Derivatives in Active ETFs
(Dec 2012)
Over two and a half years ago, the SEC initiated a moratorium on approvals for new ETFs that made extensive use of derivatives such as options and futures contracts. Much of the concern at that time was that derivatives-based ETFs, particularly leveraged, inverse, and futures-based ETFs may not have investor protections or oversight commensurate with their level of risk. Regular readers of this blog know that we have spent a good deal of time discussing those issues in addition to our ...
Deliverable Interest Rate Swap Futures
(Dec 2012)
Interest rate swaps are important tools used by many financial and non-financial firms to manage their interest rate exposure. Earlier this week, the CME Group launched a new derivative product called Deliverable Interest Rate Swap Futures with the contention that the product offers "maximum efficiency for managing interest rate exposure." This move is close in spirit to the recent move by the Eris Exchange to offer interest rate swaps on an open exchange. Both of these products are designed...
Do Leveraged ETFs Contribute to Share Price Volatility?
(Nov 2012)
We've talked a lot about leveraged and inverse Exchange Traded Funds (LETFs)and the problems that can arise from their rebalancing. A recent paper from a group at York University asks two simple but interesting questions: does this rebalancing affect the volatility of the underlying assets? If so, can a sophisticated trader exploit that effect to achieve excess returns?
On the first question, the authors find two main results. First, the directional trades LETF providers and counterparties...
Mutual Funds Holding Leveraged and Inverse Leveraged ETFs
(Oct 2012)
While looking through recent SEC filings, an updated prospectus happened to catch our eye. The prospectus offers updated information concerning the investment strategy and details of two mutual funds: USFS Funds Limited Duration Government Fund (USLDX) and USFS Funds Tactical Asset Allocation Fund (USFSX).
The fund management company -- Pennant Management, Inc. -- states in this prospectus that "[USFSX] may invest up to 33% of its assets in leveraged ETFs and inverse ETFs, up to 10% of its...
ETFs are Finding Their Way into 401(k) Plans
(Aug 2012)
In a recent blog post we discussed how mutual fund fees can drastically reduce funds available for retirement (see "401(k) Fees Can Drastically Reduce Nest Egg"). We cited a paper from the Center for Retirement Research that studied a typical 401(k) plan's investment costs, which including advertising fees, administration fees, asset management fees, and trading costs total 1-2% of assets annually. The paper proposed boosting the returns of 401(k) plans by investing in passively managed and...
401(k) Fees Can Drastically Reduce Nest Egg
(Jun 2012)
A recent report conducted by Demos -- a New York City-based public policy organization -- points out that the high fees charged by 401(k)'s can cut nest eggs by 30% for median-income two-wage family.
Company-sponsored 401(k) plans often include a list of mutual funds in which employees can invest. Although these fees are disclosed on the individual fund prospectuses, the account statements from 401(k)'s generally do not include such fees (only the result of the fund performance net of fees)....
Is There No Tracking Error for ETNs?
(Apr 2012)
Some investors may think that while ETFs are subject to various tracking errors, ETNs are not. The argument goes that index-tracking ETFs often hold part or the entire portfolio underlying their targeted index and are thus subject to imperfect tracking and transaction costs. ETNs, on the other hand, are debt instruments, and have returns guaranteed by their issuers.
It turns out, however, that the daily return of an ETN investment may not necessarily equal the leverage ratio times the daily...
A Primer on Investment Companies
(Mar 2012)
Investment companies are entities that issue securities and whose primary business is investing in securities. We have written about investment companies in several of our posts (See blog posts on ETFS and Mutual Funds). This post provides a quick introduction to investment companies and the securities they issue. The three main types of investment companies according to federal securities regulation are: closed-end funds, unit investment trusts, and open-end funds.
Some of the main...
