PowerShares

PowerShares released a new exchange-traded fund on Friday that seeks to track the performance of several closed-end funds. While returns have yet to be published as the product is brand new, high fees may quickly send it to rest in peace in the ETF grave. The fund acts as a generous tax shelter for investors, [...]

What is good enough for individual investors is apparently good enough for governments. A fresh look into China’s holdings has revealed a staggering $9.6 billion invested in US traded ETFs. Although most of the Chinese holdings are in pure indexing funds like the SPDR (SPY: Quote, Profile, Advanced Chart, News) and Powershares QQQ (QQQQ: Quote, [...]

PowerShares has filed to create 10 new small cap ETFs to take advantage of extreme investor demand for niche industry ETFs. Small cap stock funds have been in heavy demand, with investors betting small names will outperform larger companies in a year of recovery. The ten new proposed funds are as follows: 1. PowerShares S&P [...]

WisdomTree has filed with the SEC to create two new funds that track the change of the American dollar against a basket of world currencies. The new funds will compete with PowerShares US DB Dollar ETF (UUP: Quote, Profile, Advanced Chart, News), which has attracted more than $3 billion from investors. The WisdomTree Rising Dollar [...]

Investors who were bearish on the dollar during recession are flocking back into the USD for safety. The PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish Fund (UUP: Quote, Profile, Advanced Chart, News), which tracks twice the daily return of the US Dollar, will have to issue 240 million new shares just to keep up with the [...]

Among all different types of investors and groups, exchange-traded funds added the most municipal bonds than any other. In total, municipal bond holdings increased 28% to $5.1 billion. Municipal bond funds are one of the fastest growing segments in the exchange-traded fund industry, especially with the addition of more than 20 funds in the past [...]

PowerShares has filed with the SEC to tap into a highly demanded exchange-traded fund niche. In the filing, four funds, three sector specific bond funds, and one convertible bond fund are outlined to tap into incredible demand for fixed income ETFs. The four funds are as follows: 1. PowerShares Financial Corporate Bond Portfolio 2. PowerShares [...]

Deutsche Bank’s PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish Fund (UUP: Quote, Profile, Advanced Chart, News) ran out of shares as investors bought the fund to hedge against changes in the US dollar. The fund, which has net assets of $500 million, has experienced dramatic popularity as an easily traded play on the US dollar. After [...]

Currency ETFs have experienced a difficult time gaining traction on the NYSE. However, one fund is finding a niche in predicting Fed changes in monetary policy. The PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish Fund (UUP: Quote, Profile, Advanced Chart, News) has option investors reeling to place their bets on what direction the Fed will take [...]

Closed-end funds have long been criticized for being overpriced in market rallies and underpriced as stock prices fall. However, PowerShares may have a solution: create a clause that opens closed-end funds when fund values are significantly lower than asset values. In three new fund offerings, PowerShares will automatically convert its funds to ETFs if they [...]