The real estate unit of Ontario Teachers Pension Plan has been investing in Brazil as well as the U.K. and Australia. Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board has bought London click here. residential, retail and office properties. Easy targets Markets such as the U.K. and Australia are easy targets for North American investors, Moore said. The ownership structures are familiar, the legal structures are very similar, they understand what theyre getting into and the transparency is good, he said. In Japan, where interest rates are near zero thanks to central bank stimulus, investors can borrow cheaply to buy buildings whose rents translate into an investment yield thats three or more percentage points higher, said Sonny Kalsi, co founder of GreenOak Real Estate, who previously led Morgan Stanleys real estate investment unit. Investment yields on properties are measured in terms of capitalization rate, a buildings net operating income divided by purchase price. A property valued at $100-million with income of $5-million a year would translate to a cap rate of 5 per cent. Liquidity, stability Liquidity, stability and the view that rents have a lot of upside are driving real estate investment in Japan, said Kalsi. You can buy for a 4 to 6 per cent cap rate, and borrow at 1 to 2 http://blogs.barrons.com/emergingmarketsdaily/2014/08/28/a-warning-sign-for-emerging-market-equities/ per cent so theres significant positive spread with real potential upside. By company, the international property ETFs biggest holdings are Mitsui Fudosan Co., Japans second-largest developer; Brookfield Asset Management; Paris-based Unibail Rodamco SE, the biggest developer in Europe; Scentre Group, the Westfield Group spinoff that owns shopping malls in Australia and New Zealand; and Land Securities Group Plc, the largest developer in the U.K. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/funds-and-etfs/etfs/investors-pour-money-into-global-real-estate-etfs/article20322474/
Robots Leave Money On The Table | ETF.com
Well have to work with the available pieces; namely, existing broad-based, cap-weighted ETFs. The U.S. fund is easy. ETF.com and all the robo advisors agree that VTI is the best option. The non-U.S. http://www.etf.com/sections/blog/23164-robots-leave-money-on-the-table.html
Getting Smart About Leveraged ETFs | Seeking Alpha
Leveraged ETFs are becoming a fast growing category. The number of leverage ETFs is close to 250. The leveraged ETFs offer 2X or 3X daily compounding over the returns of the underlying index. The Proshares 2X ETF ticker "SSO" provides daily compounding of twice the returns on S&P 500 index. The Direxion's 3X ETF ticker "FAS" provides the daily compounding of three times the returns on Russell 1000 financial services index. Very few investors understand their behavior. The daily eye popping returns of these ETFs invoke the animal spirits and let investors make dumb decisions. I'm going to run some hypothetical scenarios to explain the returns of these 2X and 3X funds. The scenarios provides a framework for properly understanding these funds. Hypothetical scenarios: Scenario 1: Volatile market. http://seekingalpha.com/article/2471975-getting-smart-about-leveraged-etfs?source=feed_f
Introductory Guide to Soft Commodity ETFs - September 3, 2014 - Zacks.com
Sugar ETNs Sugar prices remained under pressure from a global supply glut that outpaced demand and led to huge stockpiles. This is primarily due to a bumper crop year in the top growing regions in Brazil, India and Thailand despite the drought conditions. The International Sugar Organization projects global sugar surplus of 4 million metric tons in the current 20132014 season (ending September 30) and 1.3 million metric tons in the 20142015 season. Though the oversupply situation is expected to ease in the next season, weak global demand and increased production are unlikely to support the rise in sugar price. This is especially true, as consumption needs to outstrip supply by at least 3-4 million metric tons in order to propel the price of the sweet commodity higher (read: Time for Top Ranked Sugar ETF: SGG ). In such a backdrop, the popular and liquid sugar ETN iPath Dow Jones-UBS Sugar Subindex Total Return ETN (( SGG - ETF report )) has lost nearly 16% in the year-to-date time frame. The ETN tracks the Dow Jones-UBS Sugar Subindex Total Return, which delivers returns through an unleveraged investment in the futures contracts on sugar. The note has an expense ratio of 0.75% and has amassed $35.3 million in its asset base. Volume is light, ensuring additional cost in the form of a wide bid/ask spread. Apart from this, investors have two other options targeting the sugar futures market Teucrium Sugar Fund (( CANE - ETF report )) and iPath Pure Beta Sugar ETN (( SGAR - ETF report )). While CANE has provided almost flat returns, SGAR is down 7%. http://www.zacks.com/stock/news/145947/introductory-guide-to-soft-commodity-etfs