Vanguard to Bar Trading of Leveraged and Inverse ETF Products

Vanguard Group customers will no longer be able to buy leveraged or inverse exchange-traded funds or notes because the firm says they aren’t compatible with its investment philosophy.

The ban will take effect Jan. 22, the world’s largest mutual fund company said in a note posted on its website Jan. 8. “Their extremely short-term, speculative nature is contrary to the long-term focus shared by most Vanguard investors,” the fund giant said of the products.

Leveraged funds are typically designed to deliver multiples of an underlying index’s performance, while inverse funds aim to deliver the opposite of a benchmark’s results over ...