ProShares Launches German Government Bond ETF
The ProShares German Sovereign/Sub-Sovereign ETF (NYSEArca: GGOV - News) made its trading debut today, becoming the first U.S. listed ETF focused on sovereign and sub-sovereign debt from Germany.
GGOV is linked to the performance of the Markit iBoxx EUR Germany Sovereign & Sub-Sovereign Liquid Index and the fund's annual expense ratio is 0.45%. Germany has the world's third-largest public debt market.
'Many investors have fixed-income portfolios concentrated in high credit quality U.S. bonds,' said Michael L. Sapir, Chairman and CEO of ProShare Advisors. 'This ETF can help these investors manage risk by adding diversification through international bond exposure.'
GGOV's underlying index includes only investment grade debt the majority of which currently has the highest rating from Standard & Poor's, Moody's and Fitch. The benchmark tracks the returns of euro-denominated general obligation bonds issued by the Federal Republic of Germany, state governments of Germany, government agencies or institutions, and entities that are owned or guaranteed by German federal or state governments.
Country Rotation ETF
AdvisorShares Investments unveiled the AdvisorShares Accuvest Global Opportunities ETF (NYSEArca: ACCU - News).
ACCU uses a global country rotation strategy that ranks and sorts countries from most attractive to least attractive, on a monthly basis, using a broad range of nearly 40 different factors. Single-country ETFs from the 5-6 highest-ranked countries then form ACCU's portfolio.
ACCU's main investment vehicle are other single country ETFs. The fund's top three holdings are the iShares MSCI Thailand ETF (NYSEArca: THD - News), iShares S&P 500 ETF (NYSEArca: IVV - News) and the iShares MSCI Brazil ETF (NYSEArca: EWZ - News). The fund's annual net expense ratio is 1.78%.
Noah Hamman, CEO and Founder of AdvisorShares, said, 'Accuvest's proprietary model methodology seeks to identify countries that are targeted to outperform global indices. Their innovative approach to global investing will allow advisors and their clients access to a long-term alternative strategy that seeks to generate alpha above all global benchmarks - all within a transparent and cost-efficient ETF structure. ACCU is an outstanding addition to our existing suite of actively managed ETF strategies.'
ACCU is managed by Accuvest Global Advisors, a Walnut Creek, CA-based investment adviser that oversees $300 million in global portfolio assets. Accuvest also manages the AdvisorShares Global Long Short ETF (NYSEArca: AGLS - News).
Fundamental Bond Indexes from Citi
A new global sovereign bond index series from Citi and Research Affiliates has been introduced. The lineup extends and applies the concept of Fundamental indexing to sovereign debt.
Traditional bond indices weight securities based on market capitalization, which results in investors making their biggest bets on the biggest debtors. In contrast, the Citi RAFI Bond Index Series weights each country by its economic footprint.
Each country's weight is calculated via an equally weighted average of four factorsGDP, energy consumption, population, and rescaled land area. This methodology results in country weights that reflect each nation's ability to service its debt, which has become a growing concern as the sovereign debt crisis evolves.
The series tends to decrease exposure to aging and debt-laden economies such as Japan and the United States while increasing exposure to younger, resource-rich countries such as Australia and Canada. Available on Bloomberg, the new series comprises both sovereign developed and emerging markets bond indices. A developed corporate bond index will be released in the spring.
Ryan ALM will continue to produce the RAFI US Investment Grade (NYSEArca: PFIG - News) and High Yield bond index series (NYSEArca: PHB - News).
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