp;qt=IAI">IAI's beta of 1.57 against the S&amp;P 500</a> implies a higher degree of volatility compared to some other financial services ETFs.

S&amp;P Capital IQ also has an Overweight rating on the SPDR S&amp;P Capital Markets ETF (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/kce#NYSE">KCE</a>). Using more of an equal weight approach, KCE is home to 49 holdings, double that of IAI. However, KCE's composition has lead to vastly different returns over the past year.

For example, Goldman is KCE's largest holding as well, but at a weight of just 2.82 percent. Still, KCE has surged almost 28 percent in the past year. Other top-10 holdings in KCE include Lazard (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/laz#NYSE">LAZ</a>), Northern Trust (NASDAQ: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/ntrs#NASDAQ">NTRS</a>) and Charles Schwab (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/schw#NYSE">SCHW</a>).

KCE has just $23.1 million in assets under management, but its expense ratio of 0.35 percent is below the 0.47 percent charged by IAI.

For more on ETFs, click <a href="http://www.benzinga.com/etfs">here</a>.

Analyst Color

Technicals

Analyst Ratings

iShares Dow Jones US Financial Sector Index Fund

NTRS

Betting on Brokerage ETFs

<div class="entry-content">

		The Financials sector ranks last out of the ten sectors as detailed in my <a href="http://blog.newconstructs.com/2012/10/08/sector-rankings-for-etfs-mutual-funds/">sector rankings for ETFs and mutual funds</a>. It is the only sector to get my Very Dangerous rating, which is based on aggregation of ratings of 46 ETFs and 232 mutual funds in the Financials sector as of October 11, 2012. Prior reports on the best &amp; worst ETFs and mutual funds in every sector and style are <a href="http://www.newconstructs.com/nc/research/report/etf-and-fund-reports.htm">here</a>.

		Figures 1 and 2 show the five best and worst-rated ETFs and mutual funds in the sector. Not all Financials sector ETFs and mutual funds are created the same. The number of holdings varies widely (from 23 to 504), which creates drastically different investment implications and ratings. The best ETFs and mutual funds allocate more value to Attractive-or-better-rated stocks than the worst ETFs and mutual funds, which allocate too much value to Neutral-or-worse-rated stocks.

		To <a href="http://blog.newconstructs.com/2012/10/09/how-to-find-the-best-etfs-2/">identify the best</a> and <a href="http://blog.newconstructs.com/2012/04/05/how-to-avoid-the-worst-etfs/">avoid the worst</a> ETFs and mutual funds within the Financials sector, investors need a <a href="http://blog.newconstructs.com/2011/11/23/predictive-fund-rating-methodology/">predictive rating</a> based on (1) the <a href="http://blog.newconstructs.com/2011/11/22/portfolio-management-rating-methodology/">stocks ratings</a> of the holdings and (2) the <a href="http://blog.newconstructs.com/2011/10/28/total-annual-costs-methodology/">all-in expenses</a> of each ETF and mutual fund. Investors need not rely on backward-looking ratings. My fund rating methodology is detailed <a href="http://blog.newconstructs.com/2011/11/23/predictive-fund-rating-methodology/">here</a>.

		Investors should not buy any Financials ETFs or mutual funds because none get an Attractive-or-better rating. If you must have exposure to this sector, you should buy a basket of Attractive-or-better rated stocks and avoid paying undeserved fund fees. Active management has a <a href="http://blog.newconstructs.com/2012/09/17/less-than-1-of-managers-deliver-alpha-here-are-details/">long history</a> of not paying off.

		Get my ratings on all ETFs and mutual funds in this sector on my free <a href="http://www.newconstructs.com/nc/fundscreener/fund-screener.htm?task=ACTION_CATEGORY_TYPE_SEARCH&amp;selectedTypes=0,1&amp;selectedCategoryIds=5d89741c114e11e1b5ca00188b533b34,5d89ff2c114e11e1a11100188b533b34">mutual fund and ETF screener</a>.
<div>

			Figure 1: ETFs with the Best &amp; Worst Ratings &ndash; Top 5
</div>

		<a href="http://blog.newconstructs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/FinancialsFig1.jpg"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-4753" height="242" src="http://blog.newconstructs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/FinancialsFig1.jpg" title="FinancialsFig1" width="338" /></a>

		* Best ETFs exclude ETFs with TNA&rsquo;s less than $100 million for inadequate liquidity.
<div>

			Sources: New Constructs, LLC and company filings
</div>

		PowerShares KBW Capital Markets Portfolio (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/kbw#NYSE">KBW</a>), SPDR S&amp;P Capital Markets ETF (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/kce#NYSE">KCE</a>) and iShares Dow Jones U.S. Broker-Dealers Index Fund (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/iai#NYSE">IAI</a>) are excluded from Figure 1 because their total net assets (TNA) are below $100 million and do not meet our liquidity standards.

		Figure 2: Mutual Funds with the Best &amp; Worst Ratings &ndash; Top 5 
<div>
		<a href="http://blog.newconstructs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/FinancialsFig2.jpg"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-4752" height="225" src="http://blog.newconstructs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/FinancialsFig2.jpg" title="FinancialsFig2" width="351" /></a></div>
<div>
		* Best mutual funds exclude funds with TNA&rsquo;s less than $100 million for inadequate liquidity.</div>
<div>

			Sources: New Constructs, LLC and company filings
</div>

		ICON Funds: ICON Financial Fund (NYSE: ICFSX) is excluded from Figure 2 because its total net assets (TNA) are below $100 million and do not meet our liquidity standards.

		iShares FTSE NAREIT Mortgage REITs Index Fund (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/rem#NYSE">REM</a>) is my top-rated Financials ETF and Davis Series, Inc: Davis Financial Fund (DVFYX) is my top-rated Financials mutual fund. Both earn my Neutral rating.

		iShares FTSE NAREIT Industrial/Office Capped Index Fund (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/fnio#NYSE">FNIO</a>) is my worst-rated Financials ETF and Rydex Series Funds: Real Estate Fund (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/ryrex#NYSE">RYREX</a>) is my worst-rated Financials mutual fund. Both earn my Very Dangerous rating and should be avoided.

		Figure 3 shows that 84 out of the 571stocks (over 14.7% of the total net assets) held by Financials ETFs and mutual funds get an Attractive-or-better rating. However, no Financials ETFs and no Financials mutual funds get an Attractive-or-better rating.

		The takeaway is: too many Financials sector mutual fund managers and ETFs are picking the wrong stocks. Their fees are undeserved, no matter how low.
<div>

			Figure 3: Financials Sector Landscape For ETFs, Mutual Funds &amp; Stocks
</div>
<div>

			<a href="http://blog.newconstructs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/FinancialsFig3.jpg"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-4751" height="156" src="http://blog.newconstructs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/FinancialsFig3.jpg" title="FinancialsFig3" width="405" /></a>

			Sources: New Constructs, LLC and company filings
</div>

		As detailed in &ldquo;<a href="http://blog.newconstructs.com/2012/07/20/low-cost-funds-dupe-investors-2/">Cheap Funds Dupe Investors</a>&rdquo;, the fund industry offers many cheap funds but very few funds with high-quality stocks, or with what I call good <a href="http://blog.newconstructs.com/2011/11/22/portfolio-management-rating-methodology/">portfolio management</a>.

		Investors need to tread carefully when considering Financials ETFs and mutual funds, as only 1 ETF and 1 mutual fund earn a Neutral rating and should be held. All of ETFs and mutual funds should be sold. None of the Financials ETFs or mutual funds in the Financials sector allocate enough value to Attractive-or-better-rated stocks to earn an Attractive rating, so investors seeking exposure to the Financials sectors should focus on the <a href="http://www.newconstructs.com/nc/stockscreener/stock-screener.htm">72 stocks</a> that earn and Attractive-or-better rating.

		Credit Acceptance Corp (NASDAQ: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/cacc#NASDAQ">CACC</a>) is one of my favorite stocks held by Financials ETFs and mutual funds and earns my Very Attractive rating. CACC has a proven track record of effective capital stewardship with a return on invested capital (ROIC) of 28% in 2011, which places the company in the 94th percentile of all Russell 3000 companies. CACC is not only a good company; it is also an attractive stock due to the market&rsquo;s pessimistic view of future cash flows. The company&rsquo;s current stock price (~$84.20) implies that after-tax profits (NOPAT) will permanently decrease by 23%. This seems unlikely given that the company has increased its profits by an average of 32% over the past five years. Low expectations and strong historical performance make CACC an excellent long candidate.

		Health Care REIT, Inc. (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/hcn#NYSE">HCN</a>) is one of my least favorite stocks held by Financials ETFs and mutual funds and earns my Very Dangerous rating. In the worst sector, HCN is one of the worst stocks. HCN has misleading earnings &ndash; its economic earnings are negative and declining while its reports accounting earnings are positive and increasing. Only twice during the 14 years in my model has the company generated positive economic earnings, with 2008 being the most recent period. Not only is HCN not profitable, it is also overvalued. To justify its current stock price (~$59.56), the company must increase profits by 14.1% compounded annually for 34 years. That is a lot of future value creation for a company that has mostly destroyed value. Investors should avoid this stock.

		Figures 4 and 5 show the rating landscape of all Financials ETFs and mutual funds.

