Posts for Ticker ‘SKF’

Inverse-Leverage ETFs Regain Favor As S&P Breaks 1,000 (FAZ, SKF, SDS, DUG, SRS)

Bull and Bear ImageIt was just last week that the DJIA was on its eighth consecutive day of a rally and the junkiest of companies were running rampant.  But as the economic numbers started to finally bring in some growth, you finally started to see sellers come into play.  And now suddenly with a triple-digit drop in the DJIA comes the sound of concern from many wondering if we ran too far and too fast.  We did run too far and too fast and the moves started to price in probably what is a return to normal growth rather than muted growth.  And just like that, the interest in inverse exchange-traded funds is back.

Direxion Daily Financial Bear 3X Shares (NYSE: FAZ) is probably the biggest go-to instrument for traders betting against the market because it offers triple-leverage in a bet against the financial stocks in the Russell 1000 Financial Services Index.  At 1:30 we have seen over 65 million shares trade hands and this 3X-leverage inverse ETF is up 10% at $25.55.  Average volume on most days is about 40 million, and now anyone who bought this one in the last 7 trading days is up.
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Posted on: September 1, 2009 – 1:52 pm in ETF, Index, , , , ,

More Official Warnings on Leveraged ETFs (FAS, FAZ, UYG, SKF, SDS, SSO)

money-stack-imageThe Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and the Securities and Exchange Commission decided to issue an Investor Alert yesterday called “Leveraged and Inverse ETFs: Specialized Products with Extra Risks for Buy-and-Hold Investors”….  This warning was meant to warn retail investors of the added risks in leveraged ETF investments that exist above and beyond the traditional world of investment products. This follows a recent FINRA regulatory notice reminding securities firms and brokers of their sales practice obligations relating to leveraged and inverse exchange-traded funds.

While this is not against any single leveraged ETF (or inverse ETF), it may have at least some influence on leveraged ETF and reverse-leveraged ETFs.  The two key ETFs for leverage and high volume and high volatility are the Direxion Daily Financial Bull 3X Shares (NYSE: FAS) and the Direxion Daily Financial Bear 3X Shares (NYSE: FAZ) as they are the triple-leverage financial sector ETFs.

A handful of the other active leveraged and inverse-leverage ETFSs are as follows: Ultra Financials ProShares (NYSE: UYG) seeks twice the daily performance of the Dow Jones U.S. Financials index.  UltraShort Financials ProShares (NYSE: SKF) seeks twice the inverse of the daily performance of the Dow Jones U.S. Financials index. UltraShort S&P500 ProShares (NYSE: SDS) seeks twice the inverse of the daily performance of the S&P 500 Index. Ultra S&P500 ProShares (NYSE: SSO) twice the daily performance of the S&P 500 Index.
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Posted on: August 19, 2009 – 9:49 am in ETF, Index, Regulation, SEC, Trading Alert, , , , , ,

Paulson, Esteemed Bank Short Seller, Now Long Financials (BAC, COF, GS, JPM, FITB, FHN, MI, PBCT, SKF, RF, STT, STI)

John Paulson has been well known as a hedge fund manager because of the profits he made from short selling many of the key financial stocks.  Yet his new filing shows a large long position as of the quarter-end June 30, 2009. For example, it lists a huge stake in Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC).  There were many smaller company stakes, but some of the medium-sized stakes (for Paulson that is) are in Capital One Financial Corp. (NYSE: COF), Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS), and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM).  Below are the rest of his financial holdings: Read More »

Posted on: August 12, 2009 – 5:11 pm in Activist Investor, Banking, Financial Stocks, Insider Activity, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Brokerage Giant Restricts Leveraged and Inverse ETF Products (FAS, FAZ, UYG, SKF, SDS, SSO)

The movement against, or at least a move to better quantify, leveraged ETFs is still going.  In fact, it is becoming more clear.  While this is not against any single leveraged ETF (or inverse ETF), this does have at least have a continued influence on leveraged ETF and reverse-leveraged ETFs such as the Direxion Daily Financial Bull 3X Shares (NYSE: FAS) and the Direxion Daily Financial Bear 3X Shares (NYSE: FAZ).  Those are triple-leverage financial sector ETFs. A handful of the other active leveraged and inverse-leverage ETFSs are as follows: Ultra Financials ProShares (NYSE: UYG) seeks twice the daily performance of the Dow Jones U.S. Financials index.  UltraShort Financials ProShares (NYSE: SKF) seeks twice the inverse of the daily performance of the Dow Jones U.S. Financials index. UltraShort S&P500 ProShares (NYSE: SDS) seeks twice the inverse of the daily performance of the S&P 500 index. Ultra S&P500 ProShares (NYSE: SSO) twice the daily performance of the S&P 500 index.

This morning came an announcement from Morgan Stanley Smith Barney that it has placed certain restrictions on the sale of leveraged, inverse, and leveraged inverse exchange traded funds.  The reason even started out as “In response to concerns raised by regulators about these securities…”
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Posted on: August 7, 2009 – 1:32 pm in Brokerage Firms, ETF, Regulation, , , , , ,

Mass. Inquiry on Leveraged ETF’s (FAS, FAZ, UYG, SKF, SDS, SSO)

There may be some misconceptions out in the market over an inquiry into the leveraged ETF universe.  The Massachusetts Secretary of State has inquired into the sales, marketing, and disclosure practices of leveraged ETF’s.  This issue will bring more attentionon some top volume leveraged-ETFs.  The two most active before the reverse splits were the Direxion Daily Financial Bull 3X Shares (NYSE: FAS) and the Direxion Daily Financial Bear 3X Shares (NYSE: FAZ) in the triple-leverage.  Others are as follows:

Ultra Financials ProShares (NYSE: UYG) seeks twice the daily performance of the Dow Jones U.S. Financials index.  UltraShort Financials ProShares (NYSE: SKF) seeks twice the inverse of the daily performance of the Dow Jones U.S. Financials index. UltraShort S&P500 ProShares (NYSE: SDS) seeks twice the inverse of the daily performance of the S&P 500 index. Ultra S&P500 ProShares (NYSE: SSO) twice the daily performance of the S&P 500 index.

There are many other issues from leveraged ETF families out there.  These are just some of the top leveraged exchange traded funds by trading volume.  But there are some considerations here that are a part of the Mass. Secretary of State inquiry.
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Posted on: July 15, 2009 – 2:00 pm in ETF, Law, Regulation, , , , , ,

Leveraged ETF’s Weigh Bank Preferred Redemptions (FAS, FAZ, UYG, SKF, PGF, BAC, JPM, WFC, GS, C)

The triple-leverage financial ETFs of Direxion Daily Financial Bull 3X Shares (NYSE: FAS) and Direxion Daily Financial Bear 3X Shares (NYSE: FAZ) are getting to deal with yet another potential wrench in the machine: preferred share redemptions from major banks.  This will also pose a potential issue for the Ultra Financials ProShares (NYSE: UYG) and the UltraShort Financials ProShares (NYSE: SKF) ETFs that trade at double-leverage of the Dow Jones U.S. Financials index.

The PowerShares Financial Preferred (NYSE: PGF) is the ETF that specifically tracks the preferred shares of financial stocks.  This can also be impacted, although we would note that this ETF here has five of its top ten holdings which are European bank preferred shares and the top ten holdings are over half of the ETF.

This comes on the hells of this morning’s Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) announcement that it was offering a tender exchange offer on nine of its preferred series for up to 200 million shares of common stock.  At today’s prices, that would represent more than $2.2 billion in new common stock.  The largest US bank holding company issuers we have seen with Bank of America are JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM), Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC), and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS).

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Posted on: May 28, 2009 – 11:27 am in Banking, Bonds, Brokerage Firms, ETF, Financial Stocks, Trading Alert, , , , , , , , , ,

ETF Winners & Losers (June 5, 2007)

ETF Tickers: SRS, SDP, SSG, SJH, SZK, SDD, SKK, SKF, SDS, SCC, SJL, FXI, PGJ, HRD, IIH, RWR, ICF, ITB, EZA, UNG

What’s an easy way to tell when the market had a pretty bad hair day, other than looking at the ticker tape?  Seeing that all of the ETF winners for the day are listed as the UltraShort "Whatever" ProShares……they are the inverse move of an any underlying index, so when they are up the index or the market is down.  The top 12 performers today were all in that category. Some of these are leveraged to their index, not it doesn’t mean the worst performers are the underlying index per se.

UltraShort Real Estate ProShares (SRS) 3.52%   
UltraShort Utilities ProShares (SDP) 3.13%   
UltraShort Semiconductor ProShares (SSG) 2.09%
UltraShort Russell2000 Value ProShares (SJH) 1.66%
UltraShort Consumer Goods ProShares (SZK) 1.59%
UltraShort SmallCap600 ProShares (SDD) 1.49%
UltraShort Russell2000 Growth ProShares (SKK) 1.41%   
UltraShort Financials ProShares    (SKF) 1.36%
UltraShort S&P500 ProShares (SDS) 1.35%
UltraShort Consumer Services ProShares (SCC) 1.24%
UltraShort Russell MidCap Val ProShares    (SJL) 1.20%   
UltraShort Russell2000 ProShares (TWM) 1.06%

Other non-short ETF winners:
iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index (FXI) +1.02%
PowerShares Gldn Dragon Halter USX China (PGJ) +0.80%
HealthShares Cardiology    (HRD) +0.7%

Worse non-Ultra funds today:
Internet Infrastructure HOLDRs (IIH) -1.82%
DJ Wilshire REIT ETF (RWR) -1.76%
iShares Cohen & Steers Realty Majors (ICF) -1.76%   
iShares Dow Jones US Home Construction (ITB) -1.64%
iShares MSCI South Africa Index    (EZA) -1.60%
United States Natural Gas (UNG)    -1.55%

Today was more of a Bernake playing hankie with words than it was China.  Tomorrow’s another day.

DJIA                       13,595.46; -80.86 (0.59%)
NASDAQ               2,611.23; -7.06 (0.27%)
S&P500                1,530.95; -8.23 (0.53%)
10YR-Bond          4.9760%; +0.0470%
NYSE Volume      2,884,657,000
NASDAQ Volume 2,233,690,000

Jon C. Ogg
June 5, 2007

Posted on: June 5, 2007 – 3:38 pm in ETF, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,