Investors who are globally diversified may be seeing that pay off at the start of 2021. Emerging market (EM) stocks are ripping, up 8.2% year to date for the MSCI Emerging Markets index versus 3.2% for the S&P 500, as of February 22.
The VanEck Vectors
® Real Asset Allocation ETF (“RAAX”) returned 7.21+% versus +2.63% for the Bloomberg Commodity Index. January started off strongly, RAAX was up 5.39% mid-way through the month, but it gave back much of this performance to finish the month with a total return of 1.24% as fears of dangerous COVID-19 mutations weighed upon the market.[1]
RAAX invests in three types of real assets: financial assets, income assets and resource assets. RAAX evolved and diversified its financial assets in February by gaining exposure to the price of bitcoin. This was accomplished with an initial investment of 2% into the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust. We believe that digital assets may offer RAAX many of the same benefits as gold. Most notably, protection against inflation and currency debasement in addition to overall portfolio diversification.
Up 27% for the year, the
Invesco KBW Regional Banking ETF (KBWR), which gives investors a tactical tilt to the hot sector, is riding a strong wave of momentum as yields begin to rise.
KBWR seeks to track the investment results of the KBW Nasdaq Regional Banking Index. The fund generally will invest at least 90% of its total assets in the securities that comprise the underlying index.
The underlying index is a modified-market capitalization-weighted index comprised of companies primarily engaged in U.S. regional banking activities, as determined by the index provider. The underlying index is designed to track the performance of U.S. regional banking and thrift companies that are publicly-traded in the United States.
The EWEB ETF: E-Commerce Today Will Move Abroad Tomorrow February 24, 2021
Online retail is an increasingly relevant investment thesis, but investors shouldn’t confine their search to domestic fare. The
EWEB, which debuted last November, holds 49 stocks and tracks the Nasdaq CTA Emerging Markets Internet & E-commerce Net Total Return Index.
As many U.S. investors well know, a big part of the case for investing in online retail is favorable demographics, a promise emerging markets still hold.
“EMs represent great potential for internet & e-commerce companies as they sit at the intersection of a few key growth trends: rising smartphone penetration rates, improving internet infrastructure and large youthful populations,” said Brian Comiskey, Manager of Industry Intelligence at the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), in an interview with Global X analyst Chelsea Rodstrom. “In fact, nine in 10 members of Gen Z live in EMs per the latest research from Bank of America. I
About Toyota Motor Corporation
Toyota Motor Corporation is a Japanese multinational automotive company that designs, manufacturers, and sells passenger and commercial vehicles. The company also has a financial services branch that offers financing to vehicle dealers and customers. Toyota is the second-largest car manufacturer in the world and ranked the 11th largest company by Forbes and produces vehicles under five brands: Toyota, Hino, Lexus, Ranz, and Daihatsu. Toyota also partners with Subaru, Isuzu, and Mazda.
Environmental
Motor vehicles are one of the largest contributors to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and, as a result, climate change, with the transportation sector accounting for a third of U.S. GHG emissions in 2018. Although most emissions come from vehicle usage rather than the process of manufacturing vehicles, government regulations place the burden on auto companies to improve fuel efficiency and reduce overall emissions. While climate change regulations present