| News
Roundup: Nasdaq ETF; Barclays & Vanguard Distributions
By IndexFunds.com Staff
December 17, 2001 |
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The Nasdaq Exchange is looking to capitalize on the popularity
of the Nasdaq-100 Tracking Stock (QQQ),
an exchange-traded
fund listed on the American Stock Exchange (AMEX). Nasdaq
has plans to launch its own ETF based on the Nasdaq
Composite Index, according to John Jacobs, head of Nasdaq
Financial Products Services.
Given the success of the Nasdaq-100 "cubes," which hold over
$22 billion in assets, Nasdaq believes a broader version of QQQ
could attract significant interest from institutional and retail
investors. However, Jacobs indicated a Nasdaq composite ETF is
not designed to be a direct competitor to the existing QQQ. He
pointed out that the Nasdaq 100 index does not contain many small-caps,
initial public offerings (IPOs), and financial stocks traded on
Nasdaq. Currently, over 4,000 companies trade on the exchange,
and according to Jacobs, the Nasdaq 100 covers 70% of the exchange's
total market capitalization. Jacobs could not comment on potential
candidates to manage the ETF.
Although it remains to be seen whether a composite Nasdaq ETF
will siphon assets from QQQ, the move underscores the growing
competition in trading ETFs. The AMEX has continued to develop
ties with foreign exchanges in an effort hasten global ETF expansion,
while the New York Stock exchange has cross-listed
several popular AMEX-traded ETFs.
Zero Capital Gains Distributions for iShares
Barclays Global Investors (BGI) announced zero capital gains
distributions in 2001 for all of the domestic and 11 of the international
iShares. Barclays
manages domestic ETFs tied to broad style indices from S&P/Barra
and Russell, as well as a family of sector iShares hitched to
benchmarks that cover thin U.S. market slices.
"Tax efficiency is one of the main advantages of iShares, and
we're focused on continuing this year's success," said J.
Parsons, head of sales for BGI's individual investor group.
Among the international iShares with no capital gains distributions
this year are the broad international MSCI
EAFE iShares, which were
launched with much fanfare in August. According to Parsons,
MSCI EAFE iShares assets have already climbed to $812 million.
Vanguard Fund Distributions
The Vanguard
Group released capital gains distributions for the following
funds as of 12/13/2001:
Q=quarterly, SA=semi-annually, A=annually Source: The Vanguard
Group
