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Exchange traded product launches numbered 205 (193 ETFs and 12 ETNs) in 2014, a figure more or less in the middle of the range of the past nine years.  Closures came in at 79, resulting in a net increase of 126 for the year.  Product count increased by 8.2% to 1,662, and assets jumped by 17.8% to end.

Exchange traded product launches numbered 158 in 2013, a quantity not very impressive given that six of the past seven years produced higher counts.  Additionally, closures totaled 67 for the year, leaving a net increase of only 91.  This was on a base of 1,445 active listings at the end of 2012, which.

Fidelity Investments enlarged its ETF footprint today (10/24/2013) by introducing 10 sector ETFs.  Unlike most of Fidelity’s actively managed mutual fund products, these new ETFs are designed to passively track MSCI USA IMI sector indexes.  The IMI designation stands for Investable Market Index.

The Renaissance IPO ETF (IPO) had its initial public offering yesterday (10/16/2013), and not everything went as planned.  The timing was right, it launched on a day when the S&P 500 and Dow both jumped 1.4%.  The ETF’s sponsor, Renaissance Capital, priced the new shares at $20, and they finished.

UBS (UBS) rolled out the ETRACS Diversified High Income ETN (DVHI) on Thursday (9/19/13).  The new exchange traded note (“ETN”) is targeted at investors desiring significant monthly income from a diversified multi-asset mix.  It will track the new NYSE Diversified High Income Index minus the 0.84%.

Global X introduced a new energy ETF last week (8/7/13), touting it as the lowest cost MLP ETF and one that does not incur corporate taxes.  However, the new ETF, dubbed the Global X MLP & Energy Infrastructure ETF (MLPX), is not an MLP ETF.  It is an energy sector ETF restricting its MLP holdings.

A recent Wall Street Journal article suggested there were enough ETFs in the world and all major investment bases were covered.  I might tend to agree with that conclusion when it comes to long-only cap-weighted strategies.  However, in the world of actively managed short-selling funds, the field is.

I have been a huge fan of target maturity bond ETFs since they first came on the scene in 2010.  They combine the maturity date of individual bonds, the diversification of a mutual fund, the tradability of a stock, and the transparency of an ETF.  Last week (July 10, 2013), BlackRock rolled out its.

The Cambria Shareholder Yield ETF (SYLD), launched May 14, is an actively managed ETF employing a quantitative algorithm to select companies with strong emphasis on returning free cash flow to their shareholders.  In addition to cash dividends, net share repurchases and reducing debt are the two other.

Global X SuperDividend U.S. ETF (DIV), launched 3/12/13, intends to track an index of 50 equally weighted common stocks, MLPs, and REITs that rank among the highest dividend yielding equity securities in the United States.  The underlying INDXX SuperDividend U.S. Low Volatility Index also restricts.