Thursday, March 30, 2017

Spring 2017 ETP Forum – Registration Closing







Thank you to all who have already registered for next Friday’s Spring 2017 ETP Forum at The New York Athletic Club – given we are now approaching capacity for the venue, registration will close early next week.


Complete event information is available at www.expertseries.org

Additional updates on the event will continue to be available on Twitter via @Expert_Series

Video footage from the most recent ETP Forum is available on Expert Series TV at Expert Series TV

About The ETP Forum
This one-day symposium convenes some of the most widely recognized experts in Exchange-Traded-Funds and some of the brightest minds in Capital Management.  The ETP Forum features renowned speakers addressing cutting-edge topics within a vibrant and intimate learning atmosphere.  Now in its 5th year, this semi-annual conference continues to provide thought leadership on one of the most exciting investment vehicles in the market, namely Exchange-Traded-Funds.

We look forward to seeing you and thank you for reading ETF Global Perspectives!

_____________________________________________________________
Assumptions, opinions and estimates constitute our judgment as of the date of this material and are subject to change without notice.  ETF Global LLC (“ETFG”) and its affiliates and any third-party providers, as well as their directors, officers, shareholders, employees or agents (collectively ETFG Parties) do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, adequacy or timeliness of any information, including ratings and rankings and are not responsible for errors and omissions or for the results obtained from the use of such information and ETFG Parties shall have no liability for any errors, omissions, or interruptions therein, regardless of the cause, or for the results obtained from the use of such information. ETFG PARTIES DISCLAIM ANY AND ALL EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, SUITABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE.  In no event shall ETFG Parties be liable to any party for any direct, indirect, incidental, exemplary, compensatory, punitive, special or consequential damages, costs, expenses, legal fees, or losses (including, without limitation, lost income or lost profits and opportunity costs) in connection with any use of the information contained in this document even if advised of the possibility of such damages.

ETFG ratings and rankings are statements of opinion as of the date they are expressed and not statements of fact or recommendations to purchase, hold, or sell any securities or to make any investment decisions. ETFG ratings and rankings should not be relied on when making any investment or other business decision.  ETFG’s opinions and analyses do not address the suitability of any security.  ETFG does not act as a fiduciary or an investment advisor.  While ETFG has obtained information from sources they believe to be reliable, ETFG does not perform an audit or undertake any duty of due diligence or independent verification of any information it receives.


This material is not intended as an offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any security or other financial instrument. Securities, financial instruments or strategies mentioned herein may not be suitable for all investors.  Any opinions expressed herein are given in good faith, are subject to change without notice, and are only correct as of the stated date of their issue.  Prices, values, or income from any securities or investments mentioned in this report may fall against the interests of the investor and the investor may get back less than the amount invested.  Where an investment is described as being likely to yield income, please note that the amount of income that the investor will receive from such an investment may fluctuate.  Where an investment or security is denominated in a different currency to the investor's currency of reference, changes in rates of exchange may have an adverse effect on the value, price or income of or from that investment to the investor.

Monday, March 27, 2017

Quick Turns

Monday, March 27, 2017 - Stocks suffered their worst weekly decline since the November presidential election as political turmoil caused investors to recalibrate their expectations of President Trump's ability to pass its pro-growth agenda through Congress. This week's planned health-care bill vote was widely viewed as a key litmus test that would have far-reaching implications for the viability of Trump's agenda. Successful passage of health care legislation would enable Trump to move on to his remaining signature campaign items, such as tax cuts and deregulation. These market-friendly policy proposals have fueled the post-election rally and it is no surprise, therefore, that a selloff was precipitated after GOP lawmakers balked at an attempt to push the bill through Congress. Against this tumultuous backdrop, the S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average and NASDAQ 100 shed 1.4%, 1.5%, and 1.2% respectively.

The unraveling of the Trump reflation trade helped snap the 19 consecutive weeks of inflows into U.S. listed ETFs since the election. According to our fund flow report, U.S. listed ETFs registered nearly $415 million in outflows this week as investor enthusiasm for equities began to wane. Perceived beneficiaries of Trump's pro-growth agenda, such as financials and small caps, were hit particularly hard, with SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), Vanguard Small-Cap Index Fund (VB), and Financial Select SPDR Fund (XLF) posting redemptions of $3.9 billion, $727 million, and $614 million respectively.

