Daily ETF Watch: 6 Leveraged Funds Launch

ProShares, the world’s biggest purveyor of leveraged and inverse exchange-traded funds, today launched six new ETFs in the form of three bull-and-bear pairs that will target three separate industries: biotechnology, homebuilders, and oil and gas exploration and production.

To be sure, Bethesda, Maryland-based ProShares has, in the past few years, developed its product franchise well beyond the confines of trader-focused leveraged and inverse products. It has, due to the variety of its product line, done justice to its desire to be called the “Alternative ETF Company.”

That said, the leveraged and inverse space continues to be prospective for speculative trader types or investors looking for short-term hedges to some of their positions. So it is that the concept is being systematically extended to more and more sectors and to popular indexes in the investment markets.

The three new pairs of funds pairs, their tickers and their annual expense ratios are as follows:

• UltraPro Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF will have its primary listing on Nasdaq with the ticker “UBIO.” It has an annual expense ratio of 95 basis points, or $95 for each $10,000 invested.
• UltraPro Short Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF will also have its primary listing on Nasdaq, with the ticker “ZBIO,” and an annual expense ratio of 95 basis points.
• ProShares Ultra Homebuilders & Supplies ETF will also have its primary listing on NYSE Arca, with the ticker “HBU,” and an annual expense ratio of 95 basis points.
• ProShares UltraShort Homebuilders & Supplies ETF will also have its primary listing on NYSE Arca, with the ticker “HBZ,” and an annual expense ratio of 95 basis points.
• ProShares UltraShort Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF will also have its primary listing on NYSE Arca, with the ticker “SOP,” and an annual expense ratio of 95 basis points.
• ProShares Ultra Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF will also have its primary listing on NYSE Arca, with the ticker “UOP,” and an annual expense ratio of 95 basis points.

FlexShares Filings

FlexShares, Northern Trust’s ETF arm that has carved out a niche of “smart beta” funds with in-house indexes since its debut about four years ago, this week put two more such funds into registration—one focused on long-dated corporate credits and the other on “quality” large-cap stocks.

The two funds are:

• FlexShares Credit-Scored US Long Corporate Bond Index Fund
• FlexShares US Quality Large Cap Index Fund, which will have its primary listing on Nasdaq with the ticker “QLC.”

The corporate fund is essentially a longer-dated version of the already-existing FlexShares Credit-Scored US Corporate Bond Index (SKOR | D), and the large-cap fund adds to the growing family of FlexShares “Quality” ETFs that focus on high-quality companies with solid earnings records, able management teams and strong cash flow.

Northern Trust, whose nearly $9 billion in assets under management make it the No. 16 U.S. ETF sponsor, has harnessed both self-indexing and various takes on enhanced indexing to propel its fortunes. While still relatively small, it is considered to be one of the more successful late arrivals, largely because it has successfully found gaps in product offerings.

As, noted the large-cap fund will trade under the symbol QLC. But neither fund yet has a proposed annual expense ratio and the proposed corporate debt fund doesn’t yet have a ticker either.