ETFConnect Is No More

Here is a bit of a head scratcher: ETFConnect.com, the website with all that information about every ETF, the site that has been a well-known, well-used and well-publicized resource for professionals and do-it-yourselfers? They are out of the ETF business. Instead they will focus on closed end funds exclusively.

I can just imagine how it went. Some bigwig hurriedly calling people in for a brainstorming session. "We need to greatly reduce our web traffic and do it soon! Give me ideas people."

After toiling away for hours someone hits the motherlode. "Let's scrap any and all involvement with the investment product that has the growth in new products, assets and investor interest and instead focus on the antiquated product that is becoming more and more obsolete as time goes on!"

"Tell me more" the boss might have said.

"Look, it's like movies. No one watches movies on VCR cassettes any more - they watch on DVD or blu-ray or on-demand, and some people even stream movies. If we want less traffic on our website we have to only provide information on the VCR cassette of investment products: the closed end fund!"

"Excellent Smithers, excellent."

My characterization of CEFs as being antiquated might be unfair, but in terms of growth there is no comparison. ETFs have left CEFs in the dust and that will continue for years to come. According to a link I found from ICI the total assets in equity closed end funds as of June 30 was $77 billion. Yesterday the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) closed with assets of $71 billion. The total assets in all closed end funds came in at $201 billion.

I find this to be baffling beyond belief. ETFConnect had built one of the premier sites for ETF information. I cannot recall a website chucking what had worked in this manner. Yes, the site is owned by closed end fund titan Nuveen, but they called the site ETFConnect and built something very substantial.

Comments

[scoots:]

Not only did they drop ETF coverage, but they took a valuable one page site and made it totally user unfriendly. It is now very difficult to obtain information without going to several steps. It is now quite useless.

Sep 25 03:39 AM

[SA Editor J...:]

Yes, totally baffling. I will now have to scramble to get overviews of basic ETF information.

Sep 25 05:19 AM

[Mick Weinstein:]

Very entertaining scene, Roger, but I imagine it was closer to this:

Nuveen Exec: 'We're in the CEF business, and some CEFs compete with ETFs - so why does our website provide data, including comparison data, on ETFs?'

ETFConnect Editor: 'Because we provide a popular service that places Nuveen and our products in front of our precise target market on a daily basis, and we get incoming links that make us an important part of the online discussion on exchange-traded products.'

NE: 'But some of these ETFs look a lot better than our CEFs. And I'm not interested in the online discussion - I'm interested in new CEF investors.'

ETFC E: 'If our CEF products are compelling, our position in the online discussion will draw many new investors to them.'

NE: 'Ahem... let's kill this.'

Sep 25 07:36 AM

[Roger Nusbaum:]

Mick you need to stop living in reality, lol.

Scoots, the tabbed format is much clunkier, I agree with you.


On Sep 25 07:36 AM Mick Weinstein wrote:

> Very entertaining scene, Roger, but I imagine it was closer to this:
>
>
> Nuveen Exec: 'We're in the CEF business, and some CEFs compete with
> ETFs - so why does our website provide data, including comparison
> data, on ETFs?'
>
> ETFConnect Editor: 'Because we provide a popular service that places
> Nuveen and our products in front of our precise target market on
> a daily basis, and we get incoming links that make us an important
> part of the online discussion on exchange-traded products.'
>
> NE: 'But some of these ETFs look a lot better than our CEFs. And
> I'm not interested in the online discussion - I'm interested in new
> CEF investors.'
>
> ETFC E: 'If our CEF products are compelling, our position in the
> online discussion will draw many new investors to them.'
>
> NE: 'Ahem... let's kill this.'

Sep 25 08:58 AM

[whisperonth...:]

One thing is true: Those of us who had not visited recently will now visit just to see what the changes are. And for those who are more interested in CEFs than ETFs, this could be a beneficial change. Imagine having the info you really want right there, instead of having to dig through the comparisons that you could actually make on your own.

