MarketsMuse ETF and Fixed Income departments merge and gives credit to Morgan Stanley as they raise their own ETF flag with an innovative idea to package a single corporate bond issuer’s debt into one neat package so that ETF investors can express their bets on the issuer’s outstanding credit… Here’s the excerpt courtesy of Reuters:
A bank proposal to pool corporate bonds of a single borrower into an ETF-style “trust” to help solve the credit markets’ chronic illiquidity problem is being circulated among issuers and investors, and finding some support.
Though still conceptual, the idea initiated by Morgan Stanley reckons investors could find more liquidity in a single instrument that represents several bonds issued by one borrower in a certain maturity, than in the individual bonds themselves.
According to the proposal, the trust would get positions in all of an issuer’s outstanding securities in the secondary market.
It would then group them according to whether they have short, intermediate or long-dated maturities, and issue separate trust certificates against each of those maturity buckets.
An underlying unit of bonds to represent each maturity trust certificate would be created and redeemed in a similar way as existing bond index exchange-traded funds.
To continue reading about Morgan Stanley’s new idea for an ETF, click here.
MarketsMuse ETF update profiles a novel “payment-for-order-flow” approach on the part of ETF issuers who vie to whoo broker-dealers to promote their products to investors. Eaton Vance Corp. said Thursday it may help brokerages foot the bill to make its new type of actively managed exchange-traded products, called NextShares, available to their clients. Below extract is courtesy of Reuters’ Jessica Toonkel reporting
In an unprecedented move, Eaton Vance Corp will offer to help some brokerages pay their technology costs to make the fund company’s new breed of exchange-traded managed funds (ETMFs) available to investors, Tom Faust, Eaton’s chief executive officer, told Reuters this week. ETMFs are a hybrid between actively managed mutual funds and exchange-traded funds.
The Boston-based company also plans to pay brokerage firms a share of the revenues from the sale of the funds, which Faust hopes will be available by year-end.
BrokerDealer.com maintains the world’s largest database of broker-dealers and encompasses brokerdealer firms based in nearly 3 dozen countries
Tom Faust, Eaton Vance
Big-name firms like Fidelity Investments and TD Ameritrade told Reuters they will not sell the funds until they see demand.
Helping to cover technology costs of distributors is new, but so are the Eaton Vance products, which require brokerages to take a new kind of order from investors, experts said.
“This is the first time I have ever heard of a firm offering to pay some brokerage costs for a new product,” said Ben Johnson, an ETF analyst at Morningstar.
He said the cost of gearing up to sell the product has been a sticking point for brokers. However, a number of executives at brokerage firms and industry consultants told Reuters that questions about whether there will be investor demand, and how they will get compensated to sell the new products, are even bigger issues that could keep them from selling the funds even with the Eaton Vance offer on the table.
Faust said figuring out the economic incentives and getting the systems up and running is top of mind for Eaton Vance.
“The biggest challenge we see at this stage of the game is getting broker dealers,” Faust said. “If we are looking to launch before the end of the year, we need the broker dealers to start making systems changes and otherwise preparing themselves to offer this to clients.”
Eight outside fund managers, including Mario J. Gabelli’s GAMCO Investors Inc., have licensed the right to sell NextShares. But large broker-dealers have not yet indicated that they’re taking the steps to offer them to financial advisers.
Investors will need to be informed by broker-dealers of the unique qualities of the funds when they trade, and they will place exchange orders in a way that differs from stocks or ETFs.
For the full article from Reuters, please click here
MarketsMuse blog update profiles RBC Global Asset Management launching five new liquid alternative equity ETFs. These five new ETFs allow for investors to be exposed to Canadian, American, and other international equity markets. These ETFs are now available for purchase on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX). These new ETFs are:
RBC Quant Canadian Equity Leaders ETF (RCE)
RBC Quant U.S. Equity Leaders ETF (RUE)
RBC Quant EAFE Equity Leaders ETF (RIE)
RBC Quant U.S. Equity Leaders (CAD Hedged) ETF (RHS)
This update is courtesy of FINAlternatives’ article, “RBC Launches Liquid Alternative Quant Equity ETFs”, with an excerpt below.
RBC Global Asset Management has launched five new liquid alternative equity ETFs that employ quantitative, rules based methodologies for investment selections instead of relying on an index, according to a press release.
