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GLD Now
Has Bigger Gold Cache Than Japan

Gold holdings in exchange-traded funds rose 150
tons in the third quarter, compared with an increase of 4 tons in the previous
quarter and 139.5 tons in the same period a year ago, according to industry
research compiled by Dow Jones Newswires.

The most popular gold ETF, the SPDR Gold Trust
(NYSE: GLD), was the biggest draw for that new money, the report added. The
surge in buying pushed GLD’s holdings to more than 770 tons in October, a cache
“that exceeds the official holdings of Japan, which has the world’s
seventh-biggest gold reserves,” the story noted.

For a broader view of what’s going on in gold
markets, you can read the full article here.

Swiss
Investors Flocking To ETFs

More costly and complicated investment products
are out-of-favor with European investors, reports the Wall Street Journal. “Spooked by complicated and often expensive
financial products, many of Europe’s private-client investors are piling into
exchange-traded funds as they dump exposure to structured products. That trend
is being felt particularly acutely in Switzerland,” writes reporter Tara Loader
Wilkinson.

She notes that the Swiss stock exchange figures
demand for ETFs grew more than 90% in October compared with the previous month,
bringing the amount invested in them to 7.6 billion Swiss francs ($6.3
billion).

Those with WSJ subscriptions can read the full
account here.

Jane
Bryant Quinn: Investors Wrong On Munis

In her latest Bloomberg
column,  the renowned financial writer
notes that investors “poured a net of $20 billion into municipal funds this
year. Then, in late September, they changed their minds. So far this quarter,
$7.4 billion has fled the scene.”

Of course, those moves didn’t
prove to be very good timing decisions. “Investors may have jumped out of their
tax-exempt bond funds at just the wrong time,” Quinn wrote.  She goes on to track the recent moves of
munis as a whole and does a nice job of looking at all sorts of exchange-traded
funds as well as other types of investments.

You can check the story out here.

How Progressive Is Global Transport ETF?

Gary Gordon takes an interesting
peek underneath the hoods of the PowerShares Global Progressive Transportation
ETF (Nasdaq: PTRP) on Seeking Alpha.

The long-time advisor compares it
with the iShares Dow Jones Transports (NYSE: IYT). It’s a short review but
winds up pointing out that investors might want to avoid “cutesy”  funds. 
Whether you agree with his conclusions or not, Gordon has an obvious
message - know what you’re really buying!

You can read his story here.

Actively Managed REIT ETF

An article on TheStreet.com looks
at the launch this week of the PowerShares Active U.S. Real Estate Portfolio, which will trade on the NYSE
under the ticker PSR.

Besides launching as the
industry’s first actively managed REIT ETF, PSR will be managed by Invesco’s
institutional team that has a long history of managing real estate portfolios,
the article notes.

It’s not a new story. We actually
previewed the new fund ourselves at IU.com. But with its launch now coming,
more stories are bound to come. TheStreet’s take can be viewed here.

Last 5 posts by IndexUniverse Staff

• NASDAQ Launches Index Tracking TARP Companies - January 8th, 2009
• Dec. 8: The Best ETF Articles In The National Media - January 8th, 2009
• Jan. 7: The Best ETF Articles In The National Media - January 7th, 2009
• DJ-AIG Commodities Index Changing Weightings - January 6th, 2009
• Jan. 6: The Best ETF Articles In The National Media - January 6th, 2009