Van Eck Launches Small-Cap ETFs for Russia and Germany
Two international small-cap exchange traded funds were recently launched by Van Eck Global.
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Crisis in Japan
The continuing crisis in Japan caused Japanese equities to fall sharply on Monday and stocks continued their slide on Tuesday. The largest exchange traded fund focused on Japan, the iShares MSCI Japan Index Fund (EWJ), fell 7% on Monday.
Oil Strikes Back
Violence in the Middle East has caused oil prices to climb to a 2 1/2 year high. According to the Wall Street Journal, light, sweet crude oil for April delivery settled $2.66, or 2.7%, higher at $99.63 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Growth Worries China Investors
The $8 billion FTSE China 25 Index Fund (FXI) is down over 9% from a high achieved in early November. That compares to a 6% gain for the S&P 500 over the same time period.
Migration from Mutual Funds to ETFs Continues
Investors continue to embrace exchange traded funds while dropping mutual funds from their portfolios. That’s the finding of the latest industry study by Cambridge, Massachusets-based Cogent Research.
Schwab Adds Mid-Cap and REIT ETFs
Schwab has expanded its line-up of exchange traded funds with the introduction of a mid-cap ETF and REIT ETF.
India Sell-Off
Shares of Indian exchange traded funds closed at a four-month low on Friday as concerns about inflation and interest rates continued to weigh on investors. The WisdomTree India Earnings Fund (EPI) closed at $24.16, down 16% from the most recent high on November 5.
Asian Gold ETF Starts Trading
ETF Securities has added another physical gold ETF to its line-up of precious metal exchange traded funds. The ETFS Physical Asian Gold Shares (AGOL) is the first gold ETF to vault physical gold in Asia.
Gold Takes a Breather
Gold took a sharp move down last week reaching levels not seen since early December. The SPDR S&P Gold ETF (GLD) closed the week at $133.58, down nearly 4% from its high on December 31 before bouncing back slightly in today’s trading.
Name Change for Nuclear ETF
Van Eck has changed the name of the firm’s nuclear exchange traded fund to the Market Vectors Uranium+Nuclear ETF (NLR). The new name was selected to communicate to investors the relative weight of the uranium mining sub-sector among the seven nuclear energy sub-sectors represented in the DAXglobal® Nuclear Energy Index.