Blackrock ETF Landscape Industry Review May 2010 Highlights
At the end of May 2010 the global ETF industry had 2,218 ETFs with 4,478 listings, assets of US$1,044.1 Bn from 131 providers on 42 exchanges around the world. Source BlackRock.
The challenging market conditions of 2008 coursed a significant shift I investors risk appetite in their evaluation of counterparty risk and their desire for liquidity. During 2009 many investors turned to ETFs to help meet their desire for greater transparency in relation to the issues of cost, transparency of holdings, transparency of price, liquidity, product structure, risk and return as they relate to investment alternatives. ETFs are index-based open ended funds that can be bought and sold as quickly and easily as ordinary shares on a stock exchange- they have become popular and widely used investment vehicles to achieve many investment strategies:
- To gain diversified exposure to a market
- For core/satellite investing
- For buy and hold investing
- For active traders who wish to take advantage of market movements
- For investors wishing to hedge the market
- As an alternative to futures and other institutional investment tools