I think for those who prefer the ETF info, they should just come up with their own website instead of sitting back and whining. Deal with it, people. According to our president, change is good.

Sep 25 08:58 AM

[coloneldebu...:]

well, that bookmark is deleted.

Sep 25 10:21 AM

[ETFdesk.com:]

Well there is always ETFDESK.com. Search ETFs/CEFs by sector, asset class, daily volume, country of origin, industry, fund sponsor. There is a reverse search for ETFs which allows to find ETFs that include a certain holding.

Also, the WaysToPlay feature is a user-generated tool which pairs news articles, blog posts, econ releases, etc with ETFs.. to generate investment ideas

Sep 25 10:24 AM

[gembree:]

scoots is wholly correct. I am interested primarily in CEFs and used the site daily, so I was one of the three or so people actually excited about the change, but the new site is an absolute mess. I have switched to cefa.com; both sites now have messy fund screeners that run at glacial speed but the CEFA one is a lot better.

Definitely the worst business decision I've seen in a while.

Sep 25 10:30 AM

[Windsun33:]

There is some info here etfdb.com/ - but rather minimal.

Sep 25 10:42 AM

[Baboon:]

I liked simplicity and at the same time resourcefulness of etfconnect much better.


On Sep 25 10:24 AM ETFdesk.com wrote:

> Well there is always ETFDESK.com. Search ETFs/CEFs by sector,
> asset class, daily volume, country of origin, industry, fund sponsor.
> There is a reverse search for ETFs which allows to find ETFs that
> include a certain holding.
>
> Also, the WaysToPlay feature is a user-generated tool which pairs
> news articles, blog posts, econ releases, etc with ETFs.. to generate
> investment ideas

Sep 25 12:11 PM

[searcher:]

As an inveterate and incorrigible information parasite I’m outraged by this blatant disregard for my custom.

Sep 25 12:19 PM

[donzelion:]

I see the management discussion more like this:

CEO: So even with this mega-rally, we're still $XYZ million in the hole. Alright, come on people, who has ideas here?
Exec: Hey, we just got an offer from [Blackrock / Fidelity / random media company] to sell ETFconnect.com site to them for $25 million.
CEO: Intriguing. What's our bottom line on the site, anyway?
Exec: Click-thru analysis shows that we've sold roughly 5 bucks in CEFs, and helped sell billions in ETFs. Meanwhile, it costs $1-3 million a year to run - that's 24 research assistants in India at $500k and one manager.
CEO: That's all it costs? Wow. So anyone could compete in this, right?
Exec: Well, Yahoo Finance and Google Finance are already competing, but their presentation sucks. Yahoo has almost all the same stuff, but makes you click a dozen times to get it. Google has a tiny bit of the same stuff, but their service is really new. Then there's the finance mags - but they can't afford our Indian research team.
CEO: Hmmm, so our primary virtue is a convenient, single page format, but the primary result of that is that it can't be monetized. Counter at $200 million due to our goodwill, but take anything north of $50 million. Any other ideas?

Sep 25 01:09 PM

[Joe Eqcome:]

If there is truth in jest, you're the funniest guy I know.

Joe Eqcome

Sep 25 01:14 PM

[yblarrr:]

Why didn't they sell the etf portion to someone who cares.
dumbing down of america continues.

Sep 25 02:13 PM

[gipper:]

Went back just once more..... deleted bookmark

Sep 25 07:34 PM

[SJD:]

The Closed-end Fund Assiciation is a good source for CEF info.

Sep 28 01:36 PM

[Renrak:]

Good comments. I found ETF connect exceptionally valuable to research ETFs. If the goomba's at CTF were losing money, why not offer the service for subscription? I'd be happy to pay for it. The CTFConnect.com site is worthless to me. It's history on my links. Would be happy to hear of anything similar to ETFConnect.com anybody has run across. Will check into ETFDesk.com and CEFA.com as recommended.

This is a real bummer. I really loved using ETFConnect.com.

Gary Karner

Oct 04 08:53 PM