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ficially drive up the price of copper. It
is unclear when the fund may launch.
However, in an interesting twist,
the SEC put off ruling on the approval
of the very similar iShares Copper
Trust, which has been in registration
for about as long as the JP Morgan
fund. The SEC was to have made a
decision on Dec. 24, but deferred the
decision until February for reasons
that weren’t immediately clear.
FlexShares Debuts 3 Dividend ETFs
Northern Trust’s FlexShares unit
launched three dividend-focused
ETFs in December that each track inhouse
indexes. The funds’ names and
expense ratios are as follows:
• FlexShares Quality Dividend Index
Fund (NYSE Arca: QDF), 0.37
percent after a 0.01 percent fee
reimbursement
• FlexShares Quality Dividend
Defensive Index Fund (NYSE Arca:
QDEF), 0.37 percent
• FlexShares Quality Dividend
Dynamic Index Fund (NYSE Arca:
QDYN), 0.37 percent
The portfolios each comprise highquality
U.S. securities. Companies
included in the various underlying
indexes are selected based on expected
dividend payments as well as fundamental
factors such as profitability,
solid management and reliable cash
flow, the company said in the prospectus.
Each fund targets a different
level of volatility, with QDF aiming for
volatility on par with the market, while
QDEF and QDYN target volatility levels
that are, respectively, lower and
higher than market levels.
ALPS Launches ETFs
Tracking GS Indexes
ALPS, mainly known as an ETF distributor,
rolled out four in-house ETFs
in late December that track indexes
provided by Goldman Sachs.
Three of the funds take momentumbased
approaches, although all four also
are designed to keep volatility in check.
The ETFs that target price momentum
are all “funds of funds” that invest
in other exchange-traded products,
including ETFs covering U.S. fixedincome
markets. They and their
expense ratios are as follows:
• ALPS/GS Momentum Builder
Growth Markets Equities and U.S.
Treasuries Index ETF (NYSE Arca:
GSGO), 1.29 percent
• ALPS/GS Momentum Builder
Multi-Asset Index ETF (NYSE Arca:
GSMA), 1.14 percent
• ALPS/GS Momentum Builder
Asia ex-Japan Equities and U.S.
Treasuries Index ETF (NYSE Arca:
GSAX), 1.22 percent
The fourth ETF, the ALPS/GS
Risk-Adjusted Return U.S. Large Cap
Index ETF (NYSE Arca: GSRA), uses a
Goldman-developed methodology to
target the U.S. large-cap stocks with the
highest risk-adjusted returns. It comes
with an expense ratio of 0.55 percent.
KNOW YOUR OPTIONS
CBOE Reports 2012 Volumes
The Chicago Board Options
Exchange reported a total annual
volume of 1.06 billion contracts
traded in 2012, for an average daily
volume of about 4.2 million contracts.
The ADV is down about 7
percent from the prior year.
Index options saw their ADV
decline about 5 percent to 1.2 million
contracts, while ETF options fell
a sharp 15 percent to an ADV of 1.1
million contracts.
In December 2012, the exchange’s
ADV was down 10 percent year-overyear
to 3.6 million contracts, with index
options registering a decline in ADV of
8 percent to 1.3 million contracts and
ETF options’ ADV down 15 percent.
BACK TO THE FUTURES
CME December Volume Up Y-O-Y
CME Group said in a press release
that its average daily volume for
December 2012 rose 1 percent yearover-year
to 9.6 million contracts.
However, its equity index contracts
saw a 5 percent ADV contraction to 2.7
million contracts per day, down from
2.8 million the prior December.
The exchange group’s most actively
traded index futures contracts included
the e-mini S&P 500 futures, which saw
their total volume for the month fall
18.4 percent from the prior year to 37
million contracts. However, the volume
of the e-mini Nasdaq-100 contracts was
up 14.1 percent to 5.5 million contracts,
while the mini $5 Dow futures contracts
saw their volume rise year-over-year by
6.9 percent to 2.6 million contracts.
MSCI Licenses More
Indexes To Eurex
In December, MSCI said it had
licensed a range of indexes to the
derivatives-focused Eurex Exchange.
The agreement authorizes Eurex
to launch derivatives based on a
range of MSCI indexes, including
the MSCI World, MSCI Europe,
MSCI Emerging Markets and MSCI
Frontier Markets indexes, according
to a press release. The exchange
already offered futures and options
on MSCI’s Russia index, as well as
futures on the MSCI Japan Index.
ON THE MOVE
Kranefuss Joins Warburg Pincus
Lee Kranefuss, the former chief
executive officer of iShares who
stepped down from the San Franciscobased
company in 2010, has joined
global private equity firm Warburg
Pincus to help the company’s expansion
into the ETF market.
Kranefuss, as an executive-in-residence,
will “work to help Warburg
Pincus identify and evaluate investment
opportunities in the areas of
ETFs, index investing and asset management,
particularly in Europe, Asia
and Latin America,” the firm said in a
December press release.
The New York-based private equity
firm, known for its focus on growth
investing, manages more than $30 billion
in assets, according to information
provided by the company.
Kranefuss oversaw the growth of
iShares from its dawn to $600 billion in
ETF assets by the time he left office in
2010 after having overseen BlackRock’s
acquisition of Barclays Global Investors,
iShares’ parent company.
continued on page 63
www.journalofindexes.com March / April 2013 15