November ETF Roundup: Launches, Filings And Closures

November was a slow month for ETF growth, starting with the delayed releases of all both Pryxis and RBS funds due to Hurricane Sandywreckinghavoc on the entire Eastern shoreline. These funds did eventually make their way to market, but as the end of the month and Thanksgiving approached, the U.S. markets stayed stable and slow. The re-election of President Obama and the looming fiscal cliff has brought a lot of confusion to the general market, which may have played a part in the ETF slowdown. Only three funds left the market, but the real excitement this month was in the filings of six funds and three funds entering the market. PureFunds is listing its first ETFs with month, with both Radiance Asset Management and ETF Investor Solutions are bringing their first products to the SEC, and we will see what these new funds have to offer before 2013.

New ETFs

New exchange-traded products that began trading in November include:

1. Pryxis/iBoxx Senior Bank Loan ETF (SNLN):Pyxis enters the ETF ringwith its first ETF added to its list of products, which is primarily dominated by mutual funds.Senior banks loans are the most recent fixed income asset classavailableto investors and have proven in the past to be great as a long-term debt instrument.
2. RBS Rogers Enhanced Commodity ETN (RGRC), Agriculture ETN (RGRA), Energy ETN (RGRE), Precious Metals ETN (RGRP) and Industrial Metals (RGRI):RBS teams up with Jim Rogersto create five uniquecommodity ETNs to break through the already vast ocean of existing products with the guidance of the investor living legend.
3. PureFunds ISE Diamond/Gemstone ETF (GEMS), Mining Service ETF (MSXX), and Junior Silver ETF (SILJ):PureFunds released a set of specialized commodity funds just in time to be a part of the November launches, focusing in on diamond and silver mining and exploration operations around the world.

Coming Soon

A number of filings for new products hit the wire in November, many of which could begin trading in the fourth quarter:

• WisdomTree and iSharesstarted the month both filing for global corporate bond ETFs.
• Global X and Van Eck filed for ETFs; Global X planning a domestic super dividend ETF, while Van Eck preparesfor a newdistressedand defaulted debt ETF.
• Radiance Asset Management, ETF Issuer Solutions and First Trust are planning for new funds, the first for Radiance and Issuer Solutions. Radiance's fund will be focused on domestic equity; ETF Issuer Solutions is looking towards actively trading alternative funds, while veteran First Trust is looking to introduce an actively-managed global tactical commodities futures ETF.
• Schwab has filed for an actively-managed short-term bond ETF in the hopes ofcompetingwith Pimco's MINT.

ETF Closings

With new products in the pipeline from previous months, one ETF issuer decided to cut its ETFs that have fallen flat:

• QuantShares liquidated three ETFs on November 2: US Market Neutral Anti Momentum Fund (NOMO), High Beta Fund (BTAH) and Quality Fund (QLT).