An exchange traded fund that has seen strong inflows in recent trading sessions is likely familiar to most who have been around ETFs for the past decade or so, but today we point out something about this product that may or may not be evident to all.
Market Vectors Oil Services (NYSEArca: OIH) tracks the 25 largest U.S. listed equities that are engaged in the oil services industry, and the fund has seen over $700 million flow into it in recent sessions. OIH is likely a very familiar symbol to most, as it previously was an unmanaged trust under the Merrill Lynch HOLDRS banner, until Van Eck’s Market Vectors acquired the product line late last year and made material changes to the index baskets that the former HOLDRS track.
Currently, OIH tracks the Market Vectors U.S. Listed Oil Services 25 Index, and top holdings look like the following: SLB (19.07%), HAL (9.59%), NOV (9.17%), BHI (6.80%), and WFT (4.74%). OIH, along with the other “former HOLDRS” products, are now actually ETFs, and not simply unmanaged trusts that have no re-balancing features as the HOLDRs products did, which largely caused them to become obsolete over time.
So, it is fair to say that the new line of Market Vectors sector products that still carry the same symbols as the former HOLDRS, are much more dynamic from an index diversification and rebalancing standpoint than their predecessors.
From a technical trading standpoint, OIH is challenging its 200-day simple moving average ($43.66 a share is the level) and has bumped up against this average several times in the past few weeks, but has been unsuccessful in maintaining any momentum above it.