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iShares and Pimco to shut 22 ETFs

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  • @Sven: It appears your link didn't register, here is the article.
    Regards,
    Ted
    http://www.investmentnews.com/article/20140815/FREE/140819933?template=printart
  • @Ted, thank you.
  • edited August 2014
    "iShares also plans to shut......a nuclear energy ETF (NUCL)....."

    May I ask who the genius was who thought a nuclear energy ETF would be a good idea, or would be successful. Apparently the etf industry defines a successful etf as one that has at least 100 million in assets. In a nuclear energy fund?

    "Pimco also will launch three new funds, including a product managed by the firm's chief investment officer Bill Gross. The fund will be called the Fundamental IndexPLUS AR Active ETF. It's based in part on an index licensed from Rob Arnott's Research Affiliates, a “smart beta” proponent."

    Do you think they could come up with a name that would tell the investor more?
    Like, what the heck is AR? Does it refer to Research Affiliates? Rob Arnott?
    How about calling it RA instead of AR?

    And what's Bill Gross doing managing an active stock fund? I know the PLUS part seeks to juice returns I believe thru investing in bonds, but Bill Gross managing stocks?

    I guess wait till the prospectus comes out
  • edited August 2014
    @rjb112 I think the AR refers to "Absolute Return." Many names of their "enhanced" stock equity index funds were altered from TR to AR, last year (or maybe late 2012), to indicate a change in orientation for how the fixed income overlay would be managed going forward (a la FPNIX).
  • Thanks heezsafe, that sounds reasonable. Any idea why a bond guy (Bill Gross) would be managing a stock fund? Didn't sound like he would just manage the bond sleeve of the fund. Maybe the stock sleeve is on autopilot, and only needs an active bond sleeve.
  • @rjb112 Oh, you see this not infrequently happen, sooner or later, with the bond gurus (I dunno why. "penis envy"... deep down inside, they want to swing their dicks with the stock boys too?). But in these cases, he really only is managing the bond portion of the fund; the stock portion is derived from investing in an index, via derivatives to the extent they represent the total value of the fund [that's a sloppy way of wording it, but ya get the idea]. The PLUS is the additional income stream from the bonds, which also serve as collateral for the derivative contracts taken out. And if you smell "counter-party risk" with that..... then your nose is in proper working order!:)
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