I took a look at how the nearly 400 different funds in registration currently break down by category:
- 165 Leveraged
- 84 International Equity
- 75 Domestic Equity
- 35 Fixed Income
- 21 Commodity
- 16 REITs
- 1 Timber
Not all those leveraged ETFs will necessarily launch, but that's clearly that's an area where people see opportunities. And strong returns in the international space have investors and advisors jumping all over that market right now.
What's Next?
All that brings to mind a little experiment we did back in the spring of 2006. I wrote an article titled "In My Dreams," where I laid out a list of ETFs that I thought were missing from the market. Here's the update.
|
Asset Class |
Status |
|
India
|
Launched (INP) |
|
Russia |
Launched (RSX) |
|
New Europe |
Launched in Europe, but not in the US.
|
|
S&P 5 Stars |
No progress. But a new index hit the market yesterday... |
|
Enhanced International
|
Launched a thousand times over. |
|
High Yield Debt |
In registration |
A pretty good track record, if you ask me.
I also asked readers to write in with a list of funds they wanted to see. I screened the entries and posted the most popular and most promising suggestions. Here's the update.
|
Asset Class |
Status
|
|
International Small Cap (And Value) |
Launched (DLS, et al.), with more in registration. |
|
Total World Equity
|
No progress. |
|
International Sectors |
Launched (WisdomTree, iShares) |
|
One-Stop Asset Allocation |
In registration (TDAX)
|
|
Leveraged currency |
No progress. |
|
Natural Gas
|
Launched (UNG) |
|
Regional Banks |
In registration |
|
Municipal Bonds |
In registration
|
ETF providers clearly have some work to do still.
Written by Matthew Hougan
