Leveraged

Four banks ( Citigroup Inc., C -2.32% Morgan Stanley, MS -2.52% UBS AG UBS +1.42% and Wells Fargo WFC -1.59% & Co.have been fined more than $7.3 million dollars and have had to pay $1.8 million in restitution to customers by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) for the alleged sale of leveraged and inverse Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in 2008 and 2009.

Euphoria over European debt crisis proposals continued this week, as well as additional positive news about strengthening of the U.S. economy, fueling the biggest monthly market rally since 1974.  The DOW gained 339 points to close above 12,000 at 12,208. Top ETF gainers for the past 4 weeks include: ERX Direxion Daily Energy Bull 3x Shares +58.9% [...]

ERX, Direxion”s Daily Energy Bull 3x Shares (ERX), is currently among today’s leading gainers in the leveraged ETF sector, as the energy sector rebounds, posting an intraday range thus far of 51.77 to 53.33, currently trading near 53 per share, up mid day over 5% relative to yesterday’s close. Leveraged bull and bear oriented ETFs [...]

Direxion Funds, one of the leading issuers of leveraged ETFs, has expanded its lineup with the launch of four new funds. The new ETFs are designed to leverage 300% of the daily performance (or 300% of the inverse) of the Agribusiness sector and Russia. According to the press release, the new funds are listed as: [...]

Direxion, a prominent issuer of leveraged ETFs, is intending to execute a 1 for 5 reverse split on shares of its Daily Large Cap Bear 3x Shares (BGZ). The split will be applied to its Daily Mid Cap Bear 3x Shares (MWN), Daily Developed Markets Bear 3x Shares (DPK) and Daily Semiconductor Bear 3x Shares [...]

Direxion, the ETF issuer known for its bull and bear leveraged funds, has just launched another four ETFs with double exposure. The new ETFs will provide long and short access to both the retail and natural gas industries. The following are the four recently launched funds: 1.  Direxion Daily Retail Bull 2X Shares (RETL) 2.  [...]

Direxion, the ETF issuer popular for its line of leveraged funds, has announced an upcoming reverse share split on four of its triple leveraged ETFs. The ETFs scheduled for the reverse split on July 8, 2010 are: 1. Direxion Daily Energy Bear 3x Shares (ERY: Profile, Quote, Advanced Chart, News) 2. Direxion Daily Real Estate [...]

Through structured products, exchange-traded funds are earning another use by the banking industry. Normally centered on popular indexes, structured products can better track returns with exchange-traded funds. Two banks, Bank of America and Credit Suisse, both issued notes this week using exchange-traded funds as their underlying indexes. Bank of America launched a two-year leveraged note [...]

Following a near 10% plunge in the US stock markets just two weeks ago, the SEC has released new circuit breakers to prohibit future declines. The rules will come into effect on December 10, 2010 on a trial basis. At present, the guidelines allow for circuit breakers on stocks, but the SEC is expected to [...]

IndexIQ took home the coveted “Most Innovative ETF” award for 2009 from Capital Link. For the first time ever, one company, IndexIQ, earned the honor in two categories: ETFs and indexes. The IndexIQ’s IQ Hedge Multi-Strategy Tracker ETF (QAI: Quote, Profile, Advanced Chart, News) took home the Most Innovative ETF 2009 award, while its underlying [...]