The new funds offer investors and advisors diversified core equity exposure in Canadian, U.S. and international equity markets, together with the option to hedge foreign currency risk, and trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
The RBC Quant Canadian Equity Leaders ETF (RCE) focused on companies domiciled in Canada and follows the RBC GAM’s rules-based Quant Equity Leaders investment process. It carries a management fee of 0.39%.
The RBC Quant U.S. Equity Leaders ETF (RUE) is similar to RCE but focuses instead on U.S.-domiciled companies that pass muster in the Quant Equity Leaders investment process. It also has a management fee of 0.39%. The ticker symbol “RUE” represents Canadian-dollar-denominated units, while the ticker symbol “RUE.u” represents U.S.-dollar denominated units.
To continue reading about these five new ETFs from RBC Global Asset Management, click here.
MarketsMuse blog update profiles yet another bond trading system. Bloomberg has introduced new bond trading platform, Bloomberg Bond Cross (BBX), which allows market participants to access European bond market liquidity. Participants now have access to the European bond market liquidity thanks to a new partnership between Bloomberg and State Street. This MarketsMuse blog update is courtesy of WatersTechnology’s article by Marina Daras, “Bloomberg, State Street Launch European Bond Trading System“, with an excerpt below.
Bloomberg Bond Cross will use Bloomberg’s Trading System Order Execution (TSOX) technology to capture clients’ orders. State Street then finds the opposite side of the trade and participants can work towards negotiating and executing a trade with State Street acting as an impartial counterparty for each trade.
“Despite constraints on dealers’ ability to make-markets in corporate credit, large orders still need to be executed each day,” says George Harrington, global head of FICC trading at Bloomberg. “Bloomberg Bond Cross brings together our existing large network of Bloomberg Professional service subscribers, providing the ability for order staging, negotiation and transacting in one place, attracting volume and building liquidity to help investors identify trade opportunities with State Street.”
To continue reading about this new bond trading platform from Bloomberg, click here.
MarketsMuse blog update profiles ETFs taking over the world, well the hedge fund world at least. ETFs assets are about to total $3 trillion which means are they are poised to out raise hedge funds. This update is courtesy of Bloomberg’s article, “ETF Assets Set to Overtake Hedge Funds This Year“, by Trista Kelley, Inyoung Hwang, and Lorcan Roche Kelly, with an excerpt below.
They’re cheap, easy to use, and they’re winning over more investors than ever.
Now exchange-traded funds — investment tools that seek to replicate the performance of a portfolio of securities — are growing at such a clip that their assets are poised to overtake those of hedge funds.
It’s no secret hedge funds have had a rough couple of years. Without the returns to make up for high taxes and fees, more investors are turning to the ever-growing range of ETF products on offer. ETFs have lower fees than mutual funds, lower taxes than index funds and are easier to buy or sell quickly than either. And underpinning gains is loose central-bank policy that has been fueling a general movement toward passive investing.
To continue reading about ETFs overtaking hedge funds, click here.
MarketsMuse blog update profiles the SPDR Metals & Mining ETF that has recently performed very well over the past few months. When oil prices reached a new low in January it sent a ripple across other sectors including the metal and mining sectors. XME was trading at its lowest price since March 2009. Although the sector ETFs are still on their road to recovery, the ETF, XME, is showing drastic improvement compared to many others. This MarketsMuse blog update is courtesy of an ETFTrends’ article by Todd Shriber titled, “This ETF is Springing to Life“, with an excerpt below.
Mining stocks and the corresponding exchange traded funds have moved in fits and starts over the past few years. Unfortunately, there have been more fits than pleasantries, but the moribund industry could finally be putting in a legitimate bottom.
Though it is still down 27.5% over the past year, the SPDR Metals & Mining ETF (NYSEArca: XME) is up nearly 8% over the past month. That is a solid run for an ETF that started the year trading at its lowest levels since the first quarter of 2009. [Woes for a Mining ETF]
XME is meriting of consideration as some analysts believe the worst is behind the commodities space. Those were the sentiments of R.W. Baird when the research firm upgraded Dow component Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) and Joy Global (NYSE: JOY) to outperform on Monday, according to CNBC.
To continue reading about the rise of this mining ETF, click here.
