Welcome to the ETF Weekender, your round-up of the biggest and most interesting stories from one of hottest corners of global markets.
In this week’s edition: A new proposal threatens the tax advantage that helped fuel the U.S. ETF industry, two asset managers mull a mega-merger, and passive vehicles lose ground in the stock market.
These are the stories you need to read.
Tax Threat to Millions
What happened: The chair of the Senate Finance Committee has put forward a plan that would end the famous tax advantage of ETFs.
Why it matters: The proposed measures are aimed at closing loopholes used by wealthy individuals and large companies to defer paying gains taxes. However, they would hit ETF investors of all stripes and have drawn a strong pushback from the industry. The significance of the draft was almost lost in the newsflow, as Democrats are also thrashing out new tax rates on everything from corporations to estates.
Read it here.
Invesco + State Street = Big
What happened: Invesco is in discussions with State Street’s asset-management arm about a possible combination.
