All entries by this author
Dec 7th, 2015 |
By John Maher, CFA
S&P Dow Jones Indices (S&P DJI), one of the world’s leading providers of financial market indices and a major player in the exchange-traded funds industry, has announced the launch of the S&P 500 Low Volatility Target Beta Index. “The S&P 500 Low Volatility Target Beta Index is a dynamic index,” commented Vinit Srivastava, Senior Director, Strategy Indices, S&P Dow Jones Indices. “The index measures the performance of low volatility stocks within the S&P 500, while maintaining the S&P 500’s level of overall market risk.”
Posted in ETF and Index News |
Comments Off on S&P DJI launches low volatility smart beta index designed to closely track the S&P 500
Tags: Equities, ETF and Index News, S&P Dow Jones, Smart Beta, Themes and Strategy, United States and Canada, Volatility
Dec 4th, 2015 |
By John Maher, CFA
Tilney, a UK-based investment manager, is set to reveal its intention to launch a new range of smart beta funds. These risk-graded, multi-asset funds aim to provide a lower cost investment solution with the potential to outperform traditional passive indices. Miles Robinson, Head of Tilney for Intermediaries, commented: “There’s a clear increase in demand from advisers for lower cost investment solutions, but many advisers also recognise there are significant drawbacks with traditional passive products, which leave their clients’ assets fully exposed to the risks of valuation bubbles and also losses in overall market downturns.”
Posted in ETF and Index News |
Comments Off on Tilney set to launch smart beta range of funds
Tags: Equities, ETF and Index News, ETF Industry News, Smart Beta, United Kingdom
Dec 3rd, 2015 |
By John Maher, CFA
BATS Global Markets (BATS), a leading US-based exchange, has welcomed the listing of the MomentumShares US Quantitative Momentum ETF (QMOM), drawing attention to the attractiveness of their exchange as a destination for the listing of ETFs. BATS ranks as the top exchange operator for ETF trading in the US with the BATS Exchanges executing 26.5% of all ETF trading in November. The growing popularity of ETFs as the product wrapper of choice for investors coupled with the firm’s efforts to encourage ETF trading on their platform have been a key driver of this success.
Posted in ETF and Index News |
Comments Off on BATS exchange growth continues with listing of Alpha Architect’s latest smart beta ETF
Tags: ETF Launch, ProShares, Smart Beta, United States and Canada, WisdomTree
Dec 3rd, 2015 |
By John Maher, CFA
Tierra Funds, an exchange-traded fund sponsor focused on the Americas region, has introduced the Tierra XP Latin America Real Estate ETF (LARE), the first US listed ETF to deliver access to real estate investment trusts (REITs) and real estate operating companies (REOCs) in Latin America. The ETF is designed to tap into the growth potential and opportunities in the Latin American property market. “LARE offers investors both current income and growth potential as well as access to local real estate equities that are otherwise not available in competing products,” said James Anderson, Managing Partner at Tierra Funds.
Posted in Alternatives / Multi-Asset |
Comments Off on Tierra Funds launches first ETF focused on Latin American real estate
Tags: Alternatives, Emerging and Frontier, Equities, ETF Launch, ETF Managers Group, High Income, High Yield, Themes and Strategy, United States and Canada
Dec 3rd, 2015 |
By John Maher, CFA
Alpha Architect, an investment firm and exchange-traded fund designer, has launched a US equity ETF providing exposure to stocks with high quality momentum characteristics in an attempt to generate market beating returns. “We believe our edge is robust: we design systematic investment programs that seek to exploit mispricing caused by irrational investors,” said Founder and CIO, Wesley R. Gray, Ph.D. “We invest the majority of our resources in research and development, with a focus on understanding how investor psychology affects stock prices. QMOM seeks to exploit the so-called momentum anomaly in a systematic, high-conviction, tax-efficient, and affordable way.”
