NEW YORK (HedgeWorld.com)–Fresco Index Shares Funds, a unit of UBS Global Asset Management, Inc., announced that it has received approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission to distribute its new exchange traded funds in the United States.
Fresco has planned a celebration, cocktails and hors d’oeuvres on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange to mark the launch of these shares on the Big Board, Monday, Oct. 21.
“We believe in the passive index concept,” said Kevin E. Pilarski, the director of global derivatives for Dow Jones Indexes and STOXX Ltd., Friday. Mr. Pilarski coordinates the licensing strategy and provides support to exchanges that trade products link to these indexes.
“Is now a good time to launch an equity product? Certainly not when markets are as volatile as they are. But that’s the good thing about ETFs. There’s never a good or bad time. Now is as good as any.” The products will prove valuable for hedging, for directional plays or for arbitrage, he said.
The new funds are the Fresco Dow Jones EURO STOXX 50 Fund (FEZ) and the Fresco Dow Jones STOXX 50 Fund (FEU). They are based, as the names imply, upon the Dow Jones EURO STOXX 50 and the Dow Jones STOXX 50 indexes, which are the most widely recognized proxies for the Euro zone and European markets, respectively.