Our Quant Movers list also captures this reversal of fortune for the Trump rally beneficiaries. Manufacturers, Small Caps and other domestically oriented sectors are well represented on this week's top Quant losers list, with funds such as VanEck Vectors Steel Index Fund (SLX), FlexShares STOXX Global Broad Infrastructure Index Fund (NFRA), and Schwab U.S. Small-Cap ETF (SCHA) all suffering large declines in their Quant scores. Unsurprisingly, our Quant losers list also features several financial funds, like iShares US Financial Services ETF (IYG) and iShares U.S. Broker-Dealers & Securities Exchanges ETF (IAI). In addition this week's market volatility, IAI was likely also hurt by Monday afternoon's botched software update at NYSE Arca, the largest listing venue for U.S. ETFs, which prevented hundreds of securities from successfully completing their closing auctions. NYSE Arca is the primary listing place for over 1,500 ETFs, including some of the most heavily traded securities in the world like SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI)SPDR Gold Trust (GLD). Given the growing prominence of ETFs and electronic trading and previous high profile trading glitches, this incident served as a reminder of some sources of fragility in a still nascent ETF marketplace.

To help prepare for a potential unraveling of the Trump trade, it's worthwhile to peruse our weekly Select List, which highlights the 5 most highly-rated ETFs by Sector, Geographic Region and Strategy as ranked by the ETFG Quant model to see which funds may offer the potential to weather a changing market environment.

Thank you for reading ETF Global Perspectives!

ETFG 21 Day Free Trial:  https://www.etfg.com/signup/quick

_____________________________________________________________
Assumptions, opinions and estimates constitute our judgment as of the date of this material and are subject to change without notice.  ETF Global LLC (“ETFG”) and its affiliates and any third-party providers, as well as their directors, officers, shareholders, employees or agents (collectively ETFG Parties) do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, adequacy or timeliness of any information, including ratings and rankings and are not responsible for errors and omissions or for the results obtained from the use of such information and ETFG Parties shall have no liability for any errors, omissions, or interruptions therein, regardless of the cause, or for the results obtained from the use of such information. ETFG PARTIES DISCLAIM ANY AND ALL EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, SUITABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE.  In no event shall ETFG Parties be liable to any party for any direct, indirect, incidental, exemplary, compensatory, punitive, special or consequential damages, costs, expenses, legal fees, or losses (including, without limitation, lost income or lost profits and opportunity costs) in connection with any use of the information contained in this document even if advised of the possibility of such damages.

ETFG ratings and rankings are statements of opinion as of the date they are expressed and not statements of fact or recommendations to purchase, hold, or sell any securities or to make any investment decisions. ETFG ratings and rankings should not be relied on when making any investment or other business decision.  ETFG’s opinions and analyses do not address the suitability of any security.  ETFG does not act as a fiduciary or an investment advisor.  While ETFG has obtained information from sources they believe to be reliable, ETFG does not perform an audit or undertake any duty of due diligence or independent verification of any information it receives.


This material is not intended as an offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any security or other financial instrument. Securities, financial instruments or strategies mentioned herein may not be suitable for all investors.  Any opinions expressed herein are given in good faith, are subject to change without notice, and are only correct as of the stated date of their issue.  Prices, values, or income from any securities or investments mentioned in this report may fall against the interests of the investor and the investor may get back less than the amount invested.  Where an investment is described as being likely to yield income, please note that the amount of income that the investor will receive from such an investment may fluctuate.  Where an investment or security is denominated in a different currency to the investor's currency of reference, changes in rates of exchange may have an adverse effect on the value, price or income of or from that investment to the investor.

Saturday, March 25, 2017

Halftime Leaderboard - ETF Global® Portfolio Challenge

March 25, 2017 – We have reached the halfway point in the Spring 2017 ETF Global® Portfolio Challenge and there has been no shortage of competition thus far.  As our participants continue to jockey for position atop the leaderboard, let’s observe who is in the lead as we enter the second half of the competition.

Spring 2017 ETFG Portfolio Challenge Top 10 – through 3/24

Name
School
Return
Ethan O’Donnell
St. John Fisher College
15.33%
Dan Dang
St. John Fisher College
14.04%
Vlad Shevtsov
University of Georgia
12.97%
Phat Huynh
St. John Fisher College
12.23%
Steven Barber
Rochester Institute of Tech
11.84%
Sagar Jain Prabhakar
University of Manitoba
10.25%
Catherine St. Clair
St. John Fisher College
9.54%
Kyle Reid
St. John Fisher College
9.09%
Jennifer  Amezquita
University of Utah
9.05%
Cole Smith
St. John Fisher College
8.32%

A few key takeaways from the first half leaderboard - St. John Fisher College boasts 6 students in the top 10, as it continues its impressive run as the Spring 2017 portfolio challenge’s top performing school!

We have a new leader, with Ethan O’Donnell supplanting Steven Barber for the number one spot this week.  Vlad Shevtsov made his first appearance in the top 5 this week, as he currently sits 3rd overall in the competition. Kyle Reid, Jennifer Amezquita, and Cole Smith all made their debuts in our top 10, ending the week in 8th, 9th, and 10th place respectively.  Jennifer represents the first student from the University of Utah to appear in our leaderboard!

