Municipal ETFs

There has been an uptick in the volumes of the various Muni ETFs that have been issued by Barclays, SSGA., Powershares and Van Eck.

Of note yesterday were the 96,300 shares of MUB(Barclays natiional product) and the 201,000 shares of TFI(State Street national product). PZA from Powershares was third in share volume with 10,700 shares. All 12 existing Muni ETFs had some share volume.

There has been a flurry of late in the year launch announcements from several issuers. The timing is difficult as most specialists are trying to close out the year and are generally reluctant to take on new product with little chance of substantial sales until the New Year.  

December Calendar

Finally the new launch calendar seems to be lightening up a bit.  Barclays will launch a handful of products, SSGA only one or two, Van Eck one Muni product Vanguard-1Victoria Bay -1 and a smattering of others but definitely lighter than October/November. Hopefully this will give the market some time to absorb the recent spate of new issues. 

Municipal ETFs, Oil 2, Timber

Municipal ETF volume topped 100,000 shares on friday. With the  announcement of some kind of agreement coming from the Treasury and the financial world, we would expect an uptick in the Muni ETF volume this week. Volumes for friday:TFI   15,500<,PVI   5,300,SHM  6,300,PZT  1,300,PZA   14,500,NYF  2,800,CXA  1,800,MUB  43,300. It should also be noted that TFI(SSGA National Munis) had several creations this past week indicating that more than one seller was creating to cover short sales.FXP(ProShares China double down) had a fairly light day at 1,212,300 shares but has average daily volume of 1,323,070 shares daily on a very young product. CUT, the Timber product from Claymore and Andy Corn continues to show steady growth and should be an interesting play and grower over time.This week should bring US Oil2 from Victoria Bay. This is the second coming of USO with the difference being  that the underlying is a 12 month strip of futures instead of USO front use of the front month future. The hope is that the strip will attract more sticky assets that Oil 1. On the near horizon in Vanguards EDV-an ETF based on zero coupon/strips on Treasuries. First to market and the halo effect of Vanguards sales effort and reputation should make this an interesting product.