By Lara Crigger

Can USCF's new fund tackle the natural gas contango?

United States Commodity Funds' new ETF, the U.S. 12-Month Natural Gas Fund (NYSEArca: UNL), began trading yesterday, offering investors another easy access point to the natural gas market. But let's hope it sees smoother sailing than its controversial cousin, the U.S. Natural Gas Fund (NYSEArca: UNG).

By Dave Nadig

IndexIQ’s new IQ Arb Merger Arbitrage ETF just started trading, but I’m not sure I buy it.

By Matt Hougan

ProShares’ newfound tax efficiency is surprising and welcome. Will the other leveraged funds follow suit?

Deutsche Boerse and SIX Swiss Exchange have announced that they are buying out Dow Jones’ (NWS) one-third stake in Stoxx for a consideration of 206.1 million euros, or $306 million.

Stoxx was set up as a joint venture between Deutsche Boerse, Dow Jones and SIX Swiss Exchange in 1998 in anticipation of the introduction of the euro and the creation of the eurozone. Stoxx is Europe's leading index provider in the ETF market and Europe's No. 1 (world No. 2) provider in the derivatives market, according to the company’s Web site. A number of U.S.-listed ETFs are tied to the company’s indexes as well.

By Dave Nadig

ETF short interest provides some great insights into what the market really thinks.

Joanne Hill, Head of Investment Strategy for ProFunds Group, examines more than 50 years of historical returns and provides new insights into the link between volatility and long-term performance in leveraged and inverse ETFs. Hill also discusses a simple rebalancing strategy that can help investors achieve leveraged or inverse index exposure over extended holding periods.

Click here for a full replay of the webinar

Original post

By Matt Hougan

Dave Nadig thinks Schwab (SCHW) will possibly have $100 billion in assets in its ETF products by December 2010?

By Dave Nadig

Matt Hougan may think it’s all about Zecco. I think it’s all about advisers.

By Matt Hougan

Schwab’s new ETFs solve one critical problem in the ETF market, but they won’t take over the world. At least not for a while.

By Dave Nadig

It’s one thing to love a product for its innovation, but another to blanket the world with that love without highlighting the real problems.

By Matt Hougan

Exchange-traded notes are like the forgotten stepchildren of the ETF industry: unloved and overlooked. Investors (particularly taxable investors) are missing out.

by Dave Nadig

Matt’s ideas for fixing bond ETFs aren’t bad, but focusing on premiums and discounts is a mug’s game.

By Dave Nadig

Dr. Nouriel Roubini, professor of economics and international business at the Stern School of Business at NYU and chairman of RGE Monitor, is perhaps best known for his prescient predictions of the financial market collapse in 2005.

By Matt Hougan

Dave Nadig wants to fix bond ETFs? Here are a few simple ideas.

Recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission indicate that Barclays Global Investors (soon to come under ownership by BlackRock (BLK)) is looking to launch a family of municipal bond exchange-traded funds targeting certain maturity dates.

Each fund would hold the underlying securities from its respective index to full maturity, at which point the fund would simply retain a cash position. When the last holding of each fund reaches maturity, presumably on or about Aug. 31 of the targeted year, the fund’s assets will be distributed to shareholders, much like the underlying bonds themselves.

By Dave Nadiq

Matt’s call for a better bond index is just the tip of the iceberg.

By Matt Hougan

The basic premise of most corporate bond indexes is flawed. There has to be a better way.

By Heather Bell

I’m moving to China … possibly to live in a bunker. At least that was my inclination after listening to a presentation by Jim Rogers Thursday.

By Daniel Harrison

In the last month, I’ve written about two long/short quant products, which I think may be about to experience some unusual volatility in this quarter’s market environment. Using any dips in these products as potential buying opportunities will make for a strategic long-term bet.