Outperformance this week was powered by bets on precious metals, emerging markets and oil ETPs. Political turmoil helped reverse the Trump market rally and increase the appeal of previously out of favor defensive assets, like precious metals. The flight to defensive assets helped boost ETPs, like Direxion Daily Gold Miners Index Bull 3x Shares (NUGT), VanEck Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (GDXJ), and VelocityShares 3x Long Silver ETN (USLV), which were positions held by several students in our top 10.

Amid this domestic upheaval, emerging market assets have outperformed. Our student leaders took advantage of this momentum with positions in ETPs such as Direxion Daily Russia Bull 3x Shares (RUSL), Direxion Daily Brazil Bull 3X Shares (BRZU), and Direxion Daily MSCI India Bull 3X Shares (INDL).

Our leaders also benefited from bearish positions in oil, as swelling U.S. inventories weighed on the price of sector. ETPs like DB Crude Oil Double Short ETN (DTO) and Direxion Daily S&P Oil & Gas Exp. & Prod. Bear 3X Shares (DRIP) were key sources of outperformance for some of our leaders.

Looking ahead into the second half of the portfolio challenge, we expect to continue to see change atop our leaderboard and look forward to seeing who emerges from the competition!

Thank you for reading ETF Global Perspectives!

ETFG 21 Day Free Trial:  https://www.etfg.com/signup/quick

_____________________________________________________________
Assumptions, opinions and estimates constitute our judgment as of the date of this material and are subject to change without notice.  ETF Global LLC (“ETFG”) and its affiliates and any third-party providers, as well as their directors, officers, shareholders, employees or agents (collectively ETFG Parties) do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, adequacy or timeliness of any information, including ratings and rankings and are not responsible for errors and omissions or for the results obtained from the use of such information and ETFG Parties shall have no liability for any errors, omissions, or interruptions therein, regardless of the cause, or for the results obtained from the use of such information. ETFG PARTIES DISCLAIM ANY AND ALL EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, SUITABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE.  In no event shall ETFG Parties be liable to any party for any direct, indirect, incidental, exemplary, compensatory, punitive, special or consequential damages, costs, expenses, legal fees, or losses (including, without limitation, lost income or lost profits and opportunity costs) in connection with any use of the information contained in this document even if advised of the possibility of such damages.

ETFG ratings and rankings are statements of opinion as of the date they are expressed and not statements of fact or recommendations to purchase, hold, or sell any securities or to make any investment decisions. ETFG ratings and rankings should not be relied on when making any investment or other business decision.  ETFG’s opinions and analyses do not address the suitability of any security.  ETFG does not act as a fiduciary or an investment advisor.  While ETFG has obtained information from sources they believe to be reliable, ETFG does not perform an audit or undertake any duty of due diligence or independent verification of any information it receives.

This material is not intended as an offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any security or other financial instrument. Securities, financial instruments or strategies mentioned herein may not be suitable for all investors.  Any opinions expressed herein are given in good faith, are subject to change without notice, and are only correct as of the stated date of their issue.  Prices, values, or income from any securities or investments mentioned in this report may fall against the interests of the investor and the investor may get back less than the amount invested.  Where an investment is described as being likely to yield income, please note that the amount of income that the investor will receive from such an investment may fluctuate.  Where an investment or security is denominated in a different currency to the investor's currency of reference, changes in rates of exchange may have an adverse effect on the value, price or income of or from that investment to the investor.

Monday, March 20, 2017

Slow and Steady Raises

Monday, March 20, 2017 - Historically, March Madness brings positive stock gains - the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 9 out of the last 11 years with an average return of 2.1% and the S&P 500 rose 10 of the last 11 tournaments with an average gain of 2.2% - this trend continues thus far this tournament, after posting the first loss in 6 weeks, the S&P 500, NASDAQ and Dow Jones all rebounded slightly this past week as the Dow rose by .1%, the S&P 500 increased by .2%, and NASDAQ increased by .7%.

With trading volume down 15% from average, the biggest news of the week came on Wednesday when the Federal Open Market Committee raised short term interest rates by .25%, from .75% to 1%. This was the first time they raised them this year, but the second time in 3 months. U.S. and Global stocks rallied after Chairman Janet Yellen expressed confidence in the U.S. economy.

Most sectors performed fairly well as 6 of 10 managed to show gains this week with the largest coming from Real Estate, Utilities and technology, which posted increases of 1.24% .53% and .43% respectively.On the flip side, Health Care and Financials lost 1.08% and 1.37%.

On the M&A front, Intel announced their acquisition of Mobileye (MBLY) for $15 billion in cash, roughly 30% over the current trading price crating some large beneficiaries through their respective ETF ownership of Mobileye.  Reviewing our ETF Global Equity Exposure report, we see the 3 biggest holders of (MBLY) are ITEQ, Bluestar TA-BIGTECH Israel Technology ETF, EIS, Ishares MSCI Israel Capped ETF and ISRA, VanEck Vectors Israel ETF, which hold 14%, 8%, and 6.5% respectively.  It is no surprise that each of these ETFs had great returns this week, 4.61%, 2.66% and 2.16% respectively.