Posted in Equities |
Comments Off on Alpha Architect rolls out ‘quality’ momentum smart beta ETF
Tags: Equities, ETF and Index News, ETF Launch, iShares, MSCI, Smart Beta, Themes and Strategy, United States and Canada
Dec 2nd, 2015 |
By John Maher, CFA
State Street Global Advisors (SSGA), the asset manager behind the SPDR range of exchange-traded funds, has announced the listing of the SPDR S&P 500 Fossil Fuel Free ETF (SPYX). This ETF is designed to help investors seeking to eliminate fossil fuel reserves from their portfolio while maintaining exposure to the core of the S&P 500 Index. According to SSGA, a growing number of endowments, pension funds and other institutions are adapting their investment portfolios to accommodate for the risks associated with climate change. SPYX is a potential solution for investors who want to divest from fossil fuel reserves, whether due to concerns over climate change or from financial and investment motives.
Posted in Equities |
Comments Off on SSGA introduces first fossil fuel free S&P 500 ETF
Tags: Equities, ETF Launch, S&P Dow Jones, Smart Beta, SSGA SPDR, United States and Canada
Dec 2nd, 2015 |
By John Maher, CFA
A new survey from Invesco Powershares, a leading exchange-traded fund issuer, has revealed strong momentum in smart beta adoption with over two thirds of investors expected to increase their allocation over the next three years. It paints a positive picture for smart beta growth, with 60% of users feeling that smart beta will become a widely accepted investment strategy over the next few years. The transparent and rules-based nature of smart beta strategies has made them an ideal candidate for the ETF wrapper. Global net inflows into ETFs support this with £53.7bn of assets being gathered by smart beta ETFs in the first 10 months of 2015 alone, according to industry consultant ETFGI.
Posted in ETF and Index News |
Comments Off on Smart beta gathering momentum amongst European investors
Tags: Equities, ETF and Index News, Europe, Invesco, Smart Beta, United Kingdom, Volatility
Dec 1st, 2015 |
By John Maher, CFA
ERI Scientific Beta, the smart beta indexing initiative spun out off EDHEC-Risk Institute, has announced the release of a new suite of multi-factor smart beta indices based around fundamental measures of quality, namely high profitability and low investment. The combination of these factors has culminated in the firm’s Quality Multi-Beta Indices, a rules-based investable index which could form the basis of an exchange-traded fund. According to Scientific Beta, the high profitability and low investment risk factors have been identified in academic literature as a source of higher returns in the long-term when compared to market cap-weighted benchmarks.
Posted in Equities |
Comments Off on Scientific Beta introduces quality-based multi-factor indices
Tags: EDHEC-Risk, Equities, ERI Scientific Beta, ETF and Index News, MSCI, Smart Beta, Themes and Strategy, Volatility
Dec 1st, 2015 |
By John Maher, CFA
Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management (Deutsche AWM), the asset manager behind the Deutsche X-trackers brand of exchange-traded funds, has launched a pair of smart beta ETFs offering exposure to US and international equities. The ETFs are based on academically-proven characteristics that influence the risk and performance of stocks. “We believe this new suite complements our expertise and commitment to bringing innovative and relevant investment solutions to market, as we have seen growing investor interest in market factor diversification in addition to traditional sector and country diversification,” said Fiona Bassett, Head of Passive in the Americas.
Posted in Equities |
Comments Off on Deutsche AWM introduces smart beta ETFs on US platform
Tags: DWS Xtrackers, Equities, ETF Launch, FTSE, Russell Indexes, Smart Beta, United States and Canada, Volatility
Nov 27th, 2015 |
By John Maher, CFA
IG Group, an online trading platform, has announced the acquisition of InvestYourWay, an online investment manager that builds bespoke investment solutions. Michael Newell (pictured), Founder and CEO of InvestYourWay, has joined IG to help develop the offering. Ian Peacock, Head of IG UK, commented: “We’re delighted to have acquired such an innovative business as InvestYourWay and look forward to working alongside Michael in his new role at IG. We believe that by combining InvestYourWay’s innovative technology and IG’s world class platform and development expertise we’ll be able to build a truly best in class offering in the investments space in partnership with BlackRock.
Posted in ETF and Index News |
Comments Off on IG accelerates ETF initiative with acquisition of InvestYourWay
Tags: Equities, ETF Industry News, iShares, Themes and Strategy, United Kingdom