| Powershares | |
| Type: | Subsidiary |
| Location City: | Wheaton, Illinois |
| Location Country: | United States |
| Industry: | Asset Management |
| Parent: | Invesco |
Invesco PowerShares (formerly PowerShares Capital Management) is an American boutique investment management firm based near Chicago which manages a family of exchange-traded funds or ETFs.[1] [2] The company has been part of Invesco, which markets the PowerShares product, since 2006.
Created in 2002, PowerShares funds use quantitative indices as a benchmark.[3] There are currently over 120 PowerShares ETFs.[4]
PowerShares cover and emulate a variety of market indices; for example, the PowerShares QQQ (NASDAQ:) is designed to replicate the NASDAQ-100 Index. The PowerShares QQQ is one of the most widely traded shares on the stock market, according to writer John J. Murphy.[5] [4]
PowerShares ETFs also cover the commodities market, diversified and tiny or microcap stocks.[6] For instance, the PowerShares DB Commodity Index Tracking Fund, or DBC, which it developed with Deutsche Bank, allows for individual investors to invest in commodities by means of its ETF.[7] The PowerShares DB Oil Fund (DBO) deals with the crude oil index.[6]
The company was founded in 2002 as PowerShares Capital Management.
In 2006 PowerShares Capital Management was acquired by Invesco so that Invesco could get access to the ETF business and the company was renamed Invesco PowerShares.
In 2006, PowerShares offered an exchange traded fund in the private equity market in a "diversified fashion", although a report in BusinessWeek suggested that analysts thought that the fund was "something people can live without".[8]
In 2005, PowerShares developed a fund to allow customers to invest in "tiny companies" or microcaps; according to a report in the New York Times, the Powershares Zacks Micro Cap Portfolio owns 330 stocks which follow the index of Zacks Investment Research, and the PowerShares ETF re-evaluates these tiny companies weekly, removing those which "do not pass muster".[2] In addition, the microcap ETF rebalances the entire index each quarter, according to the report.[2]
In 2010, the firm was involved in a trademark infringement dispute with Select Sector SPDR Trust over whether trading symbols, or tickers, could be considered as brand names.[9]
In 2013 the William F. Sharpe Award for ETF Product of the Year went to the PowerShares Senior Loan Portfolio ETF .[10] [11]