Friday May 18, 2012
As EZM (WisdomTree MidCap Earnings Fund) recently passed its 5-year anniversary, I had the pleasure of speaking to Jeremy Schwartz (Director of Research at WisdomTree) about the fund and some of the dynamics...
"Caught between the volatile but exciting SmallCaps and the more established and heavily researched LargeCaps, MidCap stocks tend to be overlooked. But investors should consider this asset class: For the majority of rolling periods within the last 30 years, MidCaps out-performed both large and small caps.
In fact, MidCaps have historically outperformed SmallCaps heading into recessions, and outperformed LargeCaps coming out.
However, picking a winning MidCap fund manager has proven difficult. After all, if mid-caps can be characterized as the small cap companies that have succeeded, they're also made up of large caps who have fallen out of favor.
Navigating between next year's winners and losers is no easy task, and the majority of active managers have struggled to beat the S&P MidCap 400 Index.
That's why we are pleased with the performance of EZM. It has outperformed the S&P MidCap 400 Index since inception and it has also beat the vast majority of mid cap managers - 98% of its peer group as defined by Morningstar on a 3-year basis."
You can learn more about EZM's earnings-weighted methodology and WisdomTree's entire Earnings ETF Family - WisdomTree Research - Earnings Family Reaches 5 Year Record. (opens a PDF). Or you can also check out the EZM Profile Listing
Wednesday May 16, 2012
Van Eck Global has added a new high yield corporate bond ETF to its lineup...
- HYEM - Market Vectors Emerging Markets High Yield Bond ETF
The new bond ETF tracks the Bank of America Merrill Lynch High Yield US Emerging Markets Liquid Corporate Plus Index (EMHY) that according to Van Eck, consists of dollar-denominated bonds issued by non-sovereign emerging markets issuers that are rated below investment grade and issued in the major domestic or eurobond markets.
The fund has 62 constituents and the top three are Petroleos de Venezuela SA, Vedanta Resources PLC, and Country Garden Holdings. You can see all of the holdings as well as other details on the HYEM fact sheet. Or if you want to see similar funds, check out the...
Tuesday May 15, 2012
Not only do we have a new ETF, but it comes from a new ETF provider as well. Arrow Investment Advisors has debuted their first exchange traded fund...
- GYLD - Arrow Dow Jones Global Yield ETF
The new fund tracks the Dow Jones Global Composite Yield Index, which targets the 150 highest yielding investable securities across the globe. It has 30 securities across five different international segments - real estate, master limited partnerships (MLPs), equity, sovereign debt and corporate debt.
The fund is rebalanced quarterly and as of Friday's close, GYLD is trading at $24.75.
Monday May 14, 2012
Earlier this month, UBS rolled out a new ETN focusing on commodities...
- BLND - ETRACS DJ-UBS Commodity Index 2-4-6 Blended Futures ETN
The new note targets 28 different commodities (like Energy, Agriculture Products, and Metals). And in order to counter the contango effect, BLND tracks three different indexes - Dow Jones-UBS Commodity Index 2 Month Forward, 4 Month Forward and 6 Month Forward. By using these three benchmarks, UBS wants HYEM to avoid front-month contract exposure.
As of today, BLND is trading around $24.47 and if you want to see similar notes and funds, then check out the...
