Today's listings
Switzerland
PowerShares cross-lists two popular ETFs into Europe
Invesco PowerShares is cross-listing two of its most successful ETFs into Switzerland, with multiple currency options. They are:
PowerShares EQQQ Nasdaq-100 UCITS ETF (EQEU, EQCH, EQGB)
PowerShares US High Yield Fallen Angels UCITS ETF (FAEU, FACH)
The last two letters in each ticker denote the issues' currency.
EQEU will track the NASDAQ, the technologies-heavy American index. PowerShares NASDAQ tracker in the US has $52 billion in assets under management, making it one of the most successful ETFs in the world. PowerShares has recently set about listing it on more and more European exchanges, in various different currencies.
FAEU will track the debts of fallen angels. Fallen angels are companies whose debts have been downgraded from investment grade to junk by ratings agencies. The logic behind a fallen angels ETF is that downgraded corporate debts are often dumped quickly and heavily, as funds often have mandates preventing them holding junk debts. This quick heavy dumping presents an opportunity for investors - and ETFs - because it often means that the fallen angels' bonds are oversold and that their yields do not reflect their risk.
Today's best ETF articles from around the web
Active managers taking 400bps from pensioners
Britain's Financial Conduct Authority has criticised pension funds for their opaque fees and high profits. The criticism comes in light of a new survey which found active pension funds can take as much as 400 basis points from pension pots every year. Passively managed funds, the FCA found, charged significantly less.
Jason Zweig: active managers can be useful
ETF.com interviews Jason Zweig, a Wall St Journal columnist. Zweig says he doesn't believe in active management as there is no evidence that it works. But active managers can be useful, he says, because they can give people the confidence to invest their money. Which is almost always a good thing and something passive products cannot as easily do.
Price-earnings on equity ETFs widening
Price-earnings ratios on US stocks are widening. But while widening PE ratios can suggest a bubble, there may well be an innocent explanation: hurricanes. Analysts have blamed successive hurricanes for lowering their profits. This is plausible, especially given the large effects they had on the energy industry. And the energy industry accounts for a large fraction of the stock market's profits.
