As investors trickle back into the stock market this year, the race is on for exchange traded fund providers to attract assets. Many providers are launching new ETFs that track the hot spots of today’s market.
A provider that is taking the lead in the current race for investor’s capital is UBS, according to ETF Global Insight data. The UBS MSCI US Growth ETF has accumulated assets of $338 million since mid-February, when it came to market. The main market it trades is in Germany. [PIMCO Total Return ETF: Bill Gross Trims Treasury Holdings]
Investors won’t be surprised to find out top holdings include Apple (NasdaqGS: AAPL), IBM (NYSE:IBM) and Microsoft (NasdaqGS: MSFT). These companies dominate this synthetic ETF. Many of these mega-cap companies have had stand-out performances in 2012.
Chris Flood for Financial Times reports that the provider has launched 3 other ETFs in 2012, which have gathered around $300 million collectively. In 2011, UBS was ranked the second-fastest growing ETF provider in Europe, behind iShares, reports Flood.
For the U.S. market, Pimco’s Total Return ETF (NYSEArca: BOND), was expected to be first in line, however, it takes second place to iShares Barclays US Treasury Bond Fund (NYSEArca:TLT). The ETF provides broad exposure to the US government bond market, and has accumulated assets of $300.3 million, just slightly ahead of BOND, which had assets of $277 million. [Treasury ETFs Rise in Safety Trade]
Furthermore, BlackRock, the world’s largest fund provider by assets, has brought 44 new ETFs to market in 2012. Many of these funds have been popular, as 13 of them have accumulated more than $10 million in assets each. [ETF Spotlight: High-Yield Bonds]
Tisha Guerrero contributed to this article.
The opinions and forecasts expressed herein are solely those of Tom Lydon, and may not actually come to pass. Information on this site should not be used or construed as an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or a recommendation for any product.