You Know Where to Go: The Benefits of China-Specific ETFs February 16, 2021
Investors frequently hear about the benefits of tapping the emerging markets consumer theme – one that largely revolves around China. The
KBUY, which is nearly two months old, tracks the CICC China Consumer Leaders Index. That benchmark “consists of the investable universe of publicly traded China-based companies whose primary business or businesses are in the consumption-related industries such as home appliance, food & beverage, apparel & clothing, hotels, restaurants, and duty-free goods,” according to KraneShares.
Some recent data points have shown signs of softness in the world’s second-largest economy, but Beijing is also taking steps to prop up consumption. China has been looking to increase internal consumption to reduce the economy’s sensitivity to exports, and those efforts appear to be paying dividends. While some data points indicate the Chinese economy and consumer spending are s
Up 150% in 6 Months, New Tax Credits Could Launch PBW into the Stratosphere February 16, 2021
A political push to include renewable energy tax credits in President Biden’s massive infrastructure plan could be yet another boon for exchange traded funds such as the
PBW seeks to track the investment results (before fees and expenses) of the WilderHill Clean Energy Index. The underlying index is composed of stocks of publicly traded companies in the United States that are engaged in the business of the advancement of cleaner energy and conservation. Stocks are included in the underlying index based on the index provider’s evaluation that such companies will substantially benefit from a societal transition toward the use of cleaner energy and conservation.
February 16, 2021
Widely regarded as ‘the father of modern finance’, Eugene Fama’s work is highly regarded in the capital markets. His work is also the basis for Canadian firm SmartBe Wealth’s four new ETFs.
Fama’s work in portfolio theory, asset pricing, and efficient markets eventually earned him the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences jointly with Robert J. Shiller and Lars Peter Hansen in 2013. In 2019, the Research Papers in Economics project considered Fama the 9th-most influential economist of all-time.
Needless to say, Fama has quite the resume and it’s not a bad place to start for ETF strategies. The ETFs utilize factor-based strategies, namely momentum and value.
February 15, 2021
United Kingdom country-specific exchange traded funds could be picking up speed after the British economy suffered its biggest slump in over three centuries.
The
iShares MSCI United Kingdom ETF (NYSEArca: EWU) has risen 2.8% year-to-date, but has declined 6.4% over the past year. In comparison, the S&P 500 rose 4.5% so far this year and increased 18.8% over the past year.
Britain’s economy suffered through its biggest annual decline in over 300 years in 2020 after the coronavirus pandemic caused the economy to grind to a halt, the Associated Press reports.
The economy shrank by 9.9% last year, over twice the figure for 2009 at the height of the global financial crisis, according to the Office for National Statistics. The economic contraction was the largest since 1709, when the Great Frost decimated what was then a largely agricultural-based economy.
February 16, 2021
With the dynamic ability to capture upside or to mute the effects of a downturn, active management is all the rage in the ETF world. Here are three actively managed iShares funds to consider.
iShares Evolved U.S. Media and Entertainment ETF (IEME): seeks to provide access to U.S. companies with media and entertainment exposure, as classified using a proprietary classification system. It will hold common stock of those companies that fall into the Media and Entertainment Evolved Sector which have economic characteristics that have been historically correlated with companies traditionally defined as media and entertainment companies.
iShares Commodities Select Strategy ETF (COMT): seeks total return by providing investors with broad commodity exposure. The fund seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing in a combination of exchange-traded commodity futures contracts, exchange-traded options on commodity-related futures contracts, and exchange-cleared