ETFG Quant Movers: The biggest gainers in our Quant Model this week were NGE, Global X MSCI Nigeria ETF, which gained 17.7%, QDEU, SPDR MSCI Germany Quality Mix ETF, which gained 11.62% and DDBI, Legg Mason Developed EX-US Diversified Core ETF 10.98%. All these funds are Non US broad equities. The Biggest Losers in our Quant Model this week were IWV, IShares Russell 3000 ETF, which lost 18.59%, IYF, IShares US Financials which lost 18.57%, and DXJ, WisdomTree Japan Hedged Equity Fund which lost 17.99%.

ETFG Select List: Similar to last week, this week we had another abundant amount of Funds making it to the top spot in the respective categories. HACK, PureFunds ISE Cyber Security ETF, in the Technology category, IDU, iShares US Utilities ETF, in the utilities category, NGE, Global X MSCI Nigeria ETF in the Middle East & Africa category, and HDAW, Deutsche X-trackers MSCI All World ex US High Dividend Yield Hedged Equity ETF, in the High Dividend Yield category.

Thank you for reading ETF Global Perspectives!

ETFG 21 Day Free Trial:  https://www.etfg.com/signup/quick

_____________________________________________________________
Assumptions, opinions and estimates constitute our judgment as of the date of this material and are subject to change without notice.  ETF Global LLC (“ETFG”) and its affiliates and any third-party providers, as well as their directors, officers, shareholders, employees or agents (collectively ETFG Parties) do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, adequacy or timeliness of any information, including ratings and rankings and are not responsible for errors and omissions or for the results obtained from the use of such information and ETFG Parties shall have no liability for any errors, omissions, or interruptions therein, regardless of the cause, or for the results obtained from the use of such information. ETFG PARTIES DISCLAIM ANY AND ALL EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, SUITABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE.  In no event shall ETFG Parties be liable to any party for any direct, indirect, incidental, exemplary, compensatory, punitive, special or consequential damages, costs, expenses, legal fees, or losses (including, without limitation, lost income or lost profits and opportunity costs) in connection with any use of the information contained in this document even if advised of the possibility of such damages.

ETFG ratings and rankings are statements of opinion as of the date they are expressed and not statements of fact or recommendations to purchase, hold, or sell any securities or to make any investment decisions. ETFG ratings and rankings should not be relied on when making any investment or other business decision.  ETFG’s opinions and analyses do not address the suitability of any security.  ETFG does not act as a fiduciary or an investment advisor.  While ETFG has obtained information from sources they believe to be reliable, ETFG does not perform an audit or undertake any duty of due diligence or independent verification of any information it receives.


This material is not intended as an offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any security or other financial instrument. Securities, financial instruments or strategies mentioned herein may not be suitable for all investors.  Any opinions expressed herein are given in good faith, are subject to change without notice, and are only correct as of the stated date of their issue.  Prices, values, or income from any securities or investments mentioned in this report may fall against the interests of the investor and the investor may get back less than the amount invested.  Where an investment is described as being likely to yield income, please note that the amount of income that the investor will receive from such an investment may fluctuate.  Where an investment or security is denominated in a different currency to the investor's currency of reference, changes in rates of exchange may have an adverse effect on the value, price or income of or from that investment to the investor.

Saturday, March 18, 2017

Week 4 Leaderboard - ETF Global Portfolio Challenge

March 18, 2017 - The first month of the Spring 2017 ETF Global® Portfolio Challenge has come to a close in what was a period marked by frequent change atop our leaderboard.  As our investors continue to vie for the top performing portfolio, let’s take a moment to examine the students who are currently in the lead and the portfolio selections that have propelled them to the top of the competition:

Spring 2017 ETFG Portfolio Challenge Top 10 – through 3/17


Name
School
Return
1
Steven Barber
Rochester Institute of Tech
18.16%
2
Catherine St. Clair
St. John Fisher College
15.57%
3
Ethan O’Donnell
St. John Fisher College
15.53%
4
Phat Huynh
St. John Fisher College
14.49%
5
Dan Dang
St. John Fisher College
10.80%
6
Vlad Shevtsov
University of Georgia
10.15%
7
Rania Aghoutane
ESSEC Business School
8.55%
8
Miguel Afonso
Nova School of Bus and Econ
8.29%
9
Sagar Jain Prabhakar
University of Manitoba
7.54%
10
Michael Usherovich
Wilfrid Laurier University
7.06%

St. John Fisher College continues to be well represented in our leaderboard, as they currently feature 4 students in our top 5! We also have a new leader this week, with Steven Barber from RIT vaulting from 7th place last week to 1st overall. Attesting to the intensely competitive nature of the challenge thus far, we also have 5 new entrants in our top 10 this week. Of those 5 students new to the leaderboard, Vlad Shevtsov from University of Georgia, Rania Aghoutane from ESSEC, and Miguel Afonso from Nova School of Business and Economics, and Sagar Jain Prabhakar from University of Manitoba are the first contestants from their respective schools to place in the top 10 so far.