The US Government Bond Market is set to explode…with more e-trading systems.. MarketsMuse Tech Talk continues its curating of fintech stories from the world of fixed income and today’s update is courtesy of WSJ’s Katy Burne, who does a superb job (as always) in summarizing the latest assortment of US Government bond “e-trading” initiatives. MarketsMuse editor note: The financial marketplace is now littered with electronic trading platforms ostensibly designed to enhance liquidity and address the needs of respective market participants.
The once-revered premise of electronifying old-fashioned, non-transparent OTC markets so as to make them fully transparent and in turn, enhance liquidity in a manner that would inspire institutional investors to increase use of those products has, according to many, morphed into a ethernet rat’s nest. There are now almost as many of flavors of institutional electronic trading platforms as there are ice cream flavors from by Ben & Jerry’s and Baskin Robbins combined. Most if not all are ‘accelerated’ thanks to the innovation of rebate schemes, payment for order flow menus, and of course, high-frequency trading (HFT) applications, which has made the market structure more akin to a continuous “Battle of the Transformers.”
Despite the rising concern on the part of both institutional investors and regulators as to the impact of market fragmentation (the latter of whom are easily-cajoled by the phalanx of lobbyists and special interest groups), the Genie is not only out of the bottle, it’s reach continues…and the US Govt bond market is, according to those leading the initiatives described below, ripe for ‘innovation,’ for two good reasons. The first is the widely-shared belief that the rates market, which has been mostly range bound for several years thanks to the assortment of QE programs and lackluster economic recovery. is now anticipating a major uptick in volatility, which is a trader’s favorite friend. Secondly, the role of major investment bank trading desks, once ‘controlled’ the market for government bonds, has become severely diminished consequent to Dodd-Frank and the regulatory regime governing those banks and the financial markets at large.
Here’s the opening excerpt from Katy Burne’s column “Antiquated Treasury Trade Draws Upstarts”..
A host of companies are vying to set up new electronic networks for trading U.S. Treasurys, the latest upheaval in a $12.5 trillion market already being reshaped by some large banks’ pullback and the growth of fast-trading firms.
The efforts highlight the shifting role of banks, and gyrations in the market as the Federal Reserve prepares to lift interest rates in the months ahead.
Traditional Treasury trading is now widely viewed as “antiquated and rigid,” said David Light, a former head of government-bond sales at Citigroup and co-founder of CrossRate Technologies LLC, which is launching one of the new venues. “It simply did not evolve with all the changes in technology and regulation.”
Currently, there are two main channels for trading Treasurys on screens. Banks trade opposite their asset manager and hedge fund clients, with identities disclosed, via either Bloomberg LP or Tradeweb Markets LLC.
The banks then trade with other banks and professional investors anonymously, in exchange-like systems on either BrokerTec, owned by broker ICAP PLC, or eSpeed, owned by Nasdaq OMX Group. The banks trade with other banks in a wholesale market on one set of prices; they trade with customers on another set of prices. Continue reading →
After a rough year, Russia ETFs have been trying to make a comeback and it seems they may have finally done it. MarketsMuse blog update profiles the changes Russia has made that has helped boost Russia ETFs. This blog update is courtesy of Nasdaq’s article, “Russia ETFs Making a Strong Comeback – ETF News And Commentary“, with an excerpt below.
2014 has been a catastrophic one for Russian equities thanks to the ban imposed on the nation by the West following its Crimea (erstwhile Ukrainian territory) annexation in the first half. The massive oil price crash in the second half also spurred many investors to abandon the country’s equities in apprehension of significant economic losses. As a result, Russian stocks almost halved in price last year .
However, things have changed in 2015. Like many other countries across the globe, Russia also entered into a cycle of rate cut in 2015 having slashed the key rate for the third time so far this year to ward off an impending recession. An upward movement in the local currency and cooling inflation has made this possible, per Bloomberg .
In late April, Moscow reduced the key one-week interest rate to 12.5% from 14% and hinted at further easing if required. Notably, Russia generates about 50% of its revenues from oil and natural gas resources. So, this oil-dependent economy was crushed by the crude carnage last year. The Russian currency, the ruble, lost about 50% against the greenback in the second half of 2014 and stoked inflation.
To keep reading about Russia ETFs comeback, click here.
