Every once in awhile I like to check in with ETFConnect.com to get ETF holding percentages, NAV, descriptions and other information.  Take a look at any ETF Resources page and you’ll likely see the site listed as the best of the best.  Surprisingly, it’s vanished and been replaced by CEFConnect which focuses exclusively on closed end funds.  It isn’t surprising that Nuveen, which owned ETFConnect, and provides CEF funds, has set up a site exclusively focused on CEF’s, but the fact they have killed a very popular, authority site for ETF investing site is stupidity at its finest.  The conflict of interest is understandable as a CEF provider, but it could have been sold for a substantial sum to another company.  Perhaps that is in the works behind the scenes, but for now I’ll have to try and scour the web for similar info.  Most of the info will be easy to find elsewhere, but what I really liked about ETFConnect was the chart showing how the ETF/CEF traded compared to its NAV.  If anyone has found another site that offers something similar, I’d love to know!

Just when it appeared the ETF industry was undergoing a much needed shake out comes news that both Schwab and Pimco are hopping on the ETF bandwagon just a few years too late, each registering a single ETF with the SEC.  What the ETF industry doesn’t need are more broad tracking ETFs such as those planned by both Schwab and Pimco.  Schwab is apparently filing to list an ETF that will track the Dow Jones US Total Stock Market Index while Pimco’s ETF will track an index of US Treasury securities.   Insert yawn here.  I’d imagine they are rolling out one ETF to gauge demand and may follow with more depending on the response.  Note to both:  take the route of Claymore, ProShares, PowerShares or Direxion and get creative or you will fail. 

Barclays owns about half of the ETF market with its iShares lineup while State Street Global advisors (STT) accounts for about 30% of the market with its SPDR family of ETFs.  Vanguard rounds it out with 10% market share while Rydex, Direxion, ProShares Claymore and PowerShares splitting the scraps