The Globe and Mail Gillian Livingston Published April 13, 2021 Bookmark
At the start of the pandemic, ETF providers launched work-from-home and streaming-service funds to capitalize on changes to how we live. Now, providers are putting forward funds based on what life could look like after the pandemic, including the return of travel and live sporting events.
Other new ETFs play on positive social media-generated market buzz and increased investor attention in areas such as clean energy, space exploration and bitcoin.
Both the recently launched Roundhill MVP ETF (MVP-A) – an U.S. ETF that invests in sports franchises, sporting-goods companies and facilities – and Canada’s Harvest Travel and Leisure Index ETF (TRVL-T) – which invests in large-cap travel companies – are a play on the post-pandemic recovery, says Daniel Straus, vice-president of ETFs and financial products research at National Bank Financial.
The Globe and Mail Paul Brent Published April 13, 2021 Bookmark
It has been long-held advice in the investing world that if you don’t understand something, it’s best not to put money into it.
That advice looks to have gone by the wayside when it comes to the gold-rush atmosphere among retail investors for the new and growing crop of bitcoin exchange-traded funds.
The first bitcoin ETF out of the gate, Purpose Financial LP’s Purpose Bitcoin fund (BTCC), has proven wildly popular with investors despite its relatively high management fee of 1 per cent. After less than two months, it already has more than $1.22-billion in assets under management. By comparison, Evolve Fund Group’s Bitcoin ETF (EBIT), launched one day later, has accumulated less than a tenth the assets of the Purpose ETF, despite cutting its management fee shortly after launch to 0.75 per cent..
The Globe and Mail Mary Gooderham Published April 13, 2021 Bookmark
For income-seeking investors, global-dividend ETFs promise broad diversification, low volatility and above-average yields. They also come with somewhat higher costs and a few tax drawbacks for Canadians, making them less suitable in some portfolios.
“Most people buying these want a higher level of income than they get from a broader index,” says Alan Fustey, a Winnipeg-based portfolio manager at Adaptive ETF, a division of Bellwether Investment Management Inc. “And they also want a high degree of sustainability on that income.”
In terms of total returns, however, some of these ETFs “lagged the market pretty badly last year,” Mr. Fustey notes, largely because they focus on dividend-heavy sectors such as utilities and financials and are underweight in the technology, communications and lower-quality small-cap companies that outperformed.