New products and changes introduced over the last week include leveraged bull and bear ETFs from Direxion, a trust from Hennion & Walsh and a hedge fund from Wharton GC.
In addition, Gemini announced the launch of a centralized managed account platform and New York Life unveiled a chronic care rider for new whole life policies.
Here are the latest developments of interest to advisors:
1) Direxion Launches 3X Leveraged Bull and Bear ETFs
Direxion announced Tuesday the launch of its Direxion Daily FTSE Europe Bull 3X Shares (EURL) and Direxion Daily FTSE Europe Bear 3X Shares (EURZ). Both ETFs track the FTSE Developed Europe Index, created and managed by global index provider FTSE, which is a free-float-adjusted composite designed to measure the equity market performance of mid- and large-cap segments of developed markets in Europe.
EURL seeks to generate daily investment results of 300% of the index's performance, before fees and expenses. EURZ attempts to deliver daily investment results, before fees and expenses, of 300% of the inverse of the same composite's performance.
2) Hennion & Walsh Launches Trust
Hennion & Walsh has announced the launch of its SmartTrust NASDAQ International Dividend Achievers Index Trust, Series 1. The two-year trust seeks to pursue its objective by investing in a portfolio consisting of the publicly traded foreign securities making up the NASDAQ International Dividend Achievers Index. The objective of the index is to track the performance of certain foreign securities with at least five consecutive years of increasing regular dividend payments.
The security types eligible for the index include American Depositary Receipts (ADRs), Global Depositary Receipts (GDRs), limited partnership interests, ordinary shares and shares of limited liability companies.
Wharton GC announced Monday that that it will launch a new hedge fund this year, and had sold another minority equity stake in the firm to an unidentified buyer to help ensure its long-term viability. The firm described its new fund, Oracle of Investing Fund LP, as a variation of its long-short and global macro strategies that seeks to perform in any economic environment.