MarketsMuse blog update profiles the social media ETF, The Global X Social Media Index ETF (SOCL). So far this year, SOCL has not been performing very well, which is in contrast to social media performance in everyday life. Social media sites are gaining more users everyday however the trend doesn’t show in SOCL’s performance. Investopedia’s article “Is Social Media ETF SOCL Too Risky?” by Dan Moskowitz investigates the reason this trend occurs. Extracts from the article are below.
The world is atwitter social media and its rapid growth right now. According to the Pew Research Center, 74% of online adults use a social networking site of some kind, up from 29% in 2008. And more advertising opportunities are blooming alongside the increased usage of mobile devices. In March, for the first time ever, the number of mobile-only internet users exceeded the number of desktop-only internet users, according to research firm comScore.
One of the trendiest ways to invest in social media is via the Global X Social Media Index ETF (SOCL), which tracks the largest publicly held social media firms around the world, including Facebook Inc. (FB), LinkedIn Corp. (LNKD) and Twitter Inc. (TWTR). With the sector’s global growth expected to continue for the long haul, betting on SOCL seems like a no-brainer.
What’s tricky with SOCL is that the trend doesn’t always match the performance.
For starters, SOCL returned -15.04% in 2014. Take a look at SOCL’s top ten holdings, their percentage of assets, and their one-year stock performances
The heavier-weighted holdings are performing well, but the 0.65% expense ratio for SOCL comes into play. Also notice that some of the weaker-performing stocks belong to Wall Street darlings — buzzy startups investors loved during their IPOs — that have had difficulty delivering consistent profits: Pandora, Groupon and Twitter, if you’re looking for a big industry name that’s falls farther down in SOCL’s holdings. If these companies are unable to deliver stock appreciation when markets are at all-time highs, then you shouldn’t expect them to perform well when the market takes a turn for the worse.
More people are accessing social media sites every day, a very positive trend. But without positive returns, that trend is irrelevant. Some of the companies/holdings for SOCL have difficulty delivering consistent profits and haven’t yet shown investors a clear-cut path to how they’ll do it down the road. If that’s the case when the stock market is at all-time highs, then it’s highly unlikely for these stocks to appreciate if and when the market falters. Put simply, unless you’re looking for a short-term trade, consider avoiding SOCL. But if the broader market continues to move higher thanks to Federal Reserve assistance and basic momentum, there’s a possibility it will take SOCL with it. As always, do your own research prior to making any investment decisions.
To read the entire article profiling the ETF SOCL, click here.
MarketsMuse ETF and Global Macro update takes a look at India for those following the two leading ETFs in the space, the $2.3 billion WisdomTree India Earnings Fund (EPI. C-73) and the $1.9 billion iShares MSCI India ETF (INDA. C-92), and introduces a global macro perspective that adds a different dimension via a brief excerpt from today’s a.m. edition of Sight Beyond Sight and courtesy of Rareview Macro LLC a.m. notes
India: The Darling of EM Faltering
In a very rare occurrence in India, where investors are two-times overweight the equity market benchmark, 49 of the 50 names in the National Stock Exchange CNX Nifty Index (NIFTY Index -2.81%) closed negative. Not only has the ratio of India to Brazil (NIFTY/IBOV) now retraced almost 50% since its mid-2012 ascent higher, but it remains one of the best representations globally of the unwind of the commodity importer vs. exporter strategy that dominated the deflation headlines from July 2014 to February 2015.
Here is an updated version of our favorite representation. This is the Indian SENSEX versus Brazilian Bovespa overlaid with the inverse of WTI crude oil. As you can see, without Brazil even being opened today yet, the Indian leg has taken that ratio down below the 200-day moving average.
For the avoidance of doubt, which is very high in the professional community when it comes to India, after last night’s price action the equity markets are now formally in a technical correction (i.e. -10%) as the NIFTY is -11.36% off its March high. Additionally, the major benchmarks are now negative on the year in both US dollar and local currency (INR) terms. Optically, next to Turkey, India is the only other major emerging market that is negative year-to-date.
Sight Beyond Sight® is a global macro trading newsletter written daily by Neil Azous. With close to two decades of institutional experience across asset classes, Neil interprets the day-to-day economic, policy and strategy developments and provides actionable trading ideas for investors.
