By Carl Delfeld of the Chartwell ETF Advisor
With markets down in the U.S. and much of the world Friday, it should be no surprise that the big ETF gainers for the day were the new inverse Proshares ETFs. The UltraShort QQQ (QID) was up 3.2% and the UltraShort Russell 2000 (TWM) was up 1.95% for the day. On the downside, the Dow Jones US Home Construction ETF (ITB) was down 2.5% and the India ETN (INP) was down 2.06%. Some emerging country ETFs pulled back today such as Brazil (EWZ) down 1.85%, Mexico (EWW) down 1.84% and China (FXI) down 1.81%.
The big global news is the G-7 powwow over the weekend in Germany with finance ministers and central bankers hand wringing about currency and fiscal imbalances. At the top is the weak Japanese yen and the carry trade which has many nervous about the money going the other way as Japan’s interest rates rise. European markets reacted negatively to the European Central Bank and Bank of England decision to hold benchmark interest rates steady because of language signaling that next month will see rates hiked.
Assets of all ETFs rose $121.66 billion, or 40.4%, to $422.48 billion in 2006, according to data collected by the Investment Company Institute. The iShares family strengthened its dominance in the ETF market, increasing its market share from 56.5% to 59.5%. The second-largest family, State Street Global Advisors, lost some of its market share, dropping from 28.2% to 24.2% as of the end of 2006. Bank of New York also lost market share, falling from nearly 10% to 6.4%.
On the international front, assets soared 69% to $107.2 billion, as of the end of December 2006. Inflows into emerging market funds sprang 85% year over year to $35 billion. The share of emerging markets ETF assets were dominated by Greater China ETFs but lately investors have been spreading their Asia bets over more countries such as Singapore and Malaysia.
Comments