Outperformance amongst our leaders this week was largely driven by bullish wagers on precious metal ETPs. While a Federal Reserve interest rate hike was almost universally expected, the cautious tone taken by the fed helped spur a rally in precious metals, like gold and silver. Positions in ETPs such as Direxion Daily Junior Gold Miners Index Bull 3X Shares (JNUG), Direxion Daily Gold Miners Index Bull 3x Shares (NUGT), VelocityShares 3x Long Silver ETN (USLV), and VanEck Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (GDXJ) were common holdings by our leaders and helped fuel their returns. Paradoxically, the fed rate hike was also followed by a rally in emerging market stocks. Investments in emerging market ETPs, including the Direxion Daily MSCI India Bull 3X Shares (INDL) and Direxion Daily Russia Bull 3x Shares (RUSL), helped our leaders capitalize on this momentum. Lastly, as US housing starts rose to a near-decade high, positions in the iShares U.S. Home Construction ETF (ITB) served as another key source of return.

With 6 weeks left the Spring 2017 ETF Global Portfolio Challenge, there will surely be more change to occur at the top of our leaderboard.   We will continue to keep you updated as the challenge progresses!

Thank you for reading ETF Global Perspectives!

ETFG 21 Day Free Trial:  https://www.etfg.com/signup/quick

_____________________________________________________________
Assumptions, opinions and estimates constitute our judgment as of the date of this material and are subject to change without notice.  ETF Global LLC (“ETFG”) and its affiliates and any third-party providers, as well as their directors, officers, shareholders, employees or agents (collectively ETFG Parties) do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, adequacy or timeliness of any information, including ratings and rankings and are not responsible for errors and omissions or for the results obtained from the use of such information and ETFG Parties shall have no liability for any errors, omissions, or interruptions therein, regardless of the cause, or for the results obtained from the use of such information. ETFG PARTIES DISCLAIM ANY AND ALL EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, SUITABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE.  In no event shall ETFG Parties be liable to any party for any direct, indirect, incidental, exemplary, compensatory, punitive, special or consequential damages, costs, expenses, legal fees, or losses (including, without limitation, lost income or lost profits and opportunity costs) in connection with any use of the information contained in this document even if advised of the possibility of such damages.

ETFG ratings and rankings are statements of opinion as of the date they are expressed and not statements of fact or recommendations to purchase, hold, or sell any securities or to make any investment decisions. ETFG ratings and rankings should not be relied on when making any investment or other business decision.  ETFG’s opinions and analyses do not address the suitability of any security.  ETFG does not act as a fiduciary or an investment advisor.  While ETFG has obtained information from sources they believe to be reliable, ETFG does not perform an audit or undertake any duty of due diligence or independent verification of any information it receives.

This material is not intended as an offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any security or other financial instrument. Securities, financial instruments or strategies mentioned herein may not be suitable for all investors.  Any opinions expressed herein are given in good faith, are subject to change without notice, and are only correct as of the stated date of their issue.  Prices, values, or income from any securities or investments mentioned in this report may fall against the interests of the investor and the investor may get back less than the amount invested.  Where an investment is described as being likely to yield income, please note that the amount of income that the investor will receive from such an investment may fluctuate.  Where an investment or security is denominated in a different currency to the investor's currency of reference, changes in rates of exchange may have an adverse effect on the value, price or income of or from that investment to the investor.

Friday, March 17, 2017

Spring 2017 ETP Forum - Meet the Speakers!

Friday, March 17, 2017 - ETF Global is excited to once again have our Director of Research, Chris Romano, serve as Chairperson for The Spring 2017 ETP Forum which will be held on Friday, April 7th at The New York Athletic Club - registration is open and all event information is available at: www.etpforum.org

Please meet the speakers for this event:


Chris Romano, Director of Research, ETF Global
David Levy, Chairman, Jerome Levy Forecasting Center
Paul Fearday, Senior Vice President, U.S. Bancorp Fund Services
Kevin Quigg, Chief Strategist, ACSI Funds
Jacob Hutchinson, Managing Director, Premise Capital
Dodd Kittsley, Director, Davis Advisors
Rahul Sen Sharma, Partner, Indxx
Julie Abbett, ETF Sales, JP Morgan
Ethan Kahn, Principal, Wolverine Trading
Bruce Saltzman, Vice President, SPDR ETF Capital Markets
William Stush, Institutional Trading, Flow Traders US
Cory Laing, Managing Director, Equities Market Making, Citadel Securities
Alex von Obelitz, Exchange-Traded-Funds, Goldman, Sachs
Robert Nestor, Head of iShares Smart Beta & Fixed Income Product Strategy at BlackRock
Mannik Dhillon, Head of Investment Solutions, Product and Strategy, Victory Capital Management
Brendan Ahern, Chief Investment Officer, Kraneshares
Mo Haghbin, Head of Product, Beta Solutions, OppenheimerFunds
Jim Pacetti, Director of Marketing, ETF Global
Dr. A. Seddik Meziani, Tenured Professor, Accounting & Finance, Montclair State University
John Cole Scott, Chief Investment Officer, CEFA
Ray Potter, Emerging Market Debt, Stifel
Francesco Ossino, Senior Portfolio Manager, Newfleet Asset Management
Francis Rodilosso, Head of Fixed Income ETF Portfolio Management, Van Eck Securities
Paul Kovarsky, Director, Institutional Partnerships at CFA Institute
Mac Ryerse, Director, Responsible Investment, Columbia Threadneedle
Thomas Kuh, PhD, Executive Director, ESG Indexes, MSCI
Conor Platt, Co-Founder-& CEO, Etho Capital
Jamie Kramer, Global Head of Strategic Product Management, J.P. Morgan Asset Management
Mike Hogan, Senior Managing Director, Overlay Capital
Jason Orlosky, CIO – Equities & Asset Allocation Strategies, Ziegler Capital Management
Chuck Self, Chief Investment Officer, iSectors
Sara Prager, ETF Strategist, UBS Investment Management
Ed Coyne, EVP, National Sales, Sprott Asset Management USA, Inc.

Agenda, Registration, Sponsorship and important conference updates are available at www.etpforum.org

See you in a few weeks and thank you for reading ETF Global Perspectives!

ETFG 21 Day Free Trial:  https://www.etfg.com/signup/quick

_____________________________________________________________
Assumptions, opinions and estimates constitute our judgment as of the date of this material and are subject to change without notice.  ETF Global LLC (“ETFG”) and its affiliates and any third-party providers, as well as their directors, officers, shareholders, employees or agents (collectively ETFG Parties) do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, adequacy or timeliness of any information, including ratings and rankings and are not responsible for errors and omissions or for the results obtained from the use of such information and ETFG Parties shall have no liability for any errors, omissions, or interruptions therein, regardless of the cause, or for the results obtained from the use of such information. ETFG PARTIES DISCLAIM ANY AND ALL EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, SUITABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE.  In no event shall ETFG Parties be liable to any party for any direct, indirect, incidental, exemplary, compensatory, punitive, special or consequential damages, costs, expenses, legal fees, or losses (including, without limitation, lost income or lost profits and opportunity costs) in connection with any use of the information contained in this document even if advised of the possibility of such damages.

ETFG ratings and rankings are statements of opinion as of the date they are expressed and not statements of fact or recommendations to purchase, hold, or sell any securities or to make any investment decisions. ETFG ratings and rankings should not be relied on when making any investment or other business decision.  ETFG’s opinions and analyses do not address the suitability of any security.  ETFG does not act as a fiduciary or an investment advisor.  While ETFG has obtained information from sources they believe to be reliable, ETFG does not perform an audit or undertake any duty of due diligence or independent verification of any information it receives.

This material is not intended as an offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any security or other financial instrument. Securities, financial instruments or strategies mentioned herein may not be suitable for all investors.  Any opinions expressed herein are given in good faith, are subject to change without notice, and are only correct as of the stated date of their issue.  Prices, values, or income from any securities or investments mentioned in this report may fall against the interests of the investor and the investor may get back less than the amount invested.  Where an investment is described as being likely to yield income, please note that the amount of income that the investor will receive from such an investment may fluctuate.  Where an investment or security is denominated in a different currency to the investor's currency of reference, changes in rates of exchange may have an adverse effect on the value, price or income of or from that investment to the investor.

Monday, March 13, 2017

Brackets, Blizzards & Bitcoin

Monday, March 13, 2017 - This past week marked the first weekly loss in 6 weeks for the broad based U.S. equity markets. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 Index and NASDAQ all were down for the week trimming .5%, .4%, and .2% respectively. Driven by the plunge in oil prices, Energy took the biggest hit with a 2.75% loss, closely followed by Utilities and Materials which lost 1.09% and 1.04% respectively.

A release on Wednesday reported an 8.2 million barrel increase in domestic crude supply for last week causing the total inventory to reach a new weekly high of 528.4 million - the barrel price of domestic crude oil dropped below $50 for the first time since December. Two of the few sectors that did well this week were Real Estate and Health Care as President Trump supports the House GOP’s effort to replace Obamacare. According to Friday’s report, the US added 235,000 jobs in February, while the unemployment rate decreased by 4.7% which has investors looking forward to this week as the Fed is now expected to announce its next rate hike on March 15.