MarketsMuse blog update profiles The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation aka BNY Mellon, and their introducing a new ETF negotiation tool. This update is courtesy of Asset Servicing Times’ article, “BNY Mellon launches new ETF negotiation tool“, with an excerpt below.
BNY Mellon has introduced a new automated process to aid authorised participants in the creation and redemption of exchange traded funds (ETFs).
The new process allows these participants to use BNY Mellon’s ETF centre to conduct propositions and negotiations on underlying data for ETF baskets with a fund sponsor.
It is designed for large financial institutions that are chosen by such a sponsor to obtain the necessary assets for creating or redeeming an ETF.
Usually, participants will have to go through more than one institution to do this, before shares are transferred to a custodian bank.
The new system is designed to offer a more flexible and more efficient environment for negotiating ETF baskets.
Steve Cook, global head of ETF services at BNY Mellon, said: “Helping authorised participants become more efficient ultimately benefits the other participants in the ETF marketplace, ranging from issuers to those in the secondary trading market.”
To continue reading about this new ETF negotiation tool, click here.
MarketsMuse blog update profiles Goldman Sachs preparing for a launch of its own ETFs. Goldman Sachs is the largest U.S. investment bank and they are finally going to make the move to become a huge player in the ETF industry. The firm has completed all its necessary paperwork with the SEC as of May 4th for its six ETFs. These six new ETFs include: Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta International Equity ETF (GSIE), Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta Emerging Markets Equity ETF (GEM), Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta Europe Equity ETF (GSEU), Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta Japan Equity ETF (GSJY), Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta U.S. Large Cap Equity ETF (GSLC) and the Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta U.S. Small Cap Equity ETF (GSSC). This MarketsMuse blog update is courtesy of ETFTrends’ Tom Lydon and his article, “Goldman ETFs Near Liftoff“, with an excerpt below.
Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS), the largest U.S. investment bank, is getting closer to launching its own exchange traded funds.
In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission dated May 4, New York-based Goldman Sachs revealed tickers and fund managers for its six “ActiveBeta” ETFs as well as tickers for its five passively managed ETFs.
Among Goldman the managers for the ActiveBeta ETFs are “Steve Jeneste, a managing director most recently oversaw portfolio management of macro and multi-asset strategies. Another is Raj Garigipati, vice president, who most recently served as chief risk officer for Goldman’s QIS unit,” reports Chris Dieterich for Barron’s.
To continue reading about Goldman Sachs preparing for the launch of its six “ActiveBeta” ETFs, click here.
MarketsMuse blog update profiles two ETFs that have become standouts so far this year. The ETFs iShares Exponential Tech ETF (XT) and SPDR DoubleLine Total Return Tactical ETF (TOTL) have been dubbed with the title according to Zacks’ Neena Mishra in her article, “2 New ETFs with Big Potential“, excerpts from the article are below.
The ETF industry continues to grow exponentially, with a record $96 billion in global inflows during the first quarter, up more than 100% from a year ago. More than 70 ETFs have been launched in the US so far this year, taking the total number of ETFs to 1702 and total assets to over $2.1 trillion.
Below, we highlight two ETFs launched this year that stand out from the rest and in our view hold a lot of potential.
This ETF has attracted almost $647 million in assets since its inception in March, making it one of the most successful ETF launches. Investing in innovative technologies that have the potential to transform our lives is a very exciting concept. Further, this ETF includes not only developers but also users of promising technologies. So the coverage extends beyond the technology sector.
The idea for this ETF came from the famous financial advisor Ric Edelman and it is understood that some of the assets in this ETF came from his clients. Investors should note some of these disruptive technologies stocks have been quite hot lately and so this ETF is not really attractive looking at the valuation but companies focused on cutting edge technologies definitely have the potential to deliver superior return over time and this ETF could be a solid choice for long-term investing.
Bond markets have confounded most analysts and investors of late. Yields plunged last year when almost everybody was expecting them to go up. Over the past few months, the bond market has seen erratic swings and we have also seen substantial flattening of the yield curve.
As the Fed gets ready to raise interest rates, shorter-term rates have been going up but longer-term rates have actually declined, thanks mainly to massive demand from foreign investors since interest rates in Europe and Japan are so low.
To continue reading about these two standout new ETFs, click here
MarketsMuse.com Fixed Income & Trading Tech update is without a rating and instead, takes a long view towards this week’s announcement from inter-dealer broker GFI Group launch of an electronic service for “dealers only” to trade odd lots of corporate bonds. For those not in the know, “odd-lot” is generally under $1million notional value.