		Our <a href="http://blog.newconstructs.com/2012/10/08/sector-rankings-for-etfs-mutual-funds/">sector rankings for ETFs and mutual funds</a> report ranks all sectors and highlights those that offer the best investments.
<div>

			Figure 4: Separating the Best ETFs From the Worst ETFs
</div>
<div>

			<a href="http://blog.newconstructs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/FinancialsFig4.jpg"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-4750" height="245" src="http://blog.newconstructs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/FinancialsFig4.jpg" title="FinancialsFig4" width="409" /></a>

			Sources: New Constructs, LLC and company filings
</div>
<div>

			Figure 5: Separating the Best Mutual Funds From the Worst Mutual Funds
</div>
<div>

			<a href="http://blog.newconstructs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/FinancialsFig5.jpg"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-4749" height="245" src="http://blog.newconstructs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/FinancialsFig5.jpg" title="FinancialsFig5" width="409" /></a>

			Sources: New Constructs, LLC and company filings
</div>

		Review my <a href="http://www.newconstructs.com/nc/fundscreener/fund-screener.htm?task=ACTION_CATEGORY_TYPE_SEARCH&amp;selectedTypes=0,1&amp;selectedCategoryIds=5d89741c114e11e1b5ca00188b533b34,5d89ff2c114e11e1a11100188b533b34">full list</a> of ratings and rankings along with reports on all 46 ETFs and 232 mutual funds in the Financials sector.

		Disclosure: I own CACC. I receive no compensation to write about any specific stock, sector or&nbsp;theme.
</div>

CACC

FNIO

iShares FTSE NAREIT Mortgage PLUS Capped Index Fund

RYREX

Best & Worst ETFs & Mutual Funds: Financials Sector

<div class="entry-content">

		The Financials sector ranks last out of the ten sectors as detailed in my <a href="http://blog.newconstructs.com/2012/10/08/sector-rankings-for-etfs-mutual-funds/">sector rankings for ETFs and mutual funds</a>. It is the only sector to get my Very Dangerous rating, which is based on aggregation of ratings of 46 ETFs and 232 mutual funds in the Financials sector as of October 11, 2012. Prior reports on the best &amp; worst ETFs and mutual funds in every sector and style are <a href="http://www.newconstructs.com/nc/research/report/etf-and-fund-reports.htm">here</a>.

		Figures 1 and 2 show the five best and worst-rated ETFs and mutual funds in the sector. Not all Financials sector ETFs and mutual funds are created the same. The number of holdings varies widely (from 23 to 504), which creates drastically different investment implications and ratings. The best ETFs and mutual funds allocate more value to Attractive-or-better-rated stocks than the worst ETFs and mutual funds, which allocate too much value to Neutral-or-worse-rated stocks.

		To <a href="http://blog.newconstructs.com/2012/10/09/how-to-find-the-best-etfs-2/">identify the best</a> and <a href="http://blog.newconstructs.com/2012/04/05/how-to-avoid-the-worst-etfs/">avoid the worst</a> ETFs and mutual funds within the Financials sector, investors need a <a href="http://blog.newconstructs.com/2011/11/23/predictive-fund-rating-methodology/">predictive rating</a> based on (1) the <a href="http://blog.newconstructs.com/2011/11/22/portfolio-management-rating-methodology/">stocks ratings</a> of the holdings and (2) the <a href="http://blog.newconstructs.com/2011/10/28/total-annual-costs-methodology/">all-in expenses</a> of each ETF and mutual fund. Investors need not rely on backward-looking ratings. My fund rating methodology is detailed <a href="http://blog.newconstructs.com/2011/11/23/predictive-fund-rating-methodology/">here</a>.

		Investors should not buy any Financials ETFs or mutual funds because none get an Attractive-or-better rating. If you must have exposure to this sector, you should buy a basket of Attractive-or-better rated stocks and avoid paying undeserved fund fees. Active management has a <a href="http://blog.newconstructs.com/2012/09/17/less-than-1-of-managers-deliver-alpha-here-are-details/">long history</a> of not paying off.

		Get my ratings on all ETFs and mutual funds in this sector on my free <a href="http://www.newconstructs.com/nc/fundscreener/fund-screener.htm?task=ACTION_CATEGORY_TYPE_SEARCH&amp;selectedTypes=0,1&amp;selectedCategoryIds=5d89741c114e11e1b5ca00188b533b34,5d89ff2c114e11e1a11100188b533b34">mutual fund and ETF screener</a>.
<div>

			Figure 1: ETFs with the Best &amp; Worst Ratings &ndash; Top 5
</div>

		<a href="http://blog.newconstructs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/FinancialsFig1.jpg"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-4753" height="242" src="http://blog.newconstructs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/FinancialsFig1.jpg" title="FinancialsFig1" width="338" /></a>

		* Best ETFs exclude ETFs with TNA&rsquo;s less than 100 million for inadequate liquidity.
<div>

			Sources: New Constructs, LLC and company filings
</div>

		PowerShares KBW Capital Markets Portfolio (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/kbw#NYSE">KBW</a>), SPDR S&amp;P Capital Markets ETF (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/kce#NYSE">KCE</a>) and iShares Dow Jones U.S. Broker-Dealers Index Fund (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/iai#NYSE">IAI</a>) are excluded from Figure 1 because their total net assets (TNA) are below $100 million and do not meet our liquidity standards.

		Figure 2: Mutual Funds with the Best &amp; Worst Ratings &ndash; Top 5 
<div>
		<a href="http://blog.newconstructs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/FinancialsFig2.jpg"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-4752" height="225" src="http://blog.newconstructs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/FinancialsFig2.jpg" title="FinancialsFig2" width="351" /></a></div>
<div>
		* Best mutual funds exclude funds with TNA&rsquo;s less than 100 million for inadequate liquidity.</div>
<div>

			Sources: New Constructs, LLC and company filings
</div>

		ICON Funds: ICON Financial Fund (ICFSX) is excluded from Figure 2 because its total net assets (TNA) are below $100 million and do not meet our liquidity standards.

		iShares FTSE NAREIT Mortgage REITs Index Fund (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/rem#NYSE">REM</a>) is my top-rated Financials ETF and Davis Series, Inc: Davis Financial Fund (NYSE: DVFYX) is my top-rated Financials mutual fund. Both earn my Neutral rating.

		iShares FTSE NAREIT Industrial/Office Capped Index Fund (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/fnio#NYSE">FNIO</a>) is my worst-rated Financials ETF and Rydex Series Funds: Real Estate Fund (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/ryrex#NYSE">RYREX</a>) is my worst-rated Financials mutual fund. Both earn my Very Dangerous rating and should be avoided.

		Figure 3 shows that 84 out of the 571stocks (over 14.7% of the total net assets) held by Financials ETFs and mutual funds get an Attractive-or-better rating. However, no Financials ETFs and no Financials mutual funds get an Attractive-or-better rating.

		The takeaway is: too many Financials sector mutual fund managers and ETFs are picking the wrong stocks. Their fees are undeserved, no matter how low.
<div>

			Figure 3: Financials Sector Landscape For ETFs, Mutual Funds &amp; Stocks
</div>
<div>

			<a href="http://blog.newconstructs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/FinancialsFig3.jpg"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-4751" height="156" src="http://blog.newconstructs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/FinancialsFig3.jpg" title="FinancialsFig3" width="405" /></a>

			Sources: New Constructs, LLC and company filings
</div>

		As detailed in &ldquo;<a href="http://blog.newconstructs.com/2012/07/20/low-cost-funds-dupe-investors-2/">Cheap Funds Dupe Investors</a>&rdquo;, the fund industry offers many cheap funds but very few funds with high-quality stocks, or with what I call good <a href="http://blog.newconstructs.com/2011/11/22/portfolio-management-rating-methodology/">portfolio management</a>.

		Investors need to tread carefully when considering Financials ETFs and mutual funds, as only 1 ETF and 1 mutual fund earn a Neutral rating and should be held. All of ETFs and mutual funds should be sold. None of the Financials ETFs or mutual funds in the Financials sector allocate enough value to Attractive-or-better-rated stocks to earn an Attractive rating, so investors seeking exposure to the Financials sectors should focus on the <a href="http://www.newconstructs.com/nc/stockscreener/stock-screener.htm">72 stocks</a> that earn and Attractive-or-better rating.

		Credit Acceptance Corp (NASDAQ: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/cacc#NASDAQ">CACC</a>) is one of my favorite stocks held by Financials ETFs and mutual funds and earns my Very Attractive rating. CACC has a proven track record of effective capital stewardship with a return on invested capital (ROIC) of 28% in 2011, which places the company in the 94th percentile of all Russell 3000 companies. CACC is not only a good company; it is also an attractive stock due to the market&rsquo;s pessimistic view of future cash flows. The company&rsquo;s current stock price (~$84.20) implies that after-tax profits (NOPAT) will permanently decrease by 23%. This seems unlikely given that the company has increased its profits by an average of 32% over the past five years. Low expectations and strong historical performance make CACC an excellent long candidate.