In ETF news, The SEC on Friday denied a request to list what would have been the first U.S. ETF built to track Bitcoin. Major Investors in bitcoin, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, have been trying for over three years to convince the SEC to allow the Bitcoin ETF to market. The SEC believes that the significant markets for bitcoin are still unregulated. As a result of this ruling, the bitcoin dropped 20% within the next few hours and rebounded over the weekend. The Winklevoss twins still believe a bitcoin ETF is still possible.

This week in our Quant Movers Section the biggest gainers are: PTEU, Pacer Trendpilot European Index ETF, gained 9.11%, DES, WisdomTree SmallCap Dividend Fund, gained 7.55%, and VDC, Vanguard Consumer Staples ETF, gained 7.1%. All 3 funds are Developed Market Equities.

The biggest drops in ETFG Quant Mover were  QMN, IQ Hedge Market Neutral Tracker ETF,  which lost 10.07%, EPI, WisdomTree India Earnings Fund which lost 7.58%, and DDBI, Legg Mason Developed EX-US Diversified Core ETF which lost 6.77%.

This week our Select List had a lot of new funds reach their top spot in their respective categories. CIBR, First Trust Nasdaq Cybersecurity ETF, in the Technology Category, EPU, iShares MSCI All Peru Capped ETF, in the Latin America Category. HMM, John Hancock Multifactor Mid Cap ETF, in the Mid Cap Category, and  IJR, iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF in the Small Cap category.

Thank you for reading ETF Global Perspectives!

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_____________________________________________________________
Assumptions, opinions and estimates constitute our judgment as of the date of this material and are subject to change without notice.  ETF Global LLC (“ETFG”) and its affiliates and any third-party providers, as well as their directors, officers, shareholders, employees or agents (collectively ETFG Parties) do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, adequacy or timeliness of any information, including ratings and rankings and are not responsible for errors and omissions or for the results obtained from the use of such information and ETFG Parties shall have no liability for any errors, omissions, or interruptions therein, regardless of the cause, or for the results obtained from the use of such information. ETFG PARTIES DISCLAIM ANY AND ALL EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, SUITABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE.  In no event shall ETFG Parties be liable to any party for any direct, indirect, incidental, exemplary, compensatory, punitive, special or consequential damages, costs, expenses, legal fees, or losses (including, without limitation, lost income or lost profits and opportunity costs) in connection with any use of the information contained in this document even if advised of the possibility of such damages.

ETFG ratings and rankings are statements of opinion as of the date they are expressed and not statements of fact or recommendations to purchase, hold, or sell any securities or to make any investment decisions. ETFG ratings and rankings should not be relied on when making any investment or other business decision.  ETFG’s opinions and analyses do not address the suitability of any security.  ETFG does not act as a fiduciary or an investment advisor.  While ETFG has obtained information from sources they believe to be reliable, ETFG does not perform an audit or undertake any duty of due diligence or independent verification of any information it receives.


This material is not intended as an offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any security or other financial instrument. Securities, financial instruments or strategies mentioned herein may not be suitable for all investors.  Any opinions expressed herein are given in good faith, are subject to change without notice, and are only correct as of the stated date of their issue.  Prices, values, or income from any securities or investments mentioned in this report may fall against the interests of the investor and the investor may get back less than the amount invested.  Where an investment is described as being likely to yield income, please note that the amount of income that the investor will receive from such an investment may fluctuate.  Where an investment or security is denominated in a different currency to the investor's currency of reference, changes in rates of exchange may have an adverse effect on the value, price or income of or from that investment to the investor.

Saturday, March 11, 2017

ETF Global® Portfolio Challenge - Spring 2017 Leaderboard

March 10, 2017 - Three weeks have elapsed in the Spring 2017 ETF Global Portfolio Challenge and our student participants are already locked in a fierce competition. Let’s take a look at some of our top performers thus far…

Spring 2017 ETF Global Portfolio Challenge – Top 10 through 3/9/17

Name
School
Portfolio Return
Dan Dang
St. John Fisher College
19.99%
Catherine St. Clair
St. John Fisher College
17.91%
Edwins Lee
Rutgers University
16.54%
William Ryan
St. John Fisher College
15.53%
Ethan O’Donnell
St. John Fisher College
14.59%
Kolten Rossignoli
Wilfrid Laurier University
14.24%
Phat Huynh
St. John Fisher College
13.57%
Steven Barber
Rochester Institute of Technology
13.33%
Sam Vemisaje
Wilfrid Laurier University
13.28%
Kelsey Michener
St. John Fisher College
13.05%

As illustrated in the table above, our leaders have generated impressive returns within a three-week span. Notably, St. John Fisher College and Wilfrid Laurier University boast multiple students in the top ten - students from Rutgers University and RIT round out our top ten.

