|
|
|
|
| BondsOnline.com: instant access to and extensive coverage of over 3.5 million stocks, bonds, indexes and other securities covering major and emerging markets and exchanges across the globe. |
|
|
| Bonds Online |
|
|
| 5/10/2013Market Performance |
| Municipal Bonds |
|---|
|
S&P National Bond Index
|
3.00% |
|
|
S&P California Bond Index
|
2.96% |
|
|
S&P New York Bond Index
|
3.13% |
|
|
S&P National 0-5 Year Municipal Bond Index
|
0.70% |
|
|
| S&P/BGCantor US Treasury Bond |
400.09 |
|
| More |
|
| Income Equities: |
|---|
| Preferred Stocks |
|---|
|
S&P U.S. Preferred Stock Index
|
848.03 |
|
|
S&P U.S. Preferred Stock Index (CAD)
|
636.26 |
|
|
S&P U.S. Preferred Stock Index (TR)
|
1,701.05 |
|
|
S&P U.S. Preferred Stock Index (TR) (CAD)
|
1,276.26 |
|
|
| REITs |
|---|
|
S&P REIT Index
|
174.07 |
|
|
S&P REIT Index (TR)
|
425.30 |
|
|
| MLPs |
|---|
|
S&P MLP Index
|
2,469.58 |
|
|
S&P MLP Index (TR)
|
5,428.50 |
|
|
See Data
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Don’t judge an ETF by its cover |
MarketWatch - Jan. 6, 2010 - by John Spence
Probably beating a dead horse here, but doing your homework with ETFs can’t be stressed enough as the number and complexity of the products continues to boom.
That was one of the themes of the last ETF Investing column on the troubles of U.S. Natural Gas Fund (UNG) in 2009. The fund lost more than 50% last year, and its massive inflows reveal investors lost a bundle trying to time a bottom in natural-gas prices. Morningstar estimates investors lost $1.5 billion in 2009 betting on the natural-gas ETF.
Aside from plunging natural-gas prices, the ETF lost money rolling futures contracts as a result of “contango.” The fund also has tax treatment that can catch investors off-guard because it’s structured as a limited partnership.
OK, enough picking on U.S. Natural Gas Fund. But the bottom line is that ETF investors need to understand what they’re buying. Read column on UNG.
Nicholas Colas, ConvergEx Group chief market strategist, stresses this lesson in a note today in which he says for ETFs, the devil is in the details.
“What you may see on the surface is not really what makes something tick. That magic is hidden far below, in the details of an object. Or a person. Or an investment,” Colas writes.
“That aphorism is especially useful when you approach the world of exchange-traded funds,” he added. “The details matter — whether they be in portfolio construction, reweightings, management fees or the index being tracked.”
As an example, Colas compares a trio of ETFs tracking small-, mid- and large-cap U.S. stocks.
“The weighting in financial stocks is 4 points higher in the IJR (S&P 600 small cap ETF) and MDY (S&P 400 mid cap ETF) than it is the SPY (S&P 500 large cap ETF). Other major shifts in sector weights include tech, energy and industrials,” he wrote.
“You may think you are buying a small-cap ETF with the IJR (and you are), but you are also buying a healthy dose of financial overweighting versus the S&P 500,” Colas says.
Some investors may also be surprised to learn that while SPY is seen as a large-cap diversified ETF, just 10 names represent nearly 20% of the tracking index, the S&P 500.
If anything, ETFs will get even more complicated as they push into active strategies.
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Partner Market Place |
|
|
|
| Stuff to look at |
Yield and Income Newsletter: A must have for income investors. subscribe NOW
S&P Commentary and Newsletters: S&P
|
|
| BondsOnline Advisor |
Income Security Recommendation January 2013 Issue.
Keep up with monthly, in-depth coverage of fixed income market strategies, commentary, and insights as seen by our sources. Sign up for the free BondsOnline Advisor now!
Unsubscribe here [+] |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