		Health Care REIT, Inc. (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/hcn#NYSE">HCN</a>) is one of my least favorite stocks held by Financials ETFs and mutual funds and earns my Very Dangerous rating. In the worst sector, HCN is one of the worst stocks. HCN has misleading earnings &ndash; its economic earnings are negative and declining while its reports accounting earnings are positive and increasing. Only twice during the 14 years in my model has the company generated positive economic earnings, with 2008 being the most recent period. Not only is HCN not profitable, it is also overvalued. To justify its current stock price (~$59.56), the company must increase profits by 14.1% compounded annually for 34 years. That is a lot of future value creation for a company that has mostly destroyed value. Investors should avoid this stock.

		Figures 4 and 5 show the rating landscape of all Financials ETFs and mutual funds.

		Our <a href="http://blog.newconstructs.com/2012/10/08/sector-rankings-for-etfs-mutual-funds/">sector rankings for ETFs and mutual funds</a> report ranks all sectors and highlights those that offer the best investments.
<div>

			Figure 4: Separating the Best ETFs From the Worst ETFs
</div>
<div>

			<a href="http://blog.newconstructs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/FinancialsFig4.jpg"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-4750" height="245" src="http://blog.newconstructs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/FinancialsFig4.jpg" title="FinancialsFig4" width="409" /></a>

			Sources: New Constructs, LLC and company filings
</div>
<div>

			Figure 5: Separating the Best Mutual Funds From the Worst Mutual Funds
</div>
<div>

			<a href="http://blog.newconstructs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/FinancialsFig5.jpg"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-4749" height="245" src="http://blog.newconstructs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/FinancialsFig5.jpg" title="FinancialsFig5" width="409" /></a>

			Sources: New Constructs, LLC and company filings
</div>

		Review my <a href="http://www.newconstructs.com/nc/fundscreener/fund-screener.htm?task=ACTION_CATEGORY_TYPE_SEARCH&amp;selectedTypes=0,1&amp;selectedCategoryIds=5d89741c114e11e1b5ca00188b533b34,5d89ff2c114e11e1a11100188b533b34">full list</a> of ratings and rankings along with reports on all 46 ETFs and 232 mutual funds in the Financials sector.

		Disclosure: I own CACC. I receive no compensation to write about any specific stock, sector or&nbsp;theme.
</div>

It is fair to say that ETF experts and casual followers of the asset class alike now know that Vanguard is changing indexes on 22 of its funds. The news <a href="http://www.benzinga.com/trading-ideas/long-ideas/12/10/2960202/vanguard-dropping-vwos-msci-index">jolted the ETF world last week</a> as Vanguard said it is ditching 22 MSCI indexes in favor of FTSE indexes for six of its ETFs and new benchmarks developed by the University of Chicago's Center for Research in Security Prices (CRSP).

The move by Vanguard, the third-largest U.S. ETF sponsor, was treated as earth-shattering because it applies to marquee funds such as the Vanguard MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/vwo#NYSE">VWO</a>), the Vanguard MSCI Europe ETF (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/vgk#NYSE">VGK</a>) and the Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/vti#NYSE">VTI</a>).

Vanguard said the index changes are designed to lower costs for investors. There is no doubt investors like lower fees, but the more important question is how index changes benefit (or hinder) returns. Fortunately, Vanguard is not the first ETF issuer to drop one set of indexes in favor of another. Here is a look back at how some ETFs performed after being tied to new benchmarks.

Global X NASDAQ China Technology ETF (NASDAQ: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/qqqc#NASDAQ">QQQC</a>)
In December 2011, the Global X NASDAQ China Technology ETF dropped the Solactive China Technology Index in favor of the NASDQ OMX Technology Index. The index change took place on December 15. Since then, QQQC has jumped 5.2 percent. Of course, there are other factors to consider such as market environment, risk appetite, sector preferences at the time and others, but QQQQ down 16.6 from the start of 2011 through the day before the ETF changed indexes.

PowerShares Global Water Portfolio (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/pio#NYSE">PIO</a>)
The PowerShares Global Water Portfolio switched to the NASDAQ OMX Global Water Index from the Palisades Global Water Index <a href="http://www.invescopowershares.com/products/overview.aspx?ticker=PIO">in early March</a>. In just over seven months since the index switch, PIO has dropped almost 1.9 percent. 

Again, other factors have to be considered, but it is worth noting PIO jumped 12.3 percent from October 2011 through the day the index change was made in March 2011.

PowerShares Water Resources Portfolio (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/pho#NYSE">PHO</a>)
Like its globally focused cousin, PIO, the PowerShares Water Resources Portfolio switched to a Nasdaq index in early March from a Palisades index. From October through the day of the index switch PHO was on fire, gaining almost 23 percent. Since the index change, PHO has gained five percent. 

Combine that small gain with PIO's post-index change lethargy and it is evident that these two funds have probably been impacted more by some wind coming out of the sails of water stocks ore than index changes.

Five SPDRs Funds
In late October 2011, five SPDRs funds dropped KBW indexes in favor of Standard &amp; Poor's indexes. The affected funds are now known as the SPDR S&amp;P Bank ETF (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/kbe#NYSE">KBE</a>), SPDR S&amp;P Capital Markets ETF (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/kce#NYSE">KCE</a>), SPDR S&amp;P Insurance ETF (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/kie#NYSE">KIE</a>), SPDR S&amp;P Mortgage Finance ETF (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/kme#NYSE">KME</a>), SPDR S&amp;P Regional Banking ETF (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/kre#NYSE">KRE</a>).

In the case of all five of these ETFs, it would appear the index switches proved efficacious. The average gain for these funds since late October 2011 is almost 24 percent. However, it must be noted that financials services stocks have been on fire since then with the Financial Select Sector SPDR (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/xlf#NYSE">XLF</a>) gaining 22 percent.

Another interesting factoid is the performance of the PowerShares ETFs that took on the KBW indexes dropped by State Street (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/stt#NYSE">STT</a>). The PowerShares KBW Bank Portfolio (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/kbwb#NYSE">KBWB</a>), PowerShares Regional Banking Portfolio (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/kbwr#NYSE">KBWR</a>), PowerShares Capital Markets Portfolio (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/kbwc#NYSE">KBWC</a>) and the PowerShares Insurance Portfolio (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/kbwc#NYSE">KBWC</a>) have an average gain of 20.3 percent since November 2011 when the funds came out using the KBW indexes.

For more on ETFs, click <a href="http://www.benzinga.com/etfs">here</a>.

New ETFs

Emerging Market ETFs

KBWB

KBWR

PowerShares Exchange Traded Fund Water Resource Portfolio

QQQC

Do ETF Index Changes Impact Returns?

Charles Schwab (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/schw#NYSE">SCHW</a>) is scheduled to report fourth-quarter 2011 results Wednesday morning, January 18. Investors could use some good news. Though revenue has risen for four straight quarters, the share price has faced resistance at $13 a since August. And Deutsche Bank last week downgraded the stock due to the challenging environment for online brokers.

The analysts' forecast calls for Charles Schwab to report that its per-share earnings came to $0.13 for the quarter, and that revenue totaled $1.1 billion. That compares to $0.10 per share on $1.1 billion in the same period of last year. But note that the EPS estimate is down from $0.16 some 60 days ago. Charles Schwab, though, has not fallen short of EPS estimates in the past five quarters.

The forecast for the full year is more promising. Earnings are predicted to come in at $0.71 per share, an increase of 46.5% from the previous year. And analysts are looking for revenues to have risen 10.4% to $4.7 billion. 

The Company

San Francisco-based Charles Schwab provides securities brokerage, banking, and related financial services to individuals and institutional clients. It manages more than $1.5 trillion in client assets and operates primarily in the United States, the United Kingdom and Hong Kong. The company was founded in 1971 and now is an S&amp;P 500 component with a market cap of $15.8 billion.

During the three months that ended in December, the online broker launched a new U.S. dividend equity ETF, completed of its acquisition of compliance software provider Compliance11, redesigned and updated its educational website and launched a new banking app for the iPad.

Performance

The company has a long-term earnings per share growth forecast of 15.1%. Its P/E and PEG ratios are greater than the industry average, but so is the operating margin. The dividend yield is 1.9%. Ten of 21 analysts who follow the stock rate it a Buy or Strong Buy; none recommend selling. They have a mean price target on shares that is almost 9% higher than the current share price.

The share price is up more than 6% in the past month but still down almost 36% from the 52-week high. It is currently above the 50-day moving average but so far below the falling 200-day moving average. Over the past six months, the stock has underperformed the broader markets but outperformed competitor E*Trade Financial (NASDAQ: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/etfc#NASDAQ">ETFC</a>).

See also: <a href="http://www.benzinga.com/news/earnings/12/01/2253871/five-key-etfs-for-q4-earnings-reports">Five Key ETFs for Q4 Earnings Reports</a>.

[NOTE: This post was revised to correct the date on which Schwab will report.]

