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ETF Watch: January 25 – January 29
By Heather Bell | February 01, 2010

Page 1 of 3

Here are some of last week’s highlights:

iShares launches international sector ETFs
Grail enters fixed-income arena
First Trust plans BICK ETF

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NEW LISTINGS

iShares Rolls Out International Sectors

iShares launched five new ETFs on Jan. 22 that cover a variety of international sectors—with more on the way. Four offer different slices of the global financials sector, while the fifth covers emerging markets materials stocks:

AXFN, EUFN and FEFN charge 48 basis points in annual fees; EMFN and EMMT charge 72 basis points.

Read the original IU.com article here. Click on each fund to read its prospectus.

Grail Launches McDonnell Bond ETFs

Grail Advisors launched two actively managed bond ETFs on Jan. 29, making its first move into the fixed-income market. The Grail McDonnell Intermediate Municipal Bond ETF (NYSEArca: GMMB) and Grail McDonnell Core Taxable Bond ETF (NYSEArca: GMTB) are managed by fixed-income specialist McDonnell Investment Management, which has full discretionary power to select securities for the portfolios on a daily basis. The new funds charge 0.35 percent in annual expenses.

Read the original IU.com article here.

Read the prospectus for the funds here.

Gold-Hedged S&P 500 ETN Debuts

On Jan. 28, UBS Investment Bank launched a new ETN linked to the S&P 500 Gold Hedged Index. The UBS E-TRACS S&P 500 Gold Hedged ETN (NYSEArca: SPGH) offers exposure to the S&P 500 while hedging that portfolio against the price of gold. The note is designed for investors worried about inflation and the prospects for a falling dollar.

Read the original IU.com article here.

Read the prospectus for the ETN here.

NEW FILINGS

First Trust Plans First-Mover ETFs

First Trust plans to expand its lineup of ETF offerings with the addition of three entirely unique funds. The First Trust BICK Index Fund (Nasdaq: BICK) will cover a group of countries similar to the BRIC countries, but the BICK fund will track the markets of Brazil, India, China and South Korea. Meanwhile, the First Trust ISE Global Copper Index Fund and First Trust ISE Global Platinum Index Fund will track equities tied to the copper and platinum industries, respectively.

Read the original IU.com story here.

Read the prospectus for the new funds here.

iShares Outlines More Single-Country Funds

iShares will be adding four new offerings to its roster of international ETFs linked to MSCI indexes if recent registration forms are any indication. With the exception of the New Zealand-specific ETF, iShares is not the first to enter any of the markets represented by these funds:

iShares MSCI Poland Investable Market Index Fund (prospectus)
iShares MSCI China Small-Cap Index Fund (prospectus)
iShares MSCI Indonesia Investable Market Index Fund (prospectus)
iShares MSCI New Zealand Investable Market Index Fund (prospectus)

Read the original IU.com article here.

OTHER NEWS

WisdomTree To Close 10 Funds

WisdomTree announced recently that it will be closing 10 of its funds, including eight international sectors. The ETFs account for just 3 percent of WisdomTree’s $6 billion in assets under management. The last day of trading for the funds will be March 24. Shareholders of record on that day will have the funds redeemed for cash at net asset value, minus a small amount of closing costs. The company said that some of the funds being closed were nearly redundant with other offerings in the WisdomTree lineup, while others faced established or growing competition.

Read the original IU.com article here.