ProShares Launches 2X Leveraged, Inverse Biotech ETFs
Friday, April 9th, 2010Michael Johnston submits:
ProShares, a leading provider of leveraged and inverse ETFs, announced the launch on Friday of the first ETFs with leveraged and inverse exposure to the biotechnology sector. The Ultra Nasdaq Biotechnology (BIB) will seek to provide 200% of the return on the NASDAQ Biotechnology Index for a single day. The UltraShort Nasdaq Biotechnology (BIS) will seek daily returns equal to -200% of the daily movement in the same benchmark.
The biotech sector is one of the most crowded corners of the ETF industry. There are currently five variations of biotech ETFs, including funds from iShares (IBB), Merrill Lynch (BBH), State Street (XBI), PowerShares (PBE), and First Trust (FBT). In aggregate, these ETFs have more than $3 billion in assets and trade well more than 1 million shares daily. The largest and most heavily-traded of the biotech ETFs, IBB, tracks the performance of the NASDAQ Biotechnology Index to which the new ProShares ETFs are linked.
