ComStage Launches Swathe Of U.S. Govt Debt ETFs

ComStage has launched five exchange traded funds (ETFs) mostly focused on shorting U.S. Treasuries, the same week that short-dated U.S. sovereign debt yielded zero percent for the first time in history.

The ETF arm of Commerzbank listed five funds on the Deutsche Börse today, with four of them tracking an index of 10-year U.S. Treasury futures (ticker E570), shorting the 10-year Treasury future (E571), shorting the Treasury bond future (E572) and double shorting the Treasury bond future (E573). They all have annual fees of 0.20 percent.

The timing of the launches is fortuitous because three-month T-bills were sold with zero yield this week, as investors are still clamouring for safe havens in anticipation of rising interest rates.

Recent BlackRock data revealed that shorter duration bond ETFs gained $5.7 billion in September, the third month in a row to draw in more than $5 billion to this asset class. Of those flows, 40 percent went to U.S. Treasury ETFs.

These new Luxembourg-domiciled ETFs start trading on 14 October and have a base currency of USD.

Commerzbank also launched a euro currency-hedged commodity ETF, excluding agriculture, for fees of 0.35 percent (ticker C099).