<div id="action-items">ACTION ITEMS:

Bullish: Investors interested in exchange traded funds invested in Charles Schwab might want to consider the following trades:

<ul><li>iShares Dow Jones US Financial Services (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/iyg#NYSE">IYG</a>) is more than 30% higher than the 52-week low.</li>
<li>Market Vectors Bank and Brokerage ETF (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/rkh#NYSE">RKH</a>) is more than 30% higher than the recent IPO.</li>
<li>SPDR S&amp;P Capital Markets ETF (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/kce#NYSE">KCE</a>) is almost 27% higher than the 52-week low.</li>
<li>iShares Dow Jones US Broker-Dealers (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/iai#NYSE">IAI</a>) is about 20% higher than the 52-week low.</li>
</ul>Bearish: Traders may prefer to consider these alternative positions in the same industry:

<ul><li>MarketAxess (NASDAQ: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/mktx#NASDAQ">MKTX</a>) is up more than 58% from the 52-week low.</li>
<li>LPL Investment (NASDAQ: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/lpla#NASDAQ">LPLA</a>) is almost 44% from the 52-week low.</li>
<li>TD Ameritrade (NASDAQ: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/amtd#NASDAQ">AMTD</a>) is up more than 24% from the 52-week low.</li>
</ul>Neither Benzinga nor its staff recommend that you buy, sell, or hold any security. We do not offer investment advice, personalized or otherwise. Benzinga recommends that you conduct your own due diligence and consult a certified financial professional for personalized advice about your financial situation.</div>

Earnings

iShares Trust Dow Jones US Financial Services Index Fund

LPLA

MKTX

Charles Schwab Earnings Preview: Marginally Better Q4 Results Expected

New product introductions totaled 275 in the first ten months of 2011.  October saw 27 new ETPs come to market, consisting of 17 ETFs and 10 ETNs.  Three ETFs closed and liquidated, putting the net gain in listed products at 24 for October.  The quantity of U.S. listings now stands at 1,359 (1,163 ETFs and 196 ETNs).  There were two closures and one launch among the actively managed ETF subset.  The current count of actively managed funds is just 39, representing less than 3% of the ETP population.
The surge in stock prices brought assets back to $1.1 trillion, with <a href="http://investwithanedge.com/etf-stats-for-september-2011-assets-slip-below-1-trillion" target="_blank">September now being the only month this year where assets failed to hold above the trillion-dollar mark</a>.  Trading activity declined nearly 5% for the month, which is not at all encouraging in a month of huge price gains.  Dollar volume averaged just $92.5 billion per day.
The number of ETFs averaging more than $1 billion in daily trading activity (the Billion Dollar Club) slipped from 20 to 18 and accounted for more than 70% of all ETP dollars traded.  Products averaging more than $100 million of trading per day increased slightly from 86 to 89 and accounted for 92.2% of dollar volume.

<table class="wptable rowstyle-alt" id="wptable-112" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="2">
<thead>
<tr>
<th class="sortable" style="width:250px" align="left">October 2011 Month End</th>
<th class="sortable" style="width:70px" align="center">ETFs</th>
<th class="sortable" style="width:70px" align="center">ETNs</th>
<th class="sortable" style="width:70px" align="center">Total</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tr>
<td style="width:250px" align="left">Currently Listed U.S.</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">1,163</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">196</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">1,359</td>
</tr>
<tr class="alt">
<td style="width:250px" align="left">Listed as of 12/31/2010</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">967</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">132</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">1,099</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width:250px" align="left">New Introductions for Month</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">17</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">10</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">27</td>
</tr>
<tr class="alt">
<td style="width:250px" align="left">Delistings/Closures for Month</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">3</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">0</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">3</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width:250px" align="left">Net Change for Month</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">+14</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">+10</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">+24</td>
</tr>
<tr class="alt">
<td style="width:250px" align="left">New Introductions 6 mths</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">119</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">39</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">158</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width:250px" align="left">New Introductions YTD</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">205</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">70</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">275</td>
</tr>
<tr class="alt">
<td style="width:250px" align="left">Delistings/Closures YTD</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">9</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">6</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">15</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width:250px" align="left">Net Change YTD</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">+196</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">+64</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">+260</td>
</tr>
<tr class="alt">
<td style="width:250px" align="left">Actively-Managed Listings</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">39</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">0</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">39</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width:250px" align="left">Assets Under Mgmt ($ billion)</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">$1,066</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">$15.0</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">$1,081</td>
</tr>
<tr class="alt">
<td style="width:250px" align="left">% Change in Assets for Month</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">+11.3%</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">+3.4%</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">+11.1%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width:250px" align="left">Monthly $ Volume ($ billion)</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">$1,907</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">$36.4</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">$1,943</td>
</tr>
<tr class="alt">
<td style="width:250px" align="left">% Change in Monthly $ Volume</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">-4.5%</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">-23.2%</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">-4.9%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width:250px" align="left">Avg Daily $ Volume > $1 Billion</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">17</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">1</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">18</td>
</tr>
<tr class="alt">
<td style="width:250px" align="left">Avg Daily $ Volume > $100 Million</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">87</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">2</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">89</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width:250px" align="left">Avg Daily $ Volume > $10 Million</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">246</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">11</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">257</td>
</tr>
</table>

 Data sources:  AUM from National Stock Exchange, daily prices and volume of individual ETPs from Norgate Premium Data, fund counts and all other information compiled by Invest With An Edge.
New products launched in October (in chronological order), along with links to my initial analysis of each:
<ol>
<li>CurrencyShares Chinese Renminbi Trust (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/fxch#">FXCH</a>) [<a href="http://investwithanedge.com/a-dozen-new-etfs-in-the-first-dozen-days-of-october" target="_blank">A Dozen New ETFs in the First Dozen Days of October</a>]</li>
<li>ProShares Ultra VIX Short-Term Futures ETF (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/uvxy#">UVXY</a>)</li>
<li>ProShares Short VIX Short-Term Futures ETF (SVXY)</li>
<li>AdvisorShares TrimTabs Float Shrink ETF (TTFS)</li>
<li>Russell Small Cap Aggressive Growth ETF (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/sggg#">SGGG</a>)</li>
<li>Russell Small Cap Consistent Growth ETF (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/scog#">SCOG</a>)</li>
<li>Russell Small Cap Contrarian ETF (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/sctr#">SCTR</a>)</li>
<li>Russell Small Cap Low P/E ETF (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/sclp#">SCLP</a>)</li>
<li>UBS ETRACS Monthly 2x Leveraged ISE Cloud Computing TR Index ETN (LSKY)</li>
<li>ProShares Ultra DJ-UBS Natural Gas (BOIL)</li>
<li>ProShares UltraShort DJ-UBS Natural Gas (KOLD)</li>
<li>Market Vectors Renminbi Bond ETF (CHLC)</li>
<li>VelocityShares 3x Long Gold ETN (UGLD) [<a href="http://investwithanedge.com/velocityshares-launches-eight-precious-metals-etns" target="_blank">VelocityShares Launches Eight Precious Metals ETNs</a>]</li>
<li>VelocityShares 3x Inverse Gold ETN (DGLD)</li>
<li>VelocityShares 3x Long Silver ETN (USLV)</li>
<li>VelocityShares 3x Inverse Silver (DSLV)</li>
<li>VelocityShares 2x Long Palladium ETN (LPAL)</li>
<li>VelocityShares 2x Inverse Palladium ETN (IPAL)</li>
<li>VelocityShares 2x Long Platinum ETN (LPLT)</li>
<li>VelocityShares 2x Inverse Platinum ETN (IPLT)</li>
<li>iShares Emerging Markets Local Currency Bond Fund (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/lemb#">LEMB</a>) [<a href="http://investwithanedge.com/lemb-joins-crowded-emerging-markets-local-currency-niche" target="_blank">LEMB Joins Crowded Emerging Markets Local Currency Niche</a>]</li>
<li>iShares MSCI USA Minimum Volatility Index Fund (USMV) [<a href="http://investwithanedge.com/new-ishares-low-volatility-suite" target="_blank">New iShares Low Volatility Suite</a>]</li>
<li>iShares MSCI EAFE Minimum Volatility Index Fund (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/efav#">EFAV</a>)</li>
<li>iShares MSCI All Country World Minimum Volatility Index Fund (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/acwv#">ACWV</a>)</li>
<li>iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Minimum Volatility Index Fund (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/eemv#">EEMV</a>)</li>
<li>Schwab US Dividend Equity ETF (SCHD) [<a href="http://investwithanedge.com/schwab-grabs-lowest-cost-dividend-etf-crown" target="_blank">Schwab Grabs Lowest Cost Dividend ETF Crown</a>]</li>
<li>RBS Global Big Pharma ETN (DRGS) [<a href="http://investwithanedge.com/rbs-launches-questionable-pharma-etp" target="_blank">RBS Launches Questionable Pharma ETP</a>]</li>
</ol>
Product closures/delistings in October:
<ol>
<li>PowerShares Active AlphaQ (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/pqy#">PQY</a>) [<a href="http://investwithanedge.com/active-etfs-continue-to-struggle-pqz-and-pqy-close" target="_blank">Active ETFs Continue to Struggle: PQZ and PQY Close</a>]</li>
<li>PowerShares Active Alpha Multi-Cap (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/pqz#">PQZ</a>)</li>
<li>Direxion Airline Shares (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/flyx#">FLYX</a>) [<a href="http://investwithanedge.com/flyx-fails-to-fly" target="_blank">FLYX Fails to Fly</a>]</li>
</ol>
Product changes in October:
<ol>
<li>ProShares Ultra Silver (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/agq#">AGQ</a>) had a 2-for-1 split effective 10/13/11.</li>
<li>ProShares UltraShort Yen (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/ycs#">YCS</a>), ProShares UltraShort Real Estate (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/srs#">SRS</a>), and ProShares UltraShort Utilities (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/sdp#">SDP</a>) had 1-for-3 reverse splits effective 10/13/11.</li>
<li>WisdomTree Dreyfus Euro Fund <a href="http://www.wisdomtree.com/etfs/fund-details-fixed-income.asp?etfid=61" target="_blank">changed its objective and its name</a> to WisdomTree Euro Debt Fund (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/eu#">EU</a>) effective 10/19/11.</li>
<li>Five SPDR ETFs formerly based on KBW indexes <a href="https://www.spdrs.com/resources/news/article.seam?newsId=1893134650" target="_blank">changed to S&amp;P Select Industry indexes effective 10/24/11</a>.  The new fund names are SPDR S&amp;P Bank ETF (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/kbe#">KBE</a>), SPDR S&amp;P Capital Markets ETF (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/kce#">KCE</a>), SPDR S&amp;P Insurance ETF (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/kie#">KIE</a>), SPDR S&amp;P Mortgage Finance ETF (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/kme#">KME</a>), and SPDR S&amp;P Regional Banking ETF (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/kre#">KRE</a>).</li>
<li>WisdomTree Dreyfus New Zealand Dollar Fund (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/bnz#">BNZ</a>) <a href="http://www.wisdomtree.com/about/pdf/WisdomTree-AUNZ-Debt-Fund-Now-Trading-786.pdf" target="_blank">changed its objective, name, and ticker symbol</a> to WisdomTree Australia &amp; New Zealand Debt Fund (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/aunz#">AUNZ</a>) effective 10/25/11.  The fund had a <a href="http://www.wisdomtree.com/about/pdf/WisdomTree-BNZ-Declare-Distributions-785.pdf" target="_blank">special distribution of $3.05</a> prior to the change.</li>
<li>QuantShares U.S. Market Neutral Beta Fund (BTAH) changed its name to QuantShares U.S. Market Neutral High Beta Fund (BTAH) effective 10/26/11.</li>
<li>EGShares Emerging Markets High Income Low Beta ETF (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/hilo#">HILO</a>) changed its name to EGShares Low Volatility Emerging Markets Dividend ETF (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/hilo#">HILO</a>) effective 10/28/11.</li>
</ol>
Announced Product Changes for Coming Months:
<ol>
<li>Direxion plans to reverse split six ETFs effective 11/10/11.  The affected funds are FAS, EDC, TMV, DRV, and LBJ at 1-for-5 and RUSL at 1-for-3.  <a href="http://www.direxionshares.com/pdfs/DirexionPressReleaseETFNovemberReverseSplits.pdf" target="_blank">Press release</a> (pdf). </li>
<li>All <a href="http://www.direxionshares.com/2xto3x" target="_blank">Direxion Shares 2x Bull and Bear ETFs will convert to 3x</a> on 12/1/11</li>
<li>Van Eck Global and Merrill Lynch <a href="http://www.vaneck.com/holdrs/press-release" target="_blank">announced</a> an agreement to seek SEC and shareholder approval for a <a href="http://www.vaneck.com/holdrs/overview/" target="_blank">fourth quarter 2011 exchange of six HOLDRS products into similar to-be-released Market Vector ETFs</a> under the same ticker symbols.  The new funds will be Market Vectors Oil Services ETF (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/oih#">OIH</a>), Market Vectors Semiconductor ETF (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/smh#">SMH</a>), Market Vectors Pharmaceutical ETF (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/pph#">PPH</a>), Market Vectors Biotech ETF (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/bbh#">BBH</a>), Market Vectors Retail ETF (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/rth#">RTH</a>), and Market Vectors Bank and Brokerage ETF (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/rkh#">RKH</a>).</li>
</ol>
Previous monthly ETF statistics reports are available <a href="http://investwithanedge.com/category/etf-statistics" target="_blank">here</a>.
Disclosure covering writer, editor, publisher, and affiliates: No positions in any of the securities mentioned. No positions in any of the companies or ETF sponsors mentioned.  No income, revenue, or other compensation (either directly or indirectly) received from, or on behalf of, any of the companies or ETF sponsors mentioned.
<img src="http://investwithanedge.com/?ak_action=api_record_view&amp;id=14648&amp;type=feed" alt="" />

