Fortune Cookie Says: Outlook Bright For Asia BrokerDealers

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Brokerdealer.com blog update with coverage of the Asian Market courtesy of ETF Trends’ Todd Shriber

Following some bullish data points that boosted sentiment during Tuesday’s Asian session, exchange traded funds offering access to China’s onshore A-shares markets are soaring Tuesday.

ETFTrends logoWith local investors warming to equities over property, Goldman Sachs forecasts an estimated 400 billion yuan will depart China’s property market next year with the destination being A-shares equities.

“The Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index(symbol: SHCOMP, +3.11%) is showing the largest positive risk adjusted return across regions and assets. In absolute terms, the SHCOMP increased by the most in 15-months and extended its YTD performance to over 30%,” said Rareview Macro founder Neil Azous in a research note out Tuesday.

News that home sales in China’s 54 largest metro areas surged nearly 9% last month is fueling gains for already high-flying U.S.-listed A-shares ETFs.

After ranking as one of November’s top-performing non-leveraged ETFs, the Deutsche X-trackers Harvest CSI 300 China A-Shares Fund (NYSEArca: ASHR), the largest U.S.-listed A-shares ETF, is higher by 5.5% today on volume that has already exceeded the daily average. Joining ASHR in the all-time high club is the KraneShares Bosera MSCI China A-Shares ETF (NYSEArca: KBA), which is higher by 4.7% on volume that is more than 30 times above the daily average.

ASHR and KBA are two of just 11 ETFs to hit all-time highs to this point in Tuesday’s session.

The Market Vectors ChinaAMC A-Share ETF (NYSEArca: PEK), the oldest U.S.-listed A-shares ETF, is soaring by 5.4% on heavy volume and is trading at its highest levels in nearly three and a half years. Although the A-shares ETFs do not feature the excessive financial services sector exposure found in the iShares China Large-Cap ETF (NYSEArca: FXI), the trio is still levered to investor sentiment to China’s largest financial services firms. The average weight to the financial services sector across ASHR, KBA and PEK is 38.7%.

“Trading values in the Shanghai Composite rose to a record 401.6 billion yuan ($65.3 billion) last week, boosting the profit outlook of brokerages relying on trading commissions as the main source of their revenue,” according to Azous.

For the entire article from ETFtrends.com please click here

Broker-Dealer ETF $IAI Shines

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Brokerdealer.com blog update courtesy of extract from article in ETFtrends.com by Todd Shriber and Tom Lydon

A Quiet Rally For Broker-Dealers ETFs

Sep. 18, 2014 12:54 AM ET  |  

Disclosure: The author is long XLF. (More…)

Summary

By Todd Shriber & Tom Lydon

Financial services stocks and exchange traded funds have been lagging the broader market this year. That much is highlighted by a 7.5% gain for the Financial Select Sector SPDR (NYSEArca: XLF) and a 6.3% gain for the iShares U.S. Financials ETF (NYSEArca: IYF).

But as they dithered for much of the earlier part of 2014, financial services ETFs are starting to impress. Over the past month, four of the top-10 performing non-leveraged ETFs are financial services funds and that group is led by the iShares U.S. Broker-Dealers ETF (NYSEArca: IAI).

After enduring a summer swoon at the hands of lethargic trading activity, IAI has come roaring back. Over the past month, the fund is up nearly 5.1%, a performance topped by only three other non-leveraged ETFs. That while trading volumes continue to dwindle, prompting concern from some market observers about the health of the bull market. Trading has been continually slowing down since the sharp uptick after the financial crisis in 2009. Last year, daily average U.S. stock trading volume was down 37%.

Despite its trials and tribulations earlier this year, which were magnified because it was one of 2013′s best-performing financial services ETFs, IAI entered Tuesday trading less than 0.6% below its 52-week high and it looks like more upside could be on the way.

“One of the most recent sectors to step forth and grab the leadership mantle, speaking of warts, has been the broker/dealers. Despite the cyclical (or secular) decline in equity volume and the concern over the lack of bond supply, the stocks of broker/dealers have been exceptionally strong of late. Last Friday, as the S&P 500 closed down 0.6%, the NYSE ARCA Broker/Dealer Index (XBD) was up 0.6%. For the week, the XBD was up over 4%, breaking out to a 6-year high in the process,” according to J. Lyons Fund Management.

The full article can be found by clicking this link.

BofA Breathes Some Life Into Bank ETFs

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BrokerDealer.com blog post courtesy of extracts from ETF Trends.com, written by Todd Shriber.

 

ETFTrends logoMoribund financial services exchange traded funds got some much-needed good news Wednesday when Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) announced the Federal Reserve granted it permission to raise its dividend to common stockholders for the first time in seven years.

BofA said it will pay a quarterly dividend of 5 cents per share up from the paltry penny a share it had been paying since early 2009. Today’s news removes some of the embarrassment suffered by the bank in April when it said it would be forced to suspend its planned $4 billion share repurchase plan and its previously announced dividend increase due to a calculation error related to the company’s acquisition of Merrill Lynch during the financial crisis.

The BofA dividend news sent shares of the Financial Select Sector SPDR (NYSEArca: XLF), the largest U.S. sector ETF, up 0.6% while the iShares U.S. Financials ETF (NYSEArca: IYF) added 0.55%. XLF and IYF have BofA weights of 5.76% and 4.41%, respectively. Continue reading →