You’ve seen it several times this year: an exchange traded fund (ETF) shutters, and before long, the stories show up.
“Are ETFs Dead?”
“Was It a Case of Too Much, Too Soon With ETFs?”
“Should We Say Bye-Bye to the ETF Industry?”
Most people will tell you no, no and no. In fact, PowerShares‘ Vice President and National Sales Manager Bobby Brooks, is adamant: “I think we are just getting started. To use a baseball analogy, we’re just in the second inning.”
A key reason Brooks cites is that about two-thirds of the volume in ETFs is institutional investors, meaning that there’s plenty of room for growth on the retail side.
“You’ve seen a plateau, but that plateau is a holding pattern,” Brooks says. The markets are down, and as a result, the industry is flat. “That money is going to come back to work, and we feel there’s a great opportunity.”