This is not to suggest that GFI’s launch represents anything innovative; more than a few electronic platforms intended to make trading in corporate bonds easier have started up and since failed throughout the past 20 years, and GFI’s recent announcement is on the heels of six other announced initiatives during the past 3 years alone. The fact that GFI is aiming at the so-called underbelly or odd-lot marketplace puts them in competition with among others, multiple dealer pages on Bloomberg’s terminal farm, entrenched player MarketAxxes, and to a much lesser extent, the NYSE Bond system (“NYSE BONDS”) a platform that was first introduced around the same time as the Ford Edsel.
More interesting than the below “news flash” courtesy of TradersMagazine, readers following the “electronification of corporate bond trading” should borrow back from time and reflect on a report published in 2013 by McKinsey & Co. & Greenwich Associates (click on image below). Despite its aging, the white paper remains evergreen.
Electronic trading in the fixed-income market is about to take another leap into the digital age for those traders looking to execute non-standard order sizes, or odd-lots. GFI Group has announced a new electronic trading platform for odd lot corporate bonds in the U.S. Historically, odd lots have been traded via telephone and voice brokering. GFI’s new offering, available via CreditMatch, serves the dealer-to-dealer market for corporate bonds with a notional value of less than $1 million. Odd lot transactions represent almost 90% of the number of trades in the interdealer corporate bond market and almost 20% of the notional amount traded, according to FINRA. Effective today, the new service consists of an end of day odd lot matching session that provides instant executions via CreditMatch, GFI’s electronic trading system for corporate bonds and derivatives. The service will be extended into a fully executable Central Limit Order Book (CLOB) during the third quarter of 2015. Trades will be electronically posted to FINRA’s Trade Reporting and Compliance Engine (TRACE) and cleared by Pershing.
MarketsMuse blog update profiles the new milestone exchange-traded funds have reached as now more than ever, individual investors have pouring more money into ETFs than traditional mutual funds. This MarketsMuse blog update is courtesy of an analysis done by Broadridge Financial Solutions and found in the Wall Street Journal’s article, “A New Milestone for ETF Adoption“, with an excerpt below.
Individual investors have a lot more money invested in traditional mutual funds than in exchange-traded funds. But as people continue pumping dollars into ETFs, their ETF holdings grew by more in dollar terms than their mutual-fund investments over the year through March—apparently for the first time—according to an analysis by Broadridge Financial Solutions.
That conclusion is based on the company’s tally of fund and ETF holdings in accounts at “retail” companies, including full-service and discount brokerages, which cater to individual investors and their advisers. Broadridge, based in Lake Success, N.Y., sells communications and technology services to financial-services companies.
Individual-investor holdings of ETFs grew by $267 billion in the year through March, a 24.4% increase, according to Broadridge. Over the same period, individuals’ holdings of long-term mutual funds grew by $255 billion, or 5.6%, the company said.
“This is the first period in which we’ve seen that the actual dollar amount in the retail channel is higher in the ETF space than in the mutual-fund space,” says Frank Polefrone, senior vice president at Access Data, a Broadridge unit in Philadelphia. ”It’s a big shift over what we’d seen a year ago or two years ago.”
Broadridge has been tracking the data for more than four years.
To continue reading about the latest ETF milestone, click here.
MarketsMuse blog update profiles the disappointing Q1 for Twitter and the impact it is having on social media ETFs such as Renaissance IPO ETF (IPO), Global X Social Media Index ETF(SOCL) and ARK Web x.0 ETF(ARKW).This MarketsMuse update is courtesy of Zacks Equity Research and their article, “Twitter Tweets a Weak Q1 & Soft View, ETFs in Focus“, with an excerpt below.
On April 28, Twitter (TWTR) came up with a weak Q1 and a disappointing guidance. The social networking site then saw a freefall in its share price as it failed to live up to many investors’ expectations.
Q1 in Detail
The company’s first-quarter 2015 non-GAAP loss per share (including the stock-based compensation expense) of 20 cents was a penny ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Excluding the stock-based compensation expense, the company earned 7 cents per share on a pro forma basis.
Revenues of $436 million in the quarter fell shy of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $455 million. ‘A lower-than-expected contribution from newer direct response marketing products’ was held responsible for lower-than-expected revenues. However, revenues grew about 74% year over year.
Market Impact
This subdued performance dampened investors’ mood as the stock was severely beaten down in recent trading sessions. Following the earnings leak on April 28, about 40 minutes ahead of the closing bell, Twitter shares saw a landslide, plunging over 18% for the key trading session of April 28 on about fourth times the regular volume.
Shares slid about 8.9% on April 29. However, after such a massive sell-off for consecutive two days, Twitter stock recouped 0.94% after hours. Year to date, the stock is still up 8.3%.
Twitter does not have a sizable exposure in the overall ETF world with only three ETFs – Renaissance IPO ETF (IPO), Global X Social Media Index ETF(SOCL) and ARK Web x.0 ETF ((ARKW – ETF report)) – having major exposure of 8.17%, 3.66% and 3.20% respectively, at present. Such a huge fall in one of the major components should impact these ETFs. Below, we have discussed these three funds in detail:
To continue reading about Twitter’s disappoint Q1’s impact on ETFs, click here
MarketsMuse.com Tech Talk update profiles the latest development regarding Overstock.com’s CEO Patrick Byrne plan for a cryptosecurity trading system “for brokerdealers” only and akin to the array of ECNs and ATS platforms that Fintech aficionados and broker-dealers are already accustomed to.
The headline:
Overstock looks to issue Bitcoin-style stocks via new trading system; may issue up to $500 million in stock through blockchain-style technology
Overstock, the online retailer building a crypto-securities exchange, has revealed that it may issue up to $500 million in stock through blockchain-style technology.
Last year Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne hired developers and lawyers in an effort to create a platform – dubbed ‘Medici’ – that could use the core blockchain technology to create a cryptosecurity trading system, in which computer algorithms are used to trade virtual stocks issued by public companies.
The firm has now filed a prospectus related to the sale of securities with the Securities and Exchange Commission, adding: “We may decide to offer any of the securities described in this prospectus as digital securities, meaning the securities will be uncertificated securities, the ownership and transfer of which are recorded on a cryptographically-secured distributed ledger system using technology similar to (or the same as) the distributed ledger technology used for trading digital currencies.”
The prospectus says that these digital securities would not be traded on any existing exchange but on a specific system registered with the SEC as an ATS open only to subscribers that agree to trade exclusively through vetted broker dealers.
For the full story from Finextra.com, please click here
MarketsMuse blog update profiles U.S. Global Investors CEO’s, Frank Holmes, interview with Forbes’ Trang Ho. Frank Holmes’s company is launching a new airline ETF, JETS, tomorrow, Thursday, April 29, 2015. After so many past airline ETFs have crashed and burned, Holmes highlights how JETS is different. This interview is courtesy of Forbes’ article, “Why This CEO Believes New Airlines ETF Will Soar Even Though Its Predecessors Went Down In Flames” with an excerpt below.
Frank Holmes, the CEO and chief investment officer of U.S. Global Investors, believes he can soar where others went down in flames. Holmes is launching a new airlines exchange traded fund on the stock market Thursday — U.S. Global Investors Jets ETF (JETS) — even though its predecessors were shuttled to ETF heaven for lack of investor interest. His San Antonio, Texas-based mutual fund firm oversees $927 million in assets.
Guggenheim Airline ETF (FAA), which rolled out in January 2009, was canceled in March 2013 after attracting only $21 million in assets. Direxion Airline Shares Fund (FLYX) was grounded in October 2011 only 10 months after take off. Its $3 million in assets were peanuts compared to the $25 million to $30 million needed for an ETF to break even.
Why did you launch this ETF?
Holmes: We believe the time is right for an airline ETF. Thanks to wide-ranging structural changes in the airline industry, both domestic and international airlines are currently seeing strong growth in profits as well as demand. Although airlines have undoubtedly benefited from falling fuel prices—airlines’ single greatest operating expense—other important factors are also at work, which enable them to remain profitable in a highly competitive industry.
On a personal note, after flying more than 100 times last year, and over 8 million miles for the past 25 years, I noticed that all the new fees associated with flying began adding up. That’s when I thought to myself, if I can’t beat them, I might as well join them.
To continue reading this interview from Forbes, click here