ACWV

AUNZ

Wisdom tree Drefus New Zeland Dollar Fund

EEMV

EFAV

FLYX

FXCH

HILO

LEMB

Merrill Lynch Pharmaceutical HOLDRs Trust

Merrill Lynch Retail HOLDRS Trust due 12/31/41

SCLP

SCOG

SCTR

SGGG

UVXY

ETF Stats for October 2011: YTD Launches At 275

State Street Global Advisors (SSgA), the second-largest U.S. ETF sponsor, announced that effective today, five of its ETFs will track different indexes and sport new names. The tickers and expense ratios for the five funds will remain the same. 

Five SPDR funds are dropping their links to KBW indexes and will now track S&amp;P indexes. As such, KBW will also be dropped from the funds' names. 

The SPDR S&amp;P Bank ETF (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/kbe#NYSE">KBE</a>) will now follow the S&amp;P Banks Select Industry Index. The SPDR S&amp;P Capital Markets ETF (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/kce#NYSE">KCE</a>) will be benchmarked to the S&amp;P Capital Markets Select Industry Index. 

The SPDR S&amp;P Insurance ETF (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/kie#NYSE">KIE</a>) will track the S&amp;P Insurance Select Industry Index while the SPDR S&amp;P Mortgage Finance ETF (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/kme#NYSE">KME</a>) will track the S&amp;P Mortgage Finance Select Industry Index. The SPDR S&amp;P Regional Banking ETF (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/kre#NYSE">KRE</a>) will now follow the S&amp;P Regional Banks Select Industry Index.

"As a leading manager of industry and sector ETFs, we are constantly reviewing the SPDR ETF offering to improve access to a wide range of asset classes," said James Ross, senior managing director and global head of SPDR Exchange Traded Funds at State Street Global Advisors, in a statement. "In addition to unifying our industry SPDR ETFs around a single index provider, the new S&amp;P indices offer investors greater diversification and a rules-based methodology that enhances transparency."

SSgA Changes Indexes For 5 Popular ETFs

Product launch activity picked up in September following a sluggish summer.  New exchange-traded product listings totaled 37 during the month, consisting of 20 ETFs and 17 ETNs.  There were three closings (two ETFs and one ETN), producing a net-increase of 34.  The quantity of listed products totaled 1,335 at the end of September with 1,149 ETFs and 186 ETNs.  Actively-managed ETFs held their numbers steady at 40.
Assets under management slipped below the $1 trillion mark for the first time since <a href="http://investwithanedge.com/etf-stats-for-december-2010-1099-and-1-trillion" target="_blank">crossing above that magic threshold in December 2010</a>.  Negative market action is to blame for the dip, as year-to-date net inflows are in excess of $75 billion.  Total assets stood at $973 billion at the end of September.
Trading activity tapered off from the abnormally high August levels, although total monthly dollar volume across all ETPs remained above $2.0 trillion and averaged more than $97 billion per day.
The number of ETFs averaging more than $1 billion in daily trading activity (the Billion Dollar Club) held steady at twenty and accounted for more than 73% of all ETP dollars traded.  SPDR S&amp;P 500 (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/spy#">SPY</a>) was single handedly responsible for 35.5% of all ETP trading activity.
Products averaging more than $100 million of trading per day declined from 100 to 86 and accounted for 92.6% of dollar volume.  Products averaging more than $10 million of trading per day slid from 289 to 248, yet grabbed 98.5% of all ETP dollars traded.  The last 1.5% of dollar volume was spread thinly across the remaining 1,087 products.

<table class="wptable rowstyle-alt" id="wptable-110" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="2">
<thead>
<tr>
<th class="sortable" style="width:250px" align="left">September 2011 Month End</th>
<th class="sortable" style="width:70px" align="center">ETFs</th>
<th class="sortable" style="width:70px" align="center">ETNs</th>
<th class="sortable" style="width:70px" align="center">Total</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tr>
<td style="width:250px" align="left">Currently Listed U.S.</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">1,149</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">186</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">1,335</td>
</tr>
<tr class="alt">
<td style="width:250px" align="left">Listed as of 12/31/2010</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">967</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">132</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">1,099</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width:250px" align="left">New Introductions for Month</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">20</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">17</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">37</td>
</tr>
<tr class="alt">
<td style="width:250px" align="left">Delistings/Closures for Month</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">2</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">1</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">3</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width:250px" align="left">Net Change for Month</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">+18</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">+16</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">+34</td>
</tr>
<tr class="alt">
<td style="width:250px" align="left">New Introductions 6 mths</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">125</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">49</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">174</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width:250px" align="left">New Introductions YTD</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">188</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">60</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">248</td>
</tr>
<tr class="alt">
<td style="width:250px" align="left">Delistings/Closures YTD</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">6</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">6</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">12</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width:250px" align="left">Net Change YTD</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">+182</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">+54</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">+236</td>
</tr>
<tr class="alt">
<td style="width:250px" align="left">Actively-Managed (qty)</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">40</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">0</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">40</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width:250px" align="left">Assets Under Mgmt ($ billion)</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">$958</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">$14.5</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">$973</td>
</tr>
<tr class="alt">
<td style="width:250px" align="left">% Change in Assets</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">-8.5%</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">-9.5%</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">-8.5%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width:250px" align="left">Monthly $ Volume ($ billion)</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">$1,997</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">$47.4</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">$2,044</td>
</tr>
<tr class="alt">
<td style="width:250px" align="left">% Change in Monthly $ Volume</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">-29.9%</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">-35.1%</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">-30.0%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width:250px" align="left">Avg Daily $ Volume > $1 Billion</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">19</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">1</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">20</td>
</tr>
<tr class="alt">
<td style="width:250px" align="left">Avg Daily $ Volume > $100 Million</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">84</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">2</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">86</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width:250px" align="left">Avg Daily $ Volume > $10 Million</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">236</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">12</td>
<td style="width:70px" align="center">248</td>
</tr>
</table>

