New ETF Launches and Top Performers

Hedged commodities, German sovereign bonds and Japanese equities are among the targets of the latest ETF launches

Lee Davidson 6 July, 2012 | 2:21PM
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New Launches July 2-6
ETF Securities Launches EUR-Hedged Commodity ETCs on Borsa Italiana
This week, ETF Securities launched eighteen exchange-traded commodities (ETCs) on the Borsa Italiana, all of which offer euro-hedged exposure to various commodity benchmarks as measured by Dow Jones-UBS indices. ETF Securities announced that the ETCs would be hedged on a daily basis in order to reflect as nearly as possible the performance of the underlying commodities in USD terms. By hedging daily as opposed to monthly, ETF Securities argues slippage could be reduced significantly. These products are suitable for investors looking to reduce their portfolio's exposure to exchange-rate risk in the form of euro volatility, specifically. Historically, exchange-rates have been a significant contributor to the performance of international asset returns.

db X-trackers Expands ETF Range in Italy
This week, db X-trackers listed an ETFs on the Borsa Italiana. The ETF tracks the performance of Japanese equities as measured by the MSCI Japan index. While db x-trackers already has ETFs tracking the MSCI Japan index, this newly-offered ETF gives investors the same equity exposure but removes the foreign exchange risk through a EUR currency-hedge. 

Source and PIMCO Team Up to Launch German Sovereign Bond ETF
Source has launched a new ETF on the Deutsche Börse that is designed to track the Markit iBoxx € Germany Index. The new Source PIMCO ETF, managed by PIMCO, is a physically replicated fund made up of German sovereign bonds with a residual maturity of at least one year and outstanding volume of EUR 2 bn or more.

Here are the details of the latest launches:

Best and Worst Performers June 25-29
Exchange-traded products (ETPs) tracking corn, wheat, coffee, and other agricultural commodities continued to surge last week due to adverse weather conditions in some of the world's major grain producing regions. The current US drought is the worst seen in over 20 years and has spurred a frenzy of buying activity, particularly in corn futures. This severe weather has coincided with corn's crucial pollination phase, thus accentuating the bull-case that corn yields will be substantially less than anticipated despite record levels of new planting this year.

Volatility-linked products were among last week's worst performing ETPs. Volatility-linked products typically spike when expectations for future volatility (i.e. 'fear') rise. Last week, European leaders agreed to allow troubled eurozone banks to have direct access to bailout funds for their recapitalization needs. With this agreement, broad stock indices climbed and volatility indices declined as markets viewed the news positively. Overall, for the month of June, broad equity indices like the S&P 500 and STOXX Europe 600 exhibited rather stellar performance.

Here are the details for last week's best and worst performing ETPs:

The information contained within is for educational and informational purposes ONLY. It is not intended nor should it be considered an invitation or inducement to buy or sell a security or securities noted within nor should it be viewed as a communication intended to persuade or incite you to buy or sell security or securities noted within. Any commentary provided is the opinion of the author and should not be considered a personalised recommendation. The information contained within should not be a person's sole basis for making an investment decision. Please contact your financial professional before making an investment decision.

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About Author

Lee Davidson

Lee Davidson  is Head of Manager and Quantitative Research.

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