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February 16, 2012 at 10:57 AM
New products introduced over the last week include five new ETFs from iShares and one from Market Vectors, and a new strategic income fund from Sierra.
In addition, CLS Investments was named advisor to a fund from the AdvisorOne family of funds.
Here are the latest developments of interest to advisors:
1) iShares Launches Five Global Commodity Producer Equity ETFs
BlackRock Inc. announced Feb. 2 that its iShares ETFs business has launched five funds focused on commodity producers. They offer the benefit of access to companies involved in the production of the commodity without exposure to physical storage or other costs associated with commodity ownership. They include only companies at, or near, the initial phase of production of the commodity, which are more sensitive to fluctuations in the underlying commodity price; companies further down the production cycle are impacted by a number of factors in addition to commodity prices.
The new global equity-based funds include the first to express a view on global energy prices. They are iShares MSCI Global Agriculture Producers Fund (VEGI), iShares MSCI Global Energy Producers Fund (FILL), iShares MSCI Global Select Metals & Mining Producers Fund (PICK), iShares MSCI Global Gold Miners Fund (RING) and iShares MSCI Global Silver Miners Fund (SLVP). All five funds track MSCI indices, utilizing a unique methodology to identify companies with more sensitivity to underlying commodity prices.
2) Market Vectors Launches First Unconventional Oil & Gas ETF (FRAK)
Market Vectors ETFs announced Wednesday the launch of Market Vectors Unconventional Oil & Gas ETF (FRAK), the first U.S.-listed ETF designed to provide investors with pure-play exposure to this fast-growing segment of the energy sector, which can include efforts in coal bed methane, coal seam gas, shale oil, shale gas, tight natural gas, tight oil and tight sands.