 Data sources:  AUM from National Stock Exchange, daily prices and volume of individual ETPs from Norgate Premium Data, fund counts and all other information compiled by Invest With An Edge.
New products launched in September (in chronological order), along with links to my initial analysis of each:
<ol>
<li>QuantShares U.S. Market Neutral Momentum Fund (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/mom#">MOM</a>) [<a href="http://investwithanedge.com/new-long-short-quantshares-long-on-expenses-short-on-expectations" target="_blank">New Long/Short QuantShares: Long On Expenses, Short On Expectations</a>]</li>
<li>QuantShares U.S. Market Neutral Size Fund (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/siz#">SIZ</a>)</li>
<li>QuantShares U.S. Market Neutral Quality Fund (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/qlt#">QLT</a>)</li>
<li>QuantShares U.S. Market Neutral Anti-Momentum Fund (NOMO)</li>
<li>UBS ETRACS 1-Month S&amp;P 500 VIX Futures ETN (VXAA) [<a href="http://investwithanedge.com/new-etracs-vix-etns-with-5-35-annual-expenses" target="_blank">New ETRACS VIX ETNs With 5.35% Annual Expenses</a>]</li>
<li>UBS ETRACS 2-Month S&amp;P 500 VIX Futures ETN (VXBB)</li>
<li>UBS ETRACS 3-Month S&amp;P 500 VIX Futures ETN (VXCC)</li>
<li>UBS ETRACS 4-Month S&amp;P 500 VIX Futures ETN (VXDD)</li>
<li>UBS ETRACS 5-Month S&amp;P 500 VIX Futures ETN (VXEE)</li>
<li>UBS ETRACS 6-Month S&amp;P 500 VIX Futures ETN (VXFF)</li>
<li>UBS ETRACS Daily Short 1-Month S&amp;P 500 VIX Futures ETN (AAVX)</li>
<li>UBS ETRACS Daily Short 2-Month S&amp;P 500 VIX Futures ETN (BBVX)</li>
<li>UBS ETRACS Daily Short 3-Month S&amp;P 500 VIX Futures ETN (CCVX)</li>
<li>UBS ETRACS Daily Short 4-Month S&amp;P 500 VIX Futures ETN (DDVX)</li>
<li>UBS ETRACS Daily Short 5-Month S&amp;P 500 VIX Futures ETN (EEVX)</li>
<li>UBS ETRACS Daily Short 6-Month S&amp;P 500 VIX Futures ETN (FFVX)</li>
<li>QuantShares U.S. Market Neutral Value Fund (CHEP) [<a href="http://investwithanedge.com/new-long-short-quantshares-long-on-expenses-short-on-expectations" target="_blank">New Long/Short QuantShares: Long On Expenses, Short On Expectations</a>]</li>
<li>QuantShares U.S. Market Neutral Beta Fund (BTAH)</li>
<li>QuantShares U.S. Market Neutral Anti-Beta Fund (BTAL)</li>
<li>PowerShares Fundamental Investment Grade Corporate Bond Portfolio (PFIG) [<a href="http://investwithanedge.com/powershares-fundamental-investment-grade-bond-etf-launched" target="_blank">PowerShares Fundamental Investment Grade Bond ETF Launched</a>]</li>
<li>RBS Oil Trendpilot ETN (TWTI) [<a href="http://investwithanedge.com/timing-oil-futures-with-twti" target="_blank">Timing Oil Futures With TWTI</a>]</li>
<li>UBS ETRACS ISE Solid State Drive Index ETN (SSDD) [<a href="http://investwithanedge.com/ubs-attempts-solid-state-drive-etn-offering" target="_blank">UBS Attempts Solid State Drive ETN Offering</a>]</li>
<li>UBS ETRACS Monthly 2xLeveraged ISE Solid State Drive Index ETN (SSDL)</li>
<li>iPath Inverse S&amp;P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN II (IVOP) [<a href="http://investwithanedge.com/ivo-terminates-and-ivop-fills-the-void" target="_blank">IVO Terminates and IVOP Fills the Void</a>]</li>
<li>Teucrium Soybean Fund (SOYB) [<a href="http://investwithanedge.com/teurcium-launches-three-single-ag-product-etfs" target="_blank">Teurcium Launches Three Single Ag Product ETFs</a>]</li>
<li>Teucrium Sugar Fund (CANE)</li>
<li>Teucrium Wheat Fund (WEAT)</li>
<li>Credit Suisse Market Neutral Global Equity ETN (CSMN) [<a href="http://investwithanedge.com/csmn-market-neutral-etn-from-credit-suisse" target="_blank">CSMN: Market Neutral ETN from Credit Suisse</a>]</li>
<li>FlexShares Morningstar Global Upstream Natural Resources Index Fund (GUNR) [<a href="http://investwithanedge.com/northern-trust-launches-flexshares" target="_blank">Northern Trust Launches FlexShares</a>]</li>
<li>FlexShares Morningstar U.S. Market Factor Tilt Index Fund (TILT)</li>
<li>FlexShares iBoxx 3-Year Target Duration TIPS Index Fund (TDTT)</li>
<li>FlexShares iBoxx 5-Year Target Duration TIPS Index Fund (TDTF)</li>
<li>Guggenheim Yuan Bond ETF (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/rmb#">RMB</a>) [<a href="http://investwithanedge.com/rmb-vs-dsum-comparing-the-new-dim-sum-bond-etfs" target="_blank">RMB vs DSUM: Comparing the New Dim Sum Bond ETFs</a>]</li>
<li>PowerShares Chinese Yuan Dim Sum Bond Portfolio (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/dsum#">DSUM</a>)</li>
<li>SPDR S&amp;P Aerospace &amp; Defense ETF (XAR) [<a href="http://investwithanedge.com/state-street-adds-three-etfs-to-spdr-select-industry-lineup" target="_blank">State Street Adds Three ETFs to SPDR Select Industry Lineup</a>]</li>
<li>SPDR S&amp;P Health Care Services ETF (XHS)</li>
<li>SPDR S&amp;P Software &amp; Services ETF (XSW)</li>
</ol>
Product closures/delistings in September:
<ol>
<li>FaithShares Christian Values (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/foc#">FOC</a>) was delisted prior to the opening on 9/1/2011, and its last day of trading was 8/31/2011 [<a href="http://investwithanedge.com/last-faithshares-etf-closes" target="_blank">Last FaithShares ETF Closes</a>].</li>
<li>iPath Inverse S&amp;P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN (IVO) triggered an early termination on September 12 and had its last day of trading on 9/16/2011 [<a href="http://investwithanedge.com/ivo-terminates-and-ivop-fills-the-void" target="_blank">IVO Terminates and IVOP Fills the Void</a>].</li>
<li>JETS Contrarian Opportunities Index Fund (JCO) had its last day of trading 9/29/2011 and will be liquidated in early October [<a href="http://investwithanedge.com/javelin-shutters-last-jets-etf" target="_blank">Javelin Shutters Last JETS ETF</a>].</li>
</ol>
Product changes in September:
<ol>
<li>CurrencyShares Russian Ruble Trust changed its ticker symbol from XRU to FXRU effective 9/12/2011.</li>
</ol>
Announced Product Changes for Coming Months:
<ol>
<li>PowerShares Active AlphaQ (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/pqy#">PQY</a>) and PowerShares Active Alpha Multi-Cap (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/pqz#">PQZ</a>) will close in October.  Their last day of trading was 9/30/2011.</li>
<li>Direxion Airline Shares (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/flyx#">FLYX</a>) will have its last day of trading on 10/10/2011 and then be delisted and liquidated [<a href="http://investwithanedge.com/direxion-airline-shares-take-off-into-turbulence" target="_blank">Direxion Airline Shares Take Off Into Turbulence</a>].</li>
<li>ProShares Ultra Silver (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/agq#">AGQ</a>) will undergo a 2-for-1 split effective 10/13/2011.</li>
<li>Five SPDR ETFs based on KBW indexes will change to S&amp;P Select Industry indexes on or around the end of October.  The new fund names are SPDR S&amp;P Bank ETF (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/kbe#">KBE</a>), SPDR S&amp;P Capital Markets ETF (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/kce#">KCE</a>), SPDR S&amp;P Insurance ETF (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/kie#">KIE</a>), SPDR S&amp;P Mortgage Finance ETF (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/kme#">KME</a>), and SPDR S&amp;P Regional Banking ETF (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/kre#">KRE</a>).</li>
<li>Direxion plans to reverse split six ETFs effective 11/9/2011.  The affected funds are DRV, EDC, FAS, and TMV at 1-for-5 and RUSL at 1-for-3.  <a href="http://www.direxionshares.com/pdfs/DirexionPressReleaseETFNovemberReverseSplits.pdf" target="_blank">Press release</a> (pdf). </li>
<li>All <a href="http://www.direxionshares.com/2xto3x" target="_blank">Direxion Shares 2x Bull and Bear ETFs will convert to 3x</a> on 12/1/2011.</li>
<li>Van Eck Global and Merrill Lynch <a href="http://www.vaneck.com/holdrs/press-release" target="_blank">announced</a> (pdf) an agreement to seek SEC and shareholder approval for a <a href="http://www.vaneck.com/holdrs/overview/" target="_blank">fourth quarter 2011 exchange of six HOLDRS products into similar to-be-released Market Vector ETFs</a> under the same ticker symbols.  The new funds will be Market Vectors Oil Services ETF (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/oih#">OIH</a>), Market Vectors Semiconductor ETF (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/smh#">SMH</a>), Market Vectors Pharmaceutical ETF (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/pph#">PPH</a>), Market Vectors Biotech ETF (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/bbh#">BBH</a>), Market Vectors Retail ETF (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/rth#">RTH</a>), and Market Vectors Bank and Brokerage ETF (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/rkh#">RKH</a>).</li>
</ol>
Previous monthly ETF statistics reports are available <a href="http://investwithanedge.com/category/etf-statistics" target="_blank">here</a>.
Disclosure covering writer, editor, publisher, and affiliates: No positions in any of the securities mentioned. No positions in any of the companies or ETF sponsors mentioned.  No income, revenue, or other compensation (either directly or indirectly) received from, or on behalf of, any of the companies or ETF sponsors mentioned.
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DSUM

ETF Stats for September 2011: Assets Slip Below $1 Trillion

Home to dozens of constituents, the universe of ETFs tracking the downtrodden financial services sector leaves investors with no shortage of options. That means for all of this year, if not longer, investors have also been left with no shortage of bad options, but there might be one ETF ready to standout in the financial services arena.

Standard &amp; Poor's Equity Research says the financial service is “on the ropes...but not down for the count” and in a new research note, the firm highlights the SPDR KBW Capital Markets ETF (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/kce#NYSE">KCE</a>). Like its peers, the SPDR KBW Capital Markets ETF has stunk up the joint recently, tumbling more than 19% in the past three months.

Home to about 25 stocks, KCE lands a “marketweight” rating from S&amp;P, but the research firm is bullish on Franklin Resources (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/ben#NYSE">BEN</a>) and Lazard (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/laz#NYSE">LAZ</a>), which combine for over 12% of KCE's weight. 

KCE has a dividend yield of 2.24% and a gross expense ratio of 0.35%, which compare favorably to
other capital markets ETFs, and also receives favorable assessments for the S&amp;P Fair Value and S&amp;P Risk
Assessment inputs, S&amp;P said in its report.

Over the past three months, KCE has performed in lockstep with its rival, the iShares Dow Jones Broker-Dealer Index Fund (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/iai#NYSE">IAI</a>) and it's easy to see what the problem has been for both ETFs. Goldman Sachs (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/gs#NYSE">GS</a>) accounts for over 8% of IAI's weight and over 6% of KCE's.

KCE has the lower expense ratio (IAI shows 0.47%), but IAI has about $53 million in assets under management compared to around $43 million for KCE. The iShares Dow Jones Broker-Dealer Index Fund also holds 25 stocks.

One Financial Services ETF Worth A Look, S&P Says

Here is my list of aggressive ways to play eight of these anti-consensus expectations.

How to Play Doug Kass's Surprises for 2011 With ETFs

PowerShares introduced four new ETFs based on KBW financial industry indexes on 12/02/2010.  This marks the first time that PowerShares and KBW (Keefe, Bruyette &amp; Woods) have teamed up in the ETF space.  Seven other ETFs based on different KBW indexes are currently on the market under the SPDR and ProShares brands.
The new ETFs are PowerShares KBW High Dividend Yield Financial Portfolio (KBWD), PowerShares KBW International Financial Portfolio (KBWX), PowerShares KBW Premium Yield Equity REIT Portfolio (KBWY), and PowerShares KBW Property &amp; Casualty Insurance Portfolio (KBWP).  Each intends to track the similarly named KBW index.
PowerShares KBW High Dividend Yield Financial Portfolio (KBWD) has a total expense ratio of 0.93% consisting of a 0.35% management fee and 0.58% acquired fund fees and expenses.  It uses a dividend yield-weighted methodology that seeks to reflect the performance of approximately 24 to 40 publicly listed financial companies.  It may also include securities of business development companies (BDCs) and equity and mortgage REITs. The largest of the 38 current holdings include Chimera Investment (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/cim#">CIM</a>) 7.8%, Hatteras Financial (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/hts#">HTS</a>) 5.9%, Annaly Capital Management (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/nly#">NLY</a>) 5.3%, Capstead Mortgage (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/cmo#">CMO</a>) 5.3%, and Anworth Mortgage Asset (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/anh#">ANH</a>) 5.1%.  <a href="http://www.invescopowershares.com/products/overview.aspx?ticker=KBWD" target="_blank">KBWD overview</a>
PowerShares KBW International Financial Portfolio (KBWX) has a 0.40% expense ratio.  It will invest primarily in American Depository Receipts (ADRs) using a modified market capitalization approach targeting 60 non-U.S. financial companies principally engaged in providing financial services and products.  The largest holdings include Itau Unibanco Holding S/A ADS (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/itub#">ITUB</a>) 5.9%, Westpac Banking Corp ADS (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/wbk#">WBK</a>) 4.5%, Banco Santander S.A. ADS (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/std#">STD</a>) 3.7%, and HDFC Bank Ltd ADS (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/hdb#">HDB</a>) 3.7%.  Top country weightings are Canada 14.9%, Brazil 13.2%, UK 8.1%, Switzerland 7.6%, and Spain 7.2%.  <a href="http://www.invescopowershares.com/products/overview.aspx?ticker=KBWX" target="_blank">KBWX overview</a>
PowerShares KBW Premium Yield Equity REIT Portfolio (KBWY) has a 0.35% expense ratio.  It uses a dividend yield weighted methodology that seeks to reflect the performance of approximately 24 to 40 small-cap and mid-cap equity REITs in the United States.  The largest of the 30 current holdings include Agree Realty (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/adc#">ADC</a>) 5.0%, Sun Communities (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/sui#">SUI</a>) 4.6%, CommonWealth REIT (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/cwh#">CWH</a>) 4.5%, Hospitality Properties Trust (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/hpt#">HPT</a>) 4.1%, and Medical Properties Trust (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/mpw#">MPW</a>) 3.9%.  <a href="http://www.invescopowershares.com/products/overview.aspx?ticker=KBWY" target="_blank">KBWY overview</a>
PowerShares KBW Property &amp; Casualty Insurance Portfolio (KBWP) has a 0.35% expense ratio.  It uses a modified market capitalization weighted index that seeks to reflect the performance of about 24 property and casualty insurance companies.  The largest holdings include Allstate (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/all#">ALL</a>) 9.1%, Travelers (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/trv#">TRV</a>) 8.7%, Chubb (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/cb#">CB</a>) 8.5%, Progressive (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/pgr#">PGR</a>) 7.7%, and Arch Capital Group (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/acgl#">ACGL</a>) 5.2%.  <a href="http://www.invescopowershares.com/products/overview.aspx?ticker=KBWP" target="_blank">KBWP overview</a>
Fact sheets are currently not available, but when they are, they will be accessible from the links provided above.  Additional information can be found in the <a href="http://www.invescopowershares.com/pdf/P-KBW-PRO-1.pdf" target="_blank">prospectus</a> (pdf) covering all four ETFs.
The current lineup of eleven ETFs based on KBW indexes:
<ol>
<li>PowerShares KBW High Dividend Yield Financial Portfolio (KBWD)</li>
<li>PowerShares KBW International Financial Portfolio (KBWX)</li>
<li>PowerShares KBW Premium Yield Equity REIT Portfolio (KBWY)</li>
<li>PowerShares KBW Property &amp; Casualty Insurance Portfolio (KBWP)</li>
<li>ProShares Ultra KBW Regional Banking (KRU) (<a href="http://investwithanedge.com/kru-krs-new-proshares-cover-regional-banks" target="_blank">KRU &amp; KRS launch article</a>)</li>
<li>ProShares Short KBW Regional Banking (KRS)</li>
<li>SPDR KBW Bank ETF (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/kbe#">KBE</a>)</li>
<li>SPDR KBW Capital Markets ETF (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/kce#">KCE</a>)</li>
<li>SPDR KBW Insurance ETF (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/kie#">KIE</a>)</li>
<li>SPDR KBW Mortgage Finance ETF (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/kme#">KME</a>) (<a href="http://investwithanedge.com/spdr-kbw-mortgage-finance-kme-begins-trading" target="_blank">KME launch article</a>)</li>
<li>SPDR KBW Regional Banking ETF (<a class="ticker" href="/stock/kre#">KRE</a>)</li>
</ol>
Disclosure covering writer, editor, and publisher:  No positions in any of the securities mentioned.  No positions in any of the companies or ETF sponsors mentioned.  No income, revenue, or other compensation (either directly or indirectly) received from, or on behalf of, any of the companies or ETF sponsors mentioned.
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ACGL

ITUB

PowerShares Introduces Four KBW Financial ETFs

Goldman Sachs (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/gs#NYSE">GS</a>), the largest U.S. investment bank delivers third-quarter results today before the market opens and analysts are calling for a profit of $2.28 per share during the quarter on revenue of $8.09 billion.
That's a far cry from the $3.05 per share average estimate just a month ago and nowhere near the $3.03 billion, or $5.25 per share, Goldman earned in the year earlier period.
Still, Goldman is a marquee name. There are 59 ETFs that offer exposure to Goldman, but oddly enough, the stock doesn't get a double-digit allocation in any of them.
Here are the ETFs with the heaviest Goldman exposure. Data courtesy of ETFChannel.com.
1) iShares Dow Jones US Broker-Dealers ETF (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/iai#NYSE">IAI</a>): 
IAI has an 8.9% weight to Goldman, but be careful because IAI's volume is less than 91,000 shares per day.
2) SPDR KBW Capital Markets ETF (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/kce#NYSE">KCE</a>): 
KCE offers a 7.7% allocation to Goldman, but volume is less than 100,000 shares per day.
3) Guggenheim Global Exchanges, Brokers ETF (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/exb#NYSE">EXB</a>): 
EXB's 5.6% weight to Goldman isn't going to be enough to move an ETF that averages barely more than 700 shares per day in volume.
4) iShares Dow Jones US Financial Services ETF (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/iyg#NYSE">IYG</a>): 
IYG allocates 5.4% to Goldman and the volume is superior to the aforementioned choices.
5) Financial Select Sector SPDR (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/xlf#NYSE">XLF</a>): 
Goldman gets a 5% weight in XLF and with Bank of America (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/bac#NYSE">BAC</a>) also reporting before the bell, XLF will certainly be in play.
<div class="benzinga-slideshow">
 
 <div class="benzinga-slideshow-slide">
 <img src="https://cdn.benzinga.com/files/goldman_2.jpg?optimize=medium&amp;dpr=1&amp;auto=webp&amp;height=600&amp;width=400&amp;fit=crop" alt="" class="benzinga-slideshow-slide-image" /> 
 </div>
 </div>

Guidance

Global

Movers

ETFs For Goldman Sachs Earnings 

<a rel="attachment wp-att-17310" href="http://etfdailynews.com/blog/2010/08/19/etfs-for-increased-ma-activity-mna-sii-q-hew-kce-ms-gs/ma-2/"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-17310" title="M&amp;A" src="http://etfdailynews.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/MA.bmp" alt="" width="110" height="110" /></a>As companies continue to put out good earnings reports and cash flow lending comes back to life, it appears that there is an improved market sentiment in the mergers and acquisitions spectrum.
According to a report by <a href="http://www.mergermarket.com/pdf/Deal_Drivers_NA_H1_2010.pdf" >mergermarket and Merrill DataSite</a>, the first six months of 2010 has a relatively active M&amp;A season and the trend is expected to continue for the rest of the year.  The first half of 2010 witnessed 1,701 deals resulting in transactions of $362.3 billion with value increasing 8.7% from the same time period a year ago.
Another trend indicating an uptick in M&amp;A activity is that private equity firms posted 249 exits worth a combined $41.6 billion during the first six months of the year, compared to 337 exits totaling $35 billion for the entire year of 2009. 
As for the future of M&amp;A, it is expected that consolidation of community banks, asset sales, spin-offs and divestitures of larger banks’ non-core operations, the increased appetite of technology companies for media companies and digital assets as well as increased deal making in the energy, oil and has sector is expected to allow the sector to remain busy for the remainder of the year.  The report also indicated that there are sector-specific regulatory developments that may drive an increase in M&amp;A through the second half of 2010.
Some ways to cash in on this anticipated increase in M&amp;A activity is through the following ETFs:
<ul>
<li>IQ Merger Arbitrage ETF (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/mna#NYSE">MNA</a>), which seeks to achieve capital appreciation by investing in global companies for which there has been an announcement of a takeover by an acquirer. MNA’s goal is to generate returns that are representative of global merger arbitrage activity. As of August 17, 2010, MNA allocated 11.07% of its assets to Smith International (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/sii#NYSE">SII</a>), 8.27% to Qwest Communications (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/q#NYSE">Q</a>) and 7.17% to Hewitt Associates Inc (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/hew#NYSE">HEW</a>).</li>
<li>SPDR KBW Capital Markets ETF (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/kce#NYSE">KCE</a>), which holds stocks that benefit from increased M&amp;A. Its top holdings include Morgan Stanley (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/ms#NYSE">MS</a>) and Goldman Sachs (NYSE: <a class="ticker" href="/stock/gs#NYSE">GS</a>). </li>
</ul>
<a href="http://smartstops.net/" >Written By Kevin Grewal from Smart Stops</a>  Disclosure: No Positions
Kevin Grewal serves as the editor at <a href="http://www.smartstops.net/" >www.SmartStops.net</a>, where he focuses on mitigating risk and implementing exit strategies to preserve equity. Additionally, he is the editor at The ETF Institute, which is the only independent organization providing financial professionals with certification, education, and training pertaining to exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Prior to this, Grewal was an analyst at a small hedge fund where he constructed portfolios dealing with stock lending, exchange-traded funds, arbitrage mechanisms and alternative investments. He is an expert at dealing with ETFs and holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of California along with a MBA from the California State University, Fullerton.
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ETFs For Increased M&A Activity (MNA, SII, Q, HEW, KCE, MS, GS)

Keefe, Bruyette &amp; Woods, Inc., a full-service investment bank that specializes in the financial services sector, and a wholly owned subsidiary of KBW, Inc. (NYSE: KBW), announces upcoming(...)Read the rest of KBW Announces Change to KBW Regional Banking Index (KRX) 
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<li><a href='http://etfdailynews.com/blog/2009/07/30/kbw-announces-changes-to-kbw-bank-index-kbe-kbw-regional-banking-index-kre-and-kbw-capital-markets-index-kce/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: KBW Announces Changes to KBW Bank Index (KBE), KBW Regional Banking Index (KRE), and KBW Capital Markets Index (KCE)'>KBW Announces Changes to KBW Bank Index (KBE), KBW Regional Banking Index (KRE), and KBW Capital Markets Index (KCE)</a></li>
<li><a href='http://etfdailynews.com/blog/2009/07/22/kbw-announces-changes-to-kbw-regional-banking-index-kre/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: KBW Announces Changes to KBW Regional Banking Index (KRE)'>KBW Announces Changes to KBW Regional Banking Index (KRE)</a></li>
</ol>

KBW Announces Change to KBW Regional Banking Index (KRX)

“The insurance sector has been red hot. The insurance sector ETF, the SPDR KBW Insurance (NYSE: KIE), has the highest percentage of its component companies reporting earnings this week (56%)(...)Read the rest of Can Earnings Reports Keep The Momentum Going For The Insurance ETF? 
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<ol>
<li><a href='http://etfdailynews.com/blog/2010/04/01/low-rates-should-create-big-profits-in-the-insurance-etf-kie/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Low Rates Should Create Big Profits In The Insurance ETF (KIE)'>Low Rates Should Create Big Profits In The Insurance ETF (KIE)</a></li>
<li><a href='http://etfdailynews.com/blog/2009/08/13/kbw-announces-changes-to-kbw-bank-index-kbe-kbw-insurance-index-kie-and-kbw-capital-markets-index-kce/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: KBW Announces Changes to KBW Bank Index (KBE), KBW Insurance Index (KIE), and KBW Capital Markets Index (KCE)'>KBW Announces Changes to KBW Bank Index (KBE), KBW Insurance Index (KIE), and KBW Capital Markets Index (KCE)</a></li>
<li><a href='http://etfdailynews.com/blog/2009/06/26/kbw-announces-changes-to-the-following-etfs-kbe-kie-and-kre/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: KBW Announces Changes to The Following ETF’s (KBE), (KIE), and (KRE)'>KBW Announces Changes to The Following ETF’s (KBE), (KIE), and (KRE)</a></li>
</ol>

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ACTV

AFMC

AFSM

AMLP

AMNA

AMZA

ANEW

ANGL

ARKF

ARKK

ARKQ

ARKW

ARKX

ARTY

ASHR

ASHS

ATMP

AVEM

AVES

AVUV

BAPR

BBCB

BBRE

BBSC

BDCZ

BITO

BITQ

BITS

BIZD

BKLN

BKSE

BLCN

BLOK

BMVP

BOIL

BUYZ

CALF

CBON

CBSE

CEMB

CHIQ

CIBR

CLOU

CNXT

CNYA

COIN

CORP

CQQQ

CXSE

DAPP

DBEM

DBEU

DBJP

DEEP

DFAS

Comments

SPDR S&P Capital Markets ETF

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Ultime notizie per SPDR S&P Capital Markets ETF (ARCA:KCE)

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