Looking under the hood of our leaders’ portfolios reveal a common theme that has underpinned then; bearish bets on precious metals and oil and long positions in natural gas products. Positions in ETPs such as Direxion Daily Junior Gold Miners Index Bear 3X Shares (JDST), ProShares UltraShort Bloomberg Crude Oil (SCO), VelocityShares 3x Inverse Silver ETN (DSLV), and VelocityShares 3x Long Natural Gas ETN (UGAZ) were popular holdings amongst our leaders.

With an impending Federal Reserve rate hike, precious metals, like gold and silver, have lost their appeal as safe haven assets and suffered sharp price declines this week. Additionally, despite OPEC production cuts, American shale producers continue to flood the market. Oil glut concerns resurfaced this week, causing prices to tumble below $50 a barrel as U.S. stock piles swelled to record levels. These developments allowed our leaders to capitalize on their downward movements by contrarian bets in inverse ETPs. Conversely, upward natural gas movements provided a boost to our leaders with long, leveraged exposure to the sector.

While leverage allowed our leaders to generate outsized returns this week, we must stress the inherent dangers of these products. Leveraged ETFs are speculative investment funds that, through the use of derivatives, attempt to deliver multiples of the performance of the index or benchmark they track. Leverage amplifies losses just as it does gains. Leveraged ETFs reset daily, meaning that they are designed to achieve their stated investment objectives on a daily basis. This daily reset feature can cause an ETF's returns over weeks or months to diverge wildly from that of the benchmark, rendering these ETFs highly risky and inadvisable as long-term investment vehicles.

The performance of Kolten Rossignoli, who is currently 6th overall, illustrates that outperformance can be achieved through a well-constructed portfolio that eschews the use of leverage. Kolten’s portfolio is equally weighted, consisting of FDIS, SPY, VBK, and XLF - ETFs that have all benefited from the prospects of fiscal stimulus and regulatory rollback under our new administration.

As you consider re-positioning your portfolio before this week’s rebalance date, we encourage you to review the risk and reward profile of your portfolio, provided to you in your ETFG portfolio tearsheet. We also encourage you to peruse our Select List. Developed by the Research Policy Committee at ETF Global, the ETFG ETF Select List features the 5 most highly-rated ETFs by Sector, Geographic Region and Strategy as ranked by the ETFG Quant model.

If the first three weeks of the performance period is any indication, the Spring 2017 ETF Global® Portfolio Challenge will be deeply competitive and we look forward to continue watching the competition unfold!

Thank you for reading ETF Global Perspectives!

ETFG 21 Day Free Trial:  https://www.etfg.com/signup/quick

_____________________________________________________________
Assumptions, opinions and estimates constitute our judgment as of the date of this material and are subject to change without notice.  ETF Global LLC (“ETFG”) and its affiliates and any third-party providers, as well as their directors, officers, shareholders, employees or agents (collectively ETFG Parties) do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, adequacy or timeliness of any information, including ratings and rankings and are not responsible for errors and omissions or for the results obtained from the use of such information and ETFG Parties shall have no liability for any errors, omissions, or interruptions therein, regardless of the cause, or for the results obtained from the use of such information. ETFG PARTIES DISCLAIM ANY AND ALL EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, SUITABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE.  In no event shall ETFG Parties be liable to any party for any direct, indirect, incidental, exemplary, compensatory, punitive, special or consequential damages, costs, expenses, legal fees, or losses (including, without limitation, lost income or lost profits and opportunity costs) in connection with any use of the information contained in this document even if advised of the possibility of such damages.

ETFG ratings and rankings are statements of opinion as of the date they are expressed and not statements of fact or recommendations to purchase, hold, or sell any securities or to make any investment decisions. ETFG ratings and rankings should not be relied on when making any investment or other business decision.  ETFG’s opinions and analyses do not address the suitability of any security.  ETFG does not act as a fiduciary or an investment advisor.  While ETFG has obtained information from sources they believe to be reliable, ETFG does not perform an audit or undertake any duty of due diligence or independent verification of any information it receives.

This material is not intended as an offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any security or other financial instrument. Securities, financial instruments or strategies mentioned herein may not be suitable for all investors.  Any opinions expressed herein are given in good faith, are subject to change without notice, and are only correct as of the stated date of their issue.  Prices, values, or income from any securities or investments mentioned in this report may fall against the interests of the investor and the investor may get back less than the amount invested.  Where an investment is described as being likely to yield income, please note that the amount of income that the investor will receive from such an investment may fluctuate.  Where an investment or security is denominated in a different currency to the investor's currency of reference, changes in rates of exchange may have an adverse effect on the value, price or income of or from